The Deadwood Sessions: Volume I has two stories to tell: one of the instruments themselves, repurposed from fallen trees within Georgia, and one of the close bonds between longtime friends who view music as a second language with one another.
Rick Fowler, Michael Doke and Greg Veale first recorded these acoustic tracks about 10 years ago, and 14 of those tracks will finally be released on Friday, July 18 as Deadwood Sessions: Volume I, courtesy of Strolling Bones Records. It was never intended to be an album, but nonetheless Fowler says, “We’re thrilled it got to see the light of day.”
The namesake of the album, and its motivation at the very core, lies in the instruments made by Deadwood Guitar Co. Thirteen years ago Veale read an article about Jason Booth, a luthier crafting unique instruments from fallen trees in the area—recycling materials and giving them new life. Veale paid a visit to Booth’s shop on Macon Highway in Athens, since relocated to Lexington, then shared his find with Doke and Fowler. As it stands now, the three have amassed a collection of 25 Deadwood instruments.
Over the years Doke, Fowler and Veale have enjoyed testing out new models and fully customizing their instruments with Booth, but one of the most meaningful things about what Booth does is the ability to create heirlooms and instruments tied to memories. At the time that Doke first visited Booth’s shop, he was looking for a specific type of wood for a Telecaster body.
“I had a specific wood that I wanted: eastern cedar… and the reason I wanted it was because when I was growing up, my grandmother had a bunch of eastern cedar furniture—the chest, the big armoirs and all that stuff. He went over to the corner, and he had a chunk about that big. And I said, ‘That’s it.’ So that’s how I got started with him. Then this came right afterwards,” says Doke, motioning to the acoustic beside him that was used in the recording of the album. “He and I kind of designed this one together for slide guitar because you have more tension on the strings, so everything has to be beefier on it. This is a prototype for a patent he got, actually, for the bracing inside of it called spider bracing.”
The making of the guitar played by Fowler on the album was documented in a short promotional film for the business, which sparked Booth to request an accompanying soundtrack from Doke, Fowler and Veale. Taking it a step further to show their gratitude and support, they ended up recording what were essentially 22 demos of what the instruments could do. Gathering at a home studio in the evenings after work, the three friends would sit in a circle and record themselves live jamming through songs until they had a clean song in one take.
“The fact that we didn’t know we were making a record, we just did this real quickly and didn’t try to get too obsessive compulsive about it, that made it better, I think,” says Fowler.
“It’s pretty honest, you know, no frills,” says Veale.
As a result, the Deadwood Sessions has a living quality to it reminiscent of nights by the fire or lazy afternoons on the porch shared by friends and family. The listening experience is as organic and natural as the process of making it, free of feeling overprocessed or trying too hard. However, there’s a skill and thoughtfulness present that comes as a result of playing an instrument for so long that it becomes an extension of yourself.
“‘Devil’s Clock’ is a time piece kind of song. It’s kind of slow and loping. It has a lot of holes in it. That’s the other thing we’ve tried to do recording this stuff is we don’t fill every space in the song. The last tune on this record, called ‘Bittersweet,’ we recorded it once and then sat there and listened to it. And I said, ‘You know, let’s record this again and play half as much.’ That particular tune is the most sparsely played one we have. There’s big holes in this thing, but what that did for the song was you hear these guitars resonate. You hit one chord, and it resonates,” says Doke. “We just played what we felt, but we definitely were trying to keep it minimalistic and just no show-off stuff, just feel it and let it happen.”
“I think some of these songs, from the time one of us brought in the idea until the time it was recorded and finished was like an hour, an hour and a half. Some of them may be two hours, but we didn’t spend much time on any of them,” says Veale.
And so the tracks sat as instrumental demos for nearly a decade until Booth burned them onto a CD that he handed over to George Fontaine, head of Strolling Bones, who wanted to officially release them as an album. Volume I will feature 14 of the original 22 tracks, with the other eight being reserved for a second volume alongside six new tracks in the works.
“It took a long time for it to come where other people would hear it, but we’re just tickled with Strolling Bones. We’re here, they’re here. It’s a great place for our music,” says Veale.
“Jason NeSmith, he did a fantastic mastering job on this record, and we were real happy with that. We’re excited about it,” says Fowler.
Not only is the music finally coming out in an accessible and official way, but one of the songs is set to be featured on HBO Max’s new crime drama series “Task,” featuring Mark Ruffalo. It’s “All Right Goodnight,” named for the last words sent out from the Malaysian airplane that disappeared in 2014, back when these songs were being recorded.
“When we were doing it, we didn’t realize that it was going to be an album for sure, but we knew that it was like some cool stuff. So that’s why we kept doing it. It’s always been in support of these guitars because we’ve been affiliated with [Booth] for 13 or 14 years, and he’s just gotten better,” says Doke.
Listeners have a few weeks to settle in with the album ahead of its release show on Aug. 2 at The Rialto Club. Doke, Fowler and Veale will perform the instrumental album in full, then the full Rick Fowler Band will kick things up a notch with a more traditional rock set.
“We’re excited because it’s a very unique kind of concert for Athens, to play 14 tracks acoustic instrumental. That’s one reason we picked the room; it’s just more of a listening room,” says Doke.
The spectrum of Doke, Fowler and Veale as musicians will be on full display that night, and through it all, the chemistry of having played together for decades is endearingly inescapable.
WHO: Doke, Fowler and Veale Album Release Show
WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 2, 7 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: The Rialto Club
HOW MUCH: $10 (adv.), $15
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