Review Somewhere Down The Road (Song by song) by Billy Davis as seen in The Blasters Newletter
	James Intveld has a new album out called SOMEWHERE DOWN THE ROAD on Molenaart records. James released his first solo album on Germany's Bear Family records in 1995 called INTRODUCING JAMES INTVELD. That album was re-released in the USA on Innerworks records in 1997. In this interview conducted in May 2000, James talks about how his musical growth on this album was fueled by songwriting collaborator John Coinman and lead guitarist/producer Mike Turner. These two men have formed individual partnerships with James that have shined through on this album. James himself will now take us song-by-song through the songwriting and recording process for SOMEWHERE DOWN THE ROAD. JAMES: Last year I started to collect all my tunes that were written or half-written. We set a date and figured we had three weeks to make a record. They put me on a time limit, which is good for me. We cut 16 songs and used 12. We formed our own record label called MOLENAART RECORDS. I was looking for a name that was original. I was talking to my folks, and we came up with the wind mill keeper. That's a Molenaar in Dutch. So, I had a windmill logo put on there. The first album for Bear Family was geared towards Europe, and I think in my subconscious, I used my material that I thought would be really good for that market. For this one, I felt I had a lot more to say than I did then. The first record had a lot of sad songs on it. This is more evenly distributed as far as the feelings. I got Michael Turner to co-produce. He's coming from a different place, so that was a good influence for me. I had someone to bounce ideas off of. I thought "Somewhere Down The Road" was a great title, because it had a theme and it was going somewhere. That's kind of like where I'm in my life now. I'm thinking pretty positive about my future. I feel good about everything. I bought a house, and I've been working on my self in a lot of ways. For the future, we are looking to hook up with a label that wants to promote the record. If it doesn't happen, we'll keep it on our own label and keep playing. We want to hit the road and get the most exposure to the record. The Songs SOMEWHERE DOWN THE ROAD - I haven't done that song in years. I wrote that many years ago, when it represented 'hope for me in the future.' I did it for the "Town South Of Bakersfield" compilation (Restless Records), with Pete Anderson producing it. When I heard it on record, I wasn't happy with it. For this new record, I planned a whole new arrangement with twin fiddles on it. It was more a zydeco thing. I had the parts all figured for Scott Joss; he plays fiddle with Dwight. But he got sick and couldn't make it. I didn't know what to do because I really wanted him. Somewhere on this record I wanted to do something with a phaser guitar sound like Waylon Jennings uses. Dale Watson was in town and played with us at a gig, he had a phaser on his guitar and I really liked the way it sounded. So we figured we would try it on that song. Mike came up with the guitar part, and we thought it was really happening. I really love this version of it. It's got a real cool funky edge to it. Marty Rifkin played dobro on this, too. STRINGIN ME ON - I wrote that a long time ago. It's written about being in a relationship when someone is playing around with you and not making any kind of real commitment - and that can drive you nuts! It was a playful attitude about how that comes along - but it's such a truthful thing that happens all the time. I recorded it for the first record, but I wasn't happy with the version. When Mike Turner and I hooked up, we did a demo of it and Mike's guitar playing just gave it a whole new flavor. We recorded the song just like the demo, with Mike on harmony vocals. ALL THE WAY FROM MEMPHIS - (Co-writer) John Coinman and I were sitting in my back yard and got on a kick of wanting to write a song about Memphis. We wanted it to be a love song without necessarily talking about the people who are from Memphis like Elvis. We just jumped on it and about an hour later, we had the song. I wanted the song to represent the whole influence of Memphis music, so I said, 'We have to get some gospel singers on there and a B-3 organ.' We wanted to take it to the church, so to speak. So, we got these girls from South Central (L.A.); they came down to sing on it and they were just great! They really got into it, and it was incredible! Mike Thompson played this swampy and cool B-3 organ. LOVE CALLS - Me and John Coinman were trying to write songs for a Kevin Costner movie called "Message in a Bottle." We were playing around with the two-chord riff and a lyric following the movie plot. Originally we were calling it LOVE TALKS. I played some percussion and bass. Shawn played drums. While I had the girls there for the other song, I figured they could sing on this. That made the song really happenin', too. I played B-3 organ because we were doing overdubs and I would hear the parts in my head, so it was easier to just get right on it and play the part. ONE SWEET LETTER - That's a Jimmy Liggins song. I've been playing that about two years, and I always thought it was great tune. It has a good hook to it. I played stand up bass on it. Mike played a Gibson L-5 hollow body guitar for that traditional sound. It was the perfect flavoring on the song. LIVING WITHOUT YOU - I'm more of a ballad writer, and this one is closer to me. I was probably going through some relationship at the time, and writing something like that must have come real easy at the time for me. This is one of those songs that I wanted to sound like an early sixties country song, like Willie Nelson with the string arrangements. I got Richard Green on piano, who plays with us in the swing band, to play a Floyd Cramer style. We didn't want to make it too heavy like an orchestra, so it just has overdubbed violins by Annabelle Cabrera. STOP THE WORLD - When I was playing bass in the house band at The Barn Dance, Bonnie Owens came up and sang that song. I thought it was such a great song. I think Patsy Cline did it, and then I heard Waylon Jennings do it, too. At one point, I was in Nashville doing a lot of those clubs on Broadway. I was listening to that song in the car. I pulled it out one night at a gig. It's a song that hasn't been over-done. Marty Rifkin played pedal steel. He started with us at Ronnie Mack's Barn Dance, and he played with Rosie Flores years ago. MODERN DON JUAN. - That's a song I heard years ago that Buddy Holly had cut. I had it on one of those box sets, and once in awhile I would sing it. One night, at the Dixie Belle in Downey, (California) I pulled that out. Mike (Turner) really liked it! He said, "We should do a version of that for the record!!" We cut a version of that in the first three days of tracking. When I went to sing it, it sounded too slow. So, I just laid down a drum thing, and basically cut the track right there. The engineer, Mike Mirikitani, played electric bass. Then, I put some upright bass on it. We got it at the tempo we wanted. WHAT ABOUT YOU - I went out to Tucson to visit John Coinman with my girlfriend. We were fighting about stuff on the way there. I woke up the next morning and went over John's house. I just thought, 'life is too short to be fighting over things that aren't important.' We were going to work on a few other songs, but I said, "John. We need to write this other song that I feel I HAVE to write right now!" I threw some ideas out, and started playing. In two hours we had a song. I wanted it to be a straight ahead groove. Mike and I, cut a demo of it, and then started doing it live. We developed an arrangement of it, so it was easy to record. I had Marty play pedal steel on it. IF I SHOULD LOSE YOU - Me and John started that song years ago, when he was living in L.A. We had a whole other idea. It was re-written three different times. It kept changing formats. But one night, when I came home late, like three in the morning, I sat down and wrote about five verses. I was basically writing, what I would want from someone in a relationship. It was such a personal song for me. SINNERS PRAYER - That was written accapella. Originally, there was a possibility that we were gonna get Johnny Cash to sing on a track on this record. Eddie Morris (James' manager), called the Cash people, and they said, "It would be cool." In fact, we talked to his son, and he said he would talk to his father about it.' John Carter said, 'I think it would be great because we really like Jimmy.' I had done a bunch of different gigs opening for Johnny Cash. In fact, they asked me to open solo acoustic for June Carter, when she did her show at the Troubadour (ed. - June put out a fine solo album in 1999 called Press On (Risk records). She played only two cities; L.A. at the Troubadour and New York's Bottom Line.) and I knew their family. I sent the song to Johnny in Jamaica (his second home), and they told us they would play it for him. Later, we got a call from the manager, who said John was sick, and had an obligation he was yet to fulfill to record 13 songs for American records. So, he hadn't even done his own album yet. So we had to get the record out and went with our own version. So, one night I came up with this song. I have a group of friends that we call 'The Sinners." It's a group of all my buddies over the years. It's kind of a club. The song was basically about my friends, and how I view life sometimes. You know, we're all here and we're all getting older. Some things we're sorry for, and you now start thinking about these things. I thought about Johnny Cash, and then I thought about a guy on death row, who had a private talk with God. I saw this guy sitting in a jail cell, strumming a mandolin, or singing it accapella. I used a mandolin, so it would be very sparse. That's how I wrote KERMIT VALE (from "Introducing James Intveld" on Bear Family records). The good thing is that the song got written, and I'm happy about that. It reminded me of the Carter family. It was the first real spiritual song I had ever written, and I kind of needed to write one. The album was done when I wrote SINNERS PRAYER. REMEMBER ME - John and I wrote that for the Kevin Costner movie. This is about; that desperate feeling when you lose somebody. Whether they die, or they just leave your life, you love them so much, you still want to have a connection to them. So, you're reaching out, and putting a message to them in the universe, hoping it reaches them. It's a prayer, a dream, and a wish. John Coinman had a version of this on his own album. He had taken it in another direction. Sometimes, we write a song together and then we each take it, and make it more personal. IF TEARS COULD TALK (unreleased song) - When we sequenced the album we couldn't find a spot for it. We used strings on that, but were saving that for the next record. I think that was kind of written on mandolin. When John and I would get together to write, I would play mandolin and he would play acoustic guitar. It would give a different flavor to stuff. It helped change the song writing. Using a different instrument makes you think differently. If you don’t have the SOMEWHERE DOWN THE ROAD CD, you can order it here at James Intveld's official web site.