In 1990, after living in Italy and France for a year, I fell in love with songwriting. I learned the ropes of busking and playing in cafes and bars throughout Europe. Out of a ton of great memories, there was one moment that stood out for me after days of hitchhiking through Wales and Ireland. When the couple that picked me up for my last ride of the day saw my guitar, they dropped me at a house where five musicians had taken up residency. After a few days of living with them and playing music from morning to night, living on bananas, tea and toast, I had a pretty strong sense of at least one path I wanted to follow.

In 1993, I was invited to my friend’s girlfriend’s house to work on some songs. Unbeknownst to me, an A&R rep from Capitol Records also lived there. He walked in and heard us playing in his living room. So he asks me: “who the hell are you and what is this music you’re playing?” Two days later he invited me to the tenth floor at Capitol records to play more songs and talk about making a demo. That demo was made, but ultimately did not land me a recording contract. Instead, I realized I had a long way to go to master my craft and ultimately to find my voice as a songwriter. However, this did lead me to believe that maybe it would be possible to make a career out of my music. So I hopped into my ‘64 Nova and started playing every café, club and bar in Los Angeles. Bibby Hansen (Beck’s mom) gave me my first gig at the Troy Café and later I became a regular at the acoustic scene at Highland Grounds. I met many amazing songwriters along the way that inspired me; but Jim Prior was a songwriter who I gigged with five and six nights a week. It was through Jim that I was introduced to the late Brian May and his folk radio music show Malibu folk. I had the honor of doing two shows before Brian passed away.

After a short stint in San Francisco, playing wherever I could, I moved back to LA and settled in the Pasadena area. There I was introduced to producer Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow, Shelby Lynn). Bill gave me the break and the opportunity I had been waiting for. Basically he made me believe in myself. He asked me to come record at his studio, Toad Hall, where I started working with his engineer Mark Cross on what were the preliminary tracks for my first release Mercy To Be Found. The magic of Bill’s studio was incredible. Under Bill’s guidance, Mark and I played virtually all the instruments. I played flute, harmonica, guitar, percussion and a little B-3. I remember when I realized that I had something special in a simple little track called “Madeline Drive.”

After a long process, this relationship ultimately did not blossom into the immediate release of an album. Instead, I had the opportunity to work with my old friend from college David Dvorin. David and I knew each other from our days at UCLA and we threw ourselves into new ideas and new notions of “folk” music. On tracks like “Take This Child Home” and “Pretty Little Sunrise,” David’s willingness to explore computer generated loops and sound beds was a concept that blew the doors wide open for me and my relationship to writing. All of a sudden, non-linear work was not only possible, but it became pivotal. The combined efforts from Toad Hall and my work with David culminated in the first record Mercy To Be Found.

In the fall of 2003 Seth McLain and I got together and recorded thirteen tracks at my house. We decided it would be better to bring in the gear in order to keep the sonics where we wanted them. It was this raw footage that we then took to Mark Cross and Sound by the Pound, Hot Pie and ultimately Sonora Recorders to do overdubs and mix. We released an EP in March called Broken Dance. Places You Know is the LP that we wrapped up in June 2004.

Following roughly seven months of playing local shows in LA, Wes Wehmiller, my dear friend and bass player in the band, lost his battle with cancer and passed away. (www. weswehmiller.net). We were in the middle of making the new record HERE COMES MEMORY when Wes died, but he was able to play on 6 of the tracks on the final record. For this memory I am eternally grateful. The new record is a chronicle of one of the sad and long and rainy winter. At last Spring is here. The record will be available in the first week of June '05.

Authored by Tom Langford