MARTY BALIN: Music & Interviews
NASHVILLE SESSIONS - Album Sampler
NASHVILLE SESSIONS:
1.Hide My Heart
2.Mercy of the Moon
3.Rising from the Ashes
4.Lost Highway
5.Nobody But You
6.Pieces of the Rain
7.Count On Me
8.We Rise With Our Dreams
9.Hold Me
10.Red Roses
11.Mercy of the Moon (Extended)MARTY BALIN: The Nashville Recording Sessions
•Marty Balin – Vocals
•Harry Stinson - Drums / Background Vocals
•Willie Weeks - Bass
•Richard Bennett - Electric Guitar
•Bernie Leadon - Mandola / Guitar
•Biff Watson - Gut String Guitar
•John Hug - Electric & Acoustic Guitar
•Sonny Garrish - Pedal Steel
•John Jarvis - Piano
•Phil Naish - Synthesizer
•Terry McMillan - Harmonica / Tambourine
•Joey Miskulin - Accordion
•Karen Deal - Organ
•Mark O'Connor - Fiddle
•Jim Photoglo, Garey Janey, Chris Harris, Mark Heimermann - Background Vocals
Producer: Marty Balin & Joe Vertino
Recording Session Producer: John Hug
Recorded And Mixed By: Eric Prestidge
Assisted By: James Valentini
Recorded At: Javelina Studios
Overdubs And Mixing: The Loft
Executive Producer: Joe Buchwald
Review
Marty Balin‘s Nashville Sessions, suggests that the veteran rock singer who founded Jefferson Airplane and was a member of Jefferson Starship has gone country. That turns out to be only about half true, however. Certainly, the arrangements and instrumentation on the album differ from those on most albums featuring Balin. Nearly every track has at least one identifiably country instrument -- fiddle, mandolin, Dobro, pedal steel guitar -- though usually not more than one. Certain songs are in styles not usually associated with Balin, including the track, "Rising from the Ashes," which has a Cajun sound, and the closing track, "Red Roses," which has the closest thing to a straight country arrangement. For the most part, however, Nashville Sessions is more the lighter side of Balin than the country side. With his distinctively elastic tenor, Balin has always had an affinity for love ballads, and here he indulges that ability. There is a folk-rock ballad version of his Top Ten Jefferson Starship hit "Count on Me" that boasts a slightly revised melody, as well as a remake of "Hold Me," a song from the 1986 self-titled album by the K.B.C. Band (a short-lived Jefferson Airplane spin-off group made up of Paul Kantner, Balin, and Jack Casady), that has something of the flavor of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy." There are also songs like the leadoff track melodic rocker "Hide My Heart" that could be from any Balin album. It doesn't seem likely that this longtime San Francisco resident is going to don a cowboy hat and move to Music City any time soon, but Nashville Sessions is not just a genre experiment; it's a worthy hybrid of styles that showcases a great singer. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
