nightmares and dreams in the studio

Tuesday morning I finished playing upright on a couple of songs for Christopher Williams' upcoming Christmas record. I'm anxious to hear the finished product and had a great time plucking the upright again. Anyways, I was packing up the bass and realized that my phone was rumbling on the side table...a voicemail in waiting. It was 10am and I checked to see whose call I missed. The screen said "4 MISSED CALLS", and as I looked at the missed call list my body froze in disbelief. All 4 were from Joe Porter, who was playing on a session with me the next day--at least I had written down Wednesday. I immediately knew that I had the wrong day and was a no show at a 10-1 session that I'd been looking forward to for weeks.

I called and explained the situation, hurrying across town to pick up my electric gear and back to the same area of town but a different studio. The producer had called to remind others about the session, but had figured I was responsible and would be there. Oops. I was able to arrive and be playing by 11am, and the session went so smoothly I couldn't believe it. Here was my worst nightmare (ok, one of many) and I was hanging in there and actually doing great in the midst of it. The other musicians were long-time rockers in the nashville music business, from Pat Buchanon on electric to Johnny Neel on keys, Gary Burnett on acoustic and Robbie Turner on pedal steel. I smiled with every note I played, locking in and letting the music flow through fingers. God is good, all the time...and all the time, God is good.