Secretariat (2002)

I finished recording this album in 2002. The songs were all recorded on a Tascam 48 1/2″ analog 8-track tape machine. This album was kind of the beginning of my shift to a more “country” or “folk” sound.
Secretariat
SECRETARIAT:
1. Virginia (multitrack)
2. Lucky As Hell (multitrack)
3. Pick Me Up (multitrack)
4. I’ve Never Known (multitrack)
5. Give Up (multitrack)
6. You or Me (multitrack)
7. Work Out (multitrack)
8. Black Train (multitrack)

There were a few songs I had written around this time that were meant to be included on the album, but I either never got the chance to flesh them out or just wasn’t somehow completely satisfied with them. Here are some rough demos of those unfinished songs:
* All Roads Lead to One
* Find My Way (multitrack)
* I Know Not What I Do
* It Ain’t So Bad
* The Day Is Ours
* Tumbling Down

I played some of the songs from the album with my band, which was also called Secretariat, around 2002-2003. The band consisted of Stephen Baniak on drums, Christian Patterson on lead guitar, Adam Wisniewski on bass, Chip Harlan on pedal steel and organ, and me playing rhythm guitar. We made a few recordings of the songs above:
* Virginia
* You or Me
* Lucky As Hell
* I’ve Never Known
* Black Train

The band also made a couple recordings of a few old favorites, which we would include in our live set:
* Big Sky
* Monochrome

I also went through a phase of recording stripped down covers of some old country songs with friends. Here are a couple examples:
* Alabama, written by the Louvin brothers
* Hickory, written by the Gram Parsons
* Cuba, a traditional folk song I learned from a recording by Dock Boggs

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