Red Steer by Jack Devereux

These tunes were recorded in my parents' living room in Asheville over a few days in December 2014. I didn’t really have a plan, but did have the audacity to ask the heaviest hitters I could think of to come play, and for some reason they all showed up and did it.

Joe and I worked on it for a while, but while I thought everybody else involved played their asses off, I was pretty unhappy with my contribution. The project lost momentum and sat unconsidered for the past nine years.

A few months ago, Joe texted me cryptically that he had something to give me, and when we met up, he handed me a CD containing the finished album. Upon listening, I was able to view it more as a snapshot of a moment rather than a grand artistic statement, and the playing that had felt tasteless and self indulgent was now the endearing exuberance of a 24 year old in love with the fiddle. Everybody else still sounded great.

So, if anybody wants to look at the snapshot, here it is. My immense gratitude to everyone involved for their musicianship, generosity and time. Doubly to Joe, for capturing it in the first place, and taking it upon himself to finish the damn thing. Thanks to Matt Arcara and Bruce Molsky for the gentle nudges to do something with this, and to Anh Phung for listening to me go back and forth about what exactly to do. The greatest thanks of all goes to Beverly and Sean Devereux, without whom none of this could have been remotely possible. I hope you enjoy it.

-Jack

Post script- if you want a copy of this and the cost is prohibitive, send me a message and I'll send you a download code.