DON DIXON
''SINGS THE JEFFORDS BROTHERS''
2010
51:38
1 /I've Had Enough/3:49
2 /All I Can Say (Uh, Uh, Uh)/3:38
3 /Long Road Gone/4:27
4 /Let's Dance/feat: Shane Marie/4:54
5 /Me and My Radio/4:06
6 /I'm in Love with a Woman That I Can't Stand/3:42
7 /Where There's Smoke There's Fire/4:11
8 /Open Up Your Heart/3:43
9 /Help Is on the Way/4:07
10 /Lighten Up/3:54
11 /Love in Motion/feat: Dip Ferrell & The Truetones/3:57
12 /Young Love/feat: Dip Ferrell & The Truetones/3:37
13 /Surprised by My Surprise/feat: Dip Ferrell & The Truetones/3:33
I’ve been working with Billy and Jack Jeffords for over thirty years and in all that time the idea of making an album of me singing their songs never crossed my mind. I had too many of my own songs to record.
Jack, Billy, and I were born and raised in South Carolina where the smooth sounds of 60s R & B helped us along the road to manhood. So a few years ago, the three of us launched a project called Dip Ferrell & the Truetones. We hoped to take Jeffords Brothers songs and recreate the sound and feel of that smooth 60s Soul we loved growing up. The Drifters, Marvin Gaye, The Impressions, Major Lance, Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs. You know what I’m talking about. As an important aspect of this process, the brothers started a new record company in the spirit of the iconic independent labels that had brought us those great artists. Labels like Atlantic, Motown, Okeh. They named it Arcade.
The process for making a Truetones album starts with Jack and Billy sending songs for me to evaluate. Sometimes I’ll suggest a few changes or additions and I’ll do a quick recording to demonstrate what I have in mind. We then gather together 10 or 12 musicians and put them out in the big room, Studio A at Reflection, where we learn the songs, work out the arrangements and make a record. Like the old days. We often do a few overdubs, like percussion, strings, or additional backing vocals. The first album is called Get Ready for The Truetones. When it came time to record the follow-up, Central Avenue, we actually used a few of my original demos augmented by the Truetones singers and horns instead of doing all of it live.
Billy and Jack have become known around the circuit for their quality songs. The Truetones are getting on the charts and bands and singers from all over the Southeast are recording their songs. Spurred by this success, the brothers asked me to record some new songs of theirs in my home studio. They wanted good recordings of tunes the Truetones weren’t planning to do. I demoed three. Then another one. A little later I did three more. I went back and listened to some of the older ones. I was enjoying hearing these songs. I was playing them in the car...playing them for friends. It dawned on me that I had enough stuff to make a damn good record. I called Billy and Jack.
I said, “Well, what do you think? Would you release this on Arcade? Is the world ready for an entire album of me singing your songs?”
“Let’s put it out and see,” was their reply.
So here it is. It’s like this record fell from the.sky. It was never supposed to happen but I’m glad it did.
Don Dixon
BIOGRAPHY
By Jason Ankeny
Best known among the key producers to emerge from the American underground's jangle pop movement of the early '80s, Don Dixon also enjoyed a cult following as a solo performer. A native of North Carolina, he dwelled in relative obscurity for well over a decade as a member of the little-known Arrogance before attracting his first significant notice around 1983 after co-producing with Mitch Easter R.E.M.'s landmark debut LP, Murmur. Subsequent work on Chris Stamey's It's a Wonderful Life, the Windbreakers' Terminal, and Tommy Keene's Run Now solidified his reputation among jangle pop aficionados, and in 1985 Dixon recorded his solo debut, Most of the Girls Like to Dance But Only Some of the Boys Do, a further affirmation of his love of classic pop melodies and spiky, Nick Lowe-inspired wordplay. After producing wife Marti Jones' Unsophisticated Time, he released his second solo effort, Romeo at Juilliard, in 1987 and the live Chi-Town Budget Show a year later. After 1989's EEE, Dixon's recording career went into mothballs for several years and he returned to producing, helming efforts for the Smithereens, Richard Barone, and James McMurtry before finally releasing Romantic Depressive in 1995. Another lengthy hiatus preceded the early 2000 release of The Invisible Man and its 2001 follow-up, Note Pad #38. Entire Combustible World in One Small Room followed in summer 2006.
''SINGS THE JEFFORDS BROTHERS''
2010
51:38
1 /I've Had Enough/3:49
2 /All I Can Say (Uh, Uh, Uh)/3:38
3 /Long Road Gone/4:27
4 /Let's Dance/feat: Shane Marie/4:54
5 /Me and My Radio/4:06
6 /I'm in Love with a Woman That I Can't Stand/3:42
7 /Where There's Smoke There's Fire/4:11
8 /Open Up Your Heart/3:43
9 /Help Is on the Way/4:07
10 /Lighten Up/3:54
11 /Love in Motion/feat: Dip Ferrell & The Truetones/3:57
12 /Young Love/feat: Dip Ferrell & The Truetones/3:37
13 /Surprised by My Surprise/feat: Dip Ferrell & The Truetones/3:33
I’ve been working with Billy and Jack Jeffords for over thirty years and in all that time the idea of making an album of me singing their songs never crossed my mind. I had too many of my own songs to record.
Jack, Billy, and I were born and raised in South Carolina where the smooth sounds of 60s R & B helped us along the road to manhood. So a few years ago, the three of us launched a project called Dip Ferrell & the Truetones. We hoped to take Jeffords Brothers songs and recreate the sound and feel of that smooth 60s Soul we loved growing up. The Drifters, Marvin Gaye, The Impressions, Major Lance, Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs. You know what I’m talking about. As an important aspect of this process, the brothers started a new record company in the spirit of the iconic independent labels that had brought us those great artists. Labels like Atlantic, Motown, Okeh. They named it Arcade.
The process for making a Truetones album starts with Jack and Billy sending songs for me to evaluate. Sometimes I’ll suggest a few changes or additions and I’ll do a quick recording to demonstrate what I have in mind. We then gather together 10 or 12 musicians and put them out in the big room, Studio A at Reflection, where we learn the songs, work out the arrangements and make a record. Like the old days. We often do a few overdubs, like percussion, strings, or additional backing vocals. The first album is called Get Ready for The Truetones. When it came time to record the follow-up, Central Avenue, we actually used a few of my original demos augmented by the Truetones singers and horns instead of doing all of it live.
Billy and Jack have become known around the circuit for their quality songs. The Truetones are getting on the charts and bands and singers from all over the Southeast are recording their songs. Spurred by this success, the brothers asked me to record some new songs of theirs in my home studio. They wanted good recordings of tunes the Truetones weren’t planning to do. I demoed three. Then another one. A little later I did three more. I went back and listened to some of the older ones. I was enjoying hearing these songs. I was playing them in the car...playing them for friends. It dawned on me that I had enough stuff to make a damn good record. I called Billy and Jack.
I said, “Well, what do you think? Would you release this on Arcade? Is the world ready for an entire album of me singing your songs?”
“Let’s put it out and see,” was their reply.
So here it is. It’s like this record fell from the.sky. It was never supposed to happen but I’m glad it did.
Don Dixon
BIOGRAPHY
By Jason Ankeny
Best known among the key producers to emerge from the American underground's jangle pop movement of the early '80s, Don Dixon also enjoyed a cult following as a solo performer. A native of North Carolina, he dwelled in relative obscurity for well over a decade as a member of the little-known Arrogance before attracting his first significant notice around 1983 after co-producing with Mitch Easter R.E.M.'s landmark debut LP, Murmur. Subsequent work on Chris Stamey's It's a Wonderful Life, the Windbreakers' Terminal, and Tommy Keene's Run Now solidified his reputation among jangle pop aficionados, and in 1985 Dixon recorded his solo debut, Most of the Girls Like to Dance But Only Some of the Boys Do, a further affirmation of his love of classic pop melodies and spiky, Nick Lowe-inspired wordplay. After producing wife Marti Jones' Unsophisticated Time, he released his second solo effort, Romeo at Juilliard, in 1987 and the live Chi-Town Budget Show a year later. After 1989's EEE, Dixon's recording career went into mothballs for several years and he returned to producing, helming efforts for the Smithereens, Richard Barone, and James McMurtry before finally releasing Romantic Depressive in 1995. Another lengthy hiatus preceded the early 2000 release of The Invisible Man and its 2001 follow-up, Note Pad #38. Entire Combustible World in One Small Room followed in summer 2006.
