I’d had a home studio for years and recorded all of my girls at one time or another so this wasn’t the first time Sammie and I had sung or recorded together but it was the first time I ever thought about putting an act together with her. Rachel currently performs with the Atlanta based all-female a capella group “ Octave.” Rachel’s forays into musical theater, piano and singing had a big influence on Sammie. My oldest daughter Rachel who is also a very fine singer really didn’t have a chance to do something like this with me because of the demands put on me by a house full of kids. I am so glad I did.Īll of my daughters are talented but I guess Sammie was lucky to be the last one at home.

When I was done I somehow convinced Sammie to come down and fool around with those intricate Garfunkel harmonies. Looking for anything to do on such a dreary day, I jumped up, went downstairs to the studio and laid down a rhythm track and lead vocal. Having inherited great taste in music from her dad (me), she, of course, loved it. She said no so I pulled it up on the Internet and let her hear it. Strumming the chords to Paul Simon’s “America” I looked over to my then 15-year-old daughter Sammie and asked her if she’d ever heard the song.

Feeling sorry for myself, I was killing time picking around on some melancholy tunes. That season (2009) I think we had two jobs. Holiday parties and New Year’s Eve were steady sources of big money. In a typical year we’d make at least a quarter of our annual income in November and December. On a cold, rainy January day I was sitting in my sweatpants, playing my guitar, bemoaning the fact that my band, The Mustangs, had just experienced one of our worst holiday seasons ever.

Foxes and fossils suite judy blue eyes