Here in the Quad-Cities, we have a minor league baseball team. It’s been here for a long time, playing in a beautiful riverfront stadium that’s buffered on the right side by a bumpy, gray, steel, McDonald’s-looking bridge that’s kind of gorgeous when it’s lit at night. It’s a sight from the bridge and Will Johnson’s passed it countless times and wanted to sit down with a scorecard and concession stand food to watch a game. When informed that his favorite big league team’s Class A affiliate plays its games there, it made the urge stronger. There wasn’t enough time to see some of the future St. Louis Cardinals play with the session and a show in Iowa City to get to – that and David Bazan isn’t the biggest baseball fan. He certainly wouldn’t keep balls and strikes and save the card when the game was over. While Bazan was recording his session – just following his own – Johnson commented on songs and it was great hearing his own interpretations, however unsubstantiated they might have been. It was a great reminder that it’s the way music is meant to be processed – individually without a right and a wrong. And the music of both Johnson and Bazan is a great practice set for this. It’s personal and yet equally separate from that. The way, on this session, that Johnson’s voice thumps you hard right in the information centers, booming and clean – with his acoustic creaking like a gentle breeze beneath – is all kinds of striking. – Sean Moeller

First song
Emma Jane (Will Johnson) [3.57MB] [2083 downloads]


— unreleased
This was finished when South San Gabriel got together to record back in February. It was cold and we kept a fire going outside each evening until all hours of the night. I was staying at the studio apartment, kinda out in the woods right next to the studio. At the end of most nights I’d go upstairs a little tired and tipsy and write and that’s when this came together. Some of this song is straight up fact, and some is flat out based on fears. I originally thought it might be a throw away, but Buffy and Tamara’s performances (string players) really resuscitated the whole thing.

Second song
Philo Manitoba (Will Johnson) [2.88MB] [1842 downloads]


– original version appears on Murder of Tides
Written on Super Bowl Sunday 2001. The Ravens beat the Giants 13-10 I think. I finished it very quickly and played it for my wife at the time. I felt good about it, but when I got done she mentioned that a very similar occurrence had happened at her school when she was young. She was understandably unsettled. I had no idea.

Third song
The Re-Run Pills (Will Johnson) [3.23MB] [1863 downloads]


– original version appears on Murder of Tides
Wrote this at my desk in December of 1999, right after we made South San Gabriel Songs/Music. Written very fast, very quietly. It was late at night and people and pets were sleeping nearby. It’s just a document of my uncertainty of that time. Barry Hannah said that “to their wives all men are garbagemen trying to make a comeback,” and that’s pretty close to what I was feeling. I’m just not smart enough to put it as well as Hannah.

Fourth song
Vultures Await (Will Johnson) [3.96MB] [1868 downloads]


– original version appears on Vultures Await
Similar to “Emma Jane” in that it was written as partial fiction at the time, but different in that pretty much all of it came true.