thanks | dru batte, photography

Dru Batte made the photographs for this record, the singles, and this photo I keep using with the words “thank you notes” plastered over it. Along the way, Dru Batte also taught me the difference between taking photos and making photographs. She takes photos, and then she makes photos - from lighting and composition to working directly with the chemicals to develop them (then, sometimes, distorting them into entirely new art objects altogether).

Last year, Dru had one of her first shows at a Chicago gallery. Her project focused on taking photos of artists’ studios without the artists in the room. She did one of these sessions at my home - my entry room is mostly where I write songs.

She came in for the day, asked a few questions, and then asked me to go on a walk for about 15 minutes. I did, and she went to work.

Her work in general, and this work in particular, captures people through the things that they use and the spaces that they use them in. I like making things. She likes making things. And we both like people who like making things.

So, some pictures of my apartment made it into her show. And then some pictures of my apartment were sold at the show. And now, probably, some pictures of my apartment made it into someone else’s home.

So, when we thought we could use some photos for the new record, she was the person to call. She came back and made it happen. That feels nice and good and right. You should probably work with her.

Thanks, Dru!

thanks | stephen forster, cello

Stephen Forster plays the cello. He played the cello on the first record. He played the cello on the second record as well.

One of my favorite times with him was rehearsing in the common room of the old house when prepping for the first record. He asked thoughtful questions about how his part should sound and gently suggested a few edits along the way. He’s got a whole easy, charming, cheerful way about him. He’s a total pro with a beautiful tone and an easy demeanor - so it was lovely to have him back on the team for LP2.

Midwest begins with pizzicato strings. Stephen was really digging into his, and you can hear the percussive slap on his instrument stand out just a bit from the others. I really liked that, and I think of him when the song starts.

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Thanks much Stephen!

thanks | rachael keplin, viola

Rachael Keplin was a newcomer to the string section for LP2. She’s a violist - teacher and performer and all of that. She killed it in the studio recording Midwest and 16B, and was professional and personable at the same dang time.

You can see her perform with Chamber Brews, or sign up a youth in your life for violin or viola lessons. Along with Devin Copfer, she teaches at Suzuki Music Columbus. Rachael also performs in Chamber Brews, bringing classical music to a broader audience. You can donate to their mission here.

You can also find links to private lessons and the things she cares most about at her website, along with these words from her.

“Music is a field full of connections. When we teach someone how to make music, we teach patience, respect, critical thinking, a passion for excellence and instrument technique. These virtues and benefits of learning music are directly correlated with the talent we can learn on our instrument.”

All of those same things came through Rachael on the day of the string session. Thanks for your passion and enthusiasm, Rachael!

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thanks | devin copfer, violin

When we decided that we wanted to track a quartet on the new record, I turned to Devin to make that possible. Devin is a violinist and songwriter, but Devin is also someone to look up to in the city for how she treats music and the people who play it.

Devin plays in bands. Devin writes songs, plays, and sings in Small Songs - one of my favorite local bands. She was a core piece of Oliver Oak - one of my first favorite bands in Columbus when I moved here. She’s also in Fables. They have a new single here. And also BABS and also Waves de Ache.

Devin plays chamber music. She’s a past or current member of the Ohio State Symphony Orchestra, Central Ohio Symphony Orchestra, McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra, Newark Granville Synphony Orchestra, and Columbus’ new Janus String quartet with OSU Prof Mark Rudoff, Nancy Nehring, and Leah Anderson.

Devin plays things in between those that break down fourth walls that allow people to connect with music that they don’t experience often. This is Chamber Brews, where they present classical music in a relaxed atmosphere and have conversations to bridge the gap between performance and audience members. It’s one of a kind, and one of a kind things should be supported. You can donate to their mission here.

And, finally, Devin teaches other people to do all of the things above using the Suzuki method within lessons at Musicologie. If you have a kiddo interested in violin, you should send them to Devin. These are her words.

“Through music lessons, we not only get to know our playing, but we get to know ourselves… We understand that success doesn’t come from outcome, but rather from our journey — and we get to learn how to play the violin as well!”

Devin - thanks much for wrangling a wonderful quartet, leading that session like a pro, and being a shining example of a Columbus musician that we’re all lucky enough to share space with.

thanks | leah anderson, violin

Leah played violin on the record. She describes herself as a part-time freelance violinist, full-time microbiologist. This only makes sense when you find out that she studied both Molecular Genetics and Violin Performance at OSU.

It quickly stops making sense when you realize that she studied both Molecular Genetics and Violin at the same time.

And she’s apparently great at both! I can vouch for the violin. I can’t provide any personal evidence on the microbiology front - but she works for OSU - so I’m assuming she’s killing it.

She also plays violin in OSU’s new Janus String Quartet alongside Mark Rudoff (OSU cello Professor), Nancy Nehring (viola), and Devin Copfer (violin, who also played on the record).

On studio day, she mentioned that she’d never done a non-classical session before our day in the studio - but would do it again if we ever needed. I’ve never done a microbiology session ever!

Thank you, Leah! Thanks for the great session and being an inspiring example of someone with a rich and diverse life. Go bucks.

listen to a new song | watch a new video

Listen to it on Spotify, or watch the video on youtube. It is about a woman I saw on a plane one time.

Who made this?

Sam Emerson Bodary: song, guitar, vocals
Jack Keating Doran: piano, vocals
Daniel Lawrence Seibert: percussion, synthesizer, string and horn arrangement
Eli Chambers: bass
Erin Mason: vocals
Lee Tucker: trumpet
Zach Zerkle: trombone
Leah Anderson: violin
Devin Copfer: violin
Rachael Keplin: viola
Stephen Forster: cello
Corbin Pratt: pedal steel
Tony Rice: engineering
Emily Schmidt: engineering
Glenn Davis: mixing
Mike Cervantes at The Foxboro: mastering
Art: Dru Batte
And the Emersingers: Andrew Marczak (The Roof Dogs), Will Myers (Rat Dreams), Carrie Stratton, Cameron Carr (Trying), Brady Costigan (Trying, Stock Photo Family), Reece Thompson (Thirty-One West), Max Orr, Kristi Lawrence, Regina Squeri, Jack Doran, Andrew Picklesimer (Embers of Arson), Ira Harper, Scott Woodward (The Antique Smugglers), Anita Doran, Monaé James, Lyndsey Andray, Melissa Bethea, Jesse Bethea, Philippe “Devin XO / Devin Summers” Laroque, Therese Rajasekera, Gregory Nagy, Ryan Branch, Lee Ann McBride, Ethan Borman, Hannah Margolis, Miles Meckling, Taylor Gleason, Mandar Kathe, Sam Craighead, Phil Liddell, and Brink.

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What are the lyrics?

Never left the state

But she’s flying to Oregon

Rekindled her Arkansas

High school boyfriend

It’s been 15 years

Since they’ve even held hands

And she’s telling this all to her seatmates

She’s nervous on planes

And maybe in general

She’s chomping on chewing gum

Got thoughts on millennial

Sons 16 and 20

She left them at home

And she’s sitting in seat 16B

The fasten seatbelt signal is bright

And these people are traveling all day and night

We land at three

Hopefully

There’s a first time for everything

My ex husband’s fine

He’s a natural father

He works in IT

And he’s got a stepdaughter

I think I could be at least one half as happy

Does my makeup still look ok

She undoes her seatbelt

She walks to the bathroom

We look at each other

And breathe in her perfume

And think

And we think

And we think

The fasten seatbelt signal is bright

And some people act busy even up in the sky

Look at me

I believe

There’s a first time for everything

And we’re all on her side as she gets up to leave

And we tell her good luck but it’s not guaranteed

And we look at each other and we want to believe

The fasten seatbelt signal is bright

And these people seem earnest but might not be right

And then she leaves

Hopefully

There’s a first time for everything

There’s a first time for everything

thanks | caleb miller, clarinet and organ

Caleb Miller was a joy to work with on a few different pieces of the record. In Midwest, he plays the organ. It was a part that we added in a bit later in the process, but we found that it really stuck the strings to the track and helped them sit in the mix.

Caleb plays almost everything with almost everybody. He’s high energy, very excitable, and always ready to hop in on a session.

Caleb is in the bands Radarhill, Sun Trash, and Knots. He also plays in Francis Bacon Band, Ryan Jewell Quintet, Mosses, Fables, Sean Marshall, Keating, and also with Amy Gadd sometimes.

Obviously, the dude doesn’t stop. So, pick a link above and give something of his a listen. Whether he’s on clarinet, saxophone, or keyboard - he’s gonna play something worth hearing.

Thanks, Caleb!

thanks | corbin pratt, pedal steel

A few things about Corbin Pratt.

He can play the pedals off of the pedal steel, but he doesn’t let it get to his head. He is a remarkable listener - the way that he responds to the music around him is always pitch-perfect. He can be subtle but isn’t bashful when he wants to dig in and take the spotlight.

The point is - he can pretty much do anything, but is tastefully restrained, especially when painting his parts across our (frankly pretty busy) palate of strings, horns, and everything else. He played on the last record, and we had to have him back.

Corbin tracked all of his parts this year from a friend’s basement in Nashville - he moved down there with his wife and son just a few weeks before recording. So, a few weeks into March, we got a bunch of tracks in a Google Drive. It was like Christmas morning, opening up and listening through each take to piece together our favorite bits.

Corbin took the instrumental break in Midwest. Listen to that - and you’ll agree that we made the right choice having him back on the team. There’s more of his work lathered across a few other songs on the record, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Corbin - thanks so much for your time, talent, and consideration. Sending our best to little Santiago as well!

thanks | jake loew, banjo and mandolin

Jake Loew played banjo on Am I the Midwest? and mandolin on another song on the record. He was a suggestion from Corbin Pratt. He was the one other musician who tracked remotely from a different state. He’s a former Columbus guy like Corbin, but we never met in person - just a few nice chats on the phone to get what we were looking for.

He was easy to work with and super accommodating, giving us a bunch of takes to choose from. We were looking for a bluegrass flavor without overpowering the dish - he walked the line perfectly.

His banjo playing does a beautiful job mirroring the string motion on Midwest - and his mandolin break on “Edges & Corners” is SPICY. You can listen to Midwest now, but will have to wait until the whole record comes out on 1/24/2020 to hear “Edges & Corners”.

Hooray for folk instruments! Thanks much, Jake!

"Am I the Midwest?" streaming everywhere | also a music video

Stream it on Spotify (or preferred music service), and watch the video below.

If you’re curious, read below for some context behind the track.

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from The Guardian

some context behind the track

In 2018, we were on tour in Germany. On Monday, August 27th, we played at a small cafe in Chemnitz. It wasn’t a good night to be in Chemnitz - there was a big anti-immigration protest outside, and it wasn’t safe to be out the street. The promoter made sure the show was a safe place for folks to be amidst all of that. You can read more about that night at The Guardian - but this screenshot of the article is really the core nugget. A few days later, we were interviewed on the radio in Berlin - the conversation touched on anti-immigration movements in both of our countries and what we do to combat it. It was an odd moment where I was asked to explain myself as a resident of the Midwest under Trump to a nationwide German audience. You’re welcome to listen to that interview on the blog.

Many of our conversations on tour were about guns, Trump, and racism - mostly because that’s what the word “Ohio” meant to most people we met. But I also talked about much of the good that I see in my home state and many unseen small acts of kindness. And I don’t think that remotely saves the state or absolves it of its sins - but what else can we do but try earnestly to make something a bit better.

This song struggles to hold all of those feelings together at the same time, kind of like I do.

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lyrics

Am I the Midwest
The one we read about
The one they send the reporters 
To cross the state borders 
Just to figure the people out

Am I the Midwest
The one we sing about
All pockmarked with dairy queens
State football dreams and universities towns

Am I the Midwest
The one we blame
The one we castigate
The one we shame
The one that shows up
On time at eight
The one we love
The one we hate

Am I the Midwest
The one they photograph 
After Delphi leaves and the workers grieving 
Become another think piece

Am I the Midwest
The one they interview 
On the radio stations 
In the European nations 
Where Americana still feels new

Am I the Midwest
The one that blames
The one that speaks up 
Two years too late
The one that shows up 
On election day
The one that votes
The one that hates

Am I the Midwest
The plain-spoken grout between the coasts
Am I the Midwest
Home of miniature golf and self-conscious boasts
Am I the Midwest 
Home of jersey cows in stallion shoes
Am I the Midwest
The one in the news

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credits

Sam Bodary: acoustic guitar and vocals

Daniel Seibert: percussion and string arrangement

Jack Doran: piano

Eli Chambers: bass

Leah Anderson: violin

Devin Copfer: violin

Rachael Keplin: viola

Stephen Forster: cello

Caleb Miller: organ

Jake Lowe: banjo

Corbin Pratt: pedal steel

Tony Rice: engineering and production

Emily Schmidt: engineering

Glenn Davis: mixing

Mike Cervantes (The Foxboro): mastering

Recorded at Oranjudio in Columbus, Ohio

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post script

Small things do help. Our last record release show was a benefit for Community Refugee and Immigration Services - our next one will be too. But you can always donate anytime. I’m also a big fan of libraries - many have read-aloud or homework help programs - Columbus Metro Libraries needs volunteers for both.