We recorded and mixed “There Are Birds” in the Bald Eagle room at Chrometop Studio, which is in our basement. Bob has created a fantastic environment. Sim Cain (drums) and Ray Nissen (bass) completed all the basic tracks in one insanely fun weekend. Then Bob and I overdubbed guitars and vocals at our leisure and would pass off semi-finished songs to Ray, who wrote and arranged the brass and orchestral parts. The horn players recorded here for a day, as did Charlie Giordano (E Street Band), who played two of the most beautiful accordions I’ve ever seen.
Many of the songs arose from actual events. For example, “Veery” is about going to my local nature center Flat Rock Brook when we lived in Englewood, NJ, and happening upon an unusually friendly Veery during migration. I sat down on the hill overlooking the horseshoe boardwalk, and the Veery kept hopping around me and listening to me talk to it. I went back the next day and there it was, and we did the same thing again. I visited the bird for a couple weeks until one day, it was gone.
“House Sparrow” was written about a bird that Bob rescued when he was mowing the lawn. She was nearly dead, but we took her inside and I put her in a box and gave her some water and food. I sat with her for a couple hours and sang to her, and I named her Emily. When she recovered, we tried to get her to fly out the window, but she got disoriented and started flying all over the room. Bob found a broomstick and got her to sit on it, and we took her over to a window and extended the broomstick far outside, so she wouldn’t mistakenly fly back in. Before she took off, she turned around and looked right at us, as if she were saying, “thanks for helping me,” and then she flew away and landed in a tree next to some other House Sparrows.
Other songs came about from the desire to write about specific birds, such as the Black-throated Blue Warbler, which is my favorite warbler. I was searching through my old lyric books on a whim and found what are now most of the verses for “Black-throated Blue Warbler,” although I rewrote some of them to fit the sentiment of the song. I wrote new lyrics for the choruses, and I thought it all fit together perfectly. My goal was to convey how migration evolved over a great expanse of time and how it is innate within the birds.
I wanted Megan Massa to design the cover art because I saw an article in ABA Magazine about her and began looking at her work on online. I absolutely loved what I saw and was very drawn to her images. I contacted her and sent her some demos of the songs. She roughed out 3 or 4 concepts based on our conversation, and we ran with the Black-throated Blue Warbler idea. I wanted Megan to capture my sentiment that birds are here no matter what we humans do (well, barring complete environmental destruction, but that’s a whole other topic). They exist and go about their business whether we observe them or not. They migrate. They breed. They live and die. Hence, there are birds. But Megan also pointed out another theme running through my lyrics, which is the passage of time. I hadn’t been conscious of it until she mentioned it, but indeed it’s true, and it’s especially evident in the lyrics for “Black-throated Blue Warbler.” Megan was able to marry those two ideas in her stunning cover art. I couldn’t be happier with the end result.
Download (right click/save) the album cover art here:
One-sheet/bio PDF for press and radio (click to download)
The Players
Stephanie Seymour – lead vocals, backup vocals, percussion
Stephanie was the drummer for The Aquanettas, backup singer and percussion player for Psychic Penguin, lead singer and songwriter for Birdy, and has sung backup for too many bands to list here over many years. She really loves birds. And crystals.
Bob Perry – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, keyboards on “Ruby-crowned Kinglet”
Bob is an accomplished singer/songwriter and amazing guitar player with two solo albums under his belt: “American Standardsville” and “Light Fuse, Run Away,” both released on Cropduster Records. Bob was also a guitar player in the much-acclaimed band Winter Hours.
Ray Nissen – bass, string and brass arrangements, keyboards on “Black-throated Blue Warbler” and “Northern Lapwing”
Ray is known to play the occasional bass, guitar, or keyboard. But what he really loves is to compose and arrange for instruments he cannot play. And also cooking.
Sim Cain – drums
What do Rollins Band, Greg Ginn, David Poe, Marc Ribot, David Shea, Elliott Sharp, Ween, Hubert Sumlin, Evan Dando, Chris Harford, T-Bone Burnett, John Zorn, J. Geils Band, Billy Hector, and Rebecca Turner all have in common? If you guessed Sim Cain, you’d be correct.
Charlie Giordano – accordion on “Common Loon,” keyboards on “Northern Mockingbird” and “House Sparrow”
Charlie is a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. (mic drop)
James Mastro – lead guitar on “Black-throated Blue Warbler”
James has been in showbiz for 400+ years, playing with the likes of Ian Hunter, John Cale, Patti Smith, Health & Happiness Show, and The Bongos.
Garrett Faccone – trumpet, flugelhorn
Garrett earned a Master of Music Performance degree from Towson University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Slippery Rock University. Credits include: Trumpet Chair – The American Music Theatre (Lancaster, PA), 42nd Street the Musical (2016 US National Tour), In The Mood Live! (2015 US National Tour), and Blast! The Show (2014 Japan Tour).
Erick Storckman – trombone, bass trombone
Trombonist Erick Storckman has three jazz albums as a leader to his credit. He is the lead trombonist and a contributing composer to Diane Moser’s Composers Big Band. He’s recorded dozens of albums with a variety of artists and performed with a who’s-who list of popular artists, including The Temptations, The Four Tops, Aretha Franklin, Frankie Valle and The Four Seasons, and many Broadway shows. (ErickStorckman.com)
Ken Zampella – alto sax, tenor sax
Ken is a band and orchestra director at Piscataway High School, holding degrees in saxophone from Mason Gross School of the Arts and William Paterson University. In addition to serving as clinician, composer, and arranger for jazz and classical ensembles, he is also the founder and director of the Garden State Jazz Orchestra. Ken has performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Westminster Abbey, the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in London, and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as recorded at the legendary United Sound Systems Recording Studio in Detroit.
Sherryl Marshall – backup vocals on “Migration Is Over” and “Blue Jay”
Sherryl Marshall is a singer/songwriter/backup vocalist/gardener. She also loves to paste tiny flowers on wood. Sherryl has sung with lots of people and is so happy to be singing with Steph and the birds!
Deborah Berg – backup vocals on “Migration Is Over” and “Blue Jay”
Deborah is a performing songwriter and recording artist who has written and recorded six albums in her 38-year musical career. She has recently released her third independent solo album, New Road Home. She was a Warner Brothers recording artist in the 1980s with Eye to Eye, her band with British music composer Julian Marshall. She feels grateful to have had many artistic opportunities through the years with a plentitude of talented friends and acquaintances in the NYC area. (deborahberg.com)
Mary Ann Emerson – backup vocals on “Northern Mockingbird”
Mary Ann Emerson is an occasional backup vocalist and actor. She will never pass up the opportunity to sing with Stephanie.
Produced by Bob Perry
Mixed by Bob Perry and Stephanie Seymour
Engineered by Bob Perry and Scott Anthony
Recorded at Chrometop Studio
Mastered by Scott Anthony at Storybook Sound
©2019 All songs written by Stephanie Seymour
Published by Royal Greatness Music/ASCAP
All rights reserved.