released 2-1-72
Much of Harvest was written about or for Carrie Snodgress, a wonderful actress and person and Zeke Young’s mother.
This album was loved by many people. I have written about it in the past and I want to share this with you: ‘Recording Harvest’ (previously in the Times Contrarian)
RECORDING HARVEST
The album Harvest is made up of a diverse group of sources - a live acoustic performance, London Symphony Orchestra performances, Nashville studio sessions, and a session at Broken Arrow Ranch’s barn, now lovingly called the Harvest Barn, part of which is in this short film - ‘Are You Ready For The Country?’
In early January 1971, I was touring solo across Canada and in Toronto at Massey Hall, David Briggs recorded me on a 7 1/2 IPS stereo tape recorder. I think there was a multi track recording from that night but Mr. Briggs nailed the sound on the stereo recorder and we used that - saving a generation by not having to go to the master tape to re-mix. That gave the Massey Hall concert an immediate sound. Every tape generation takes you further from the original sound. The Massey Hall performance was released years later as a stand alone live album.
Later that January in Los Angeles, recording a solo Royce Hall show on the same tour with Henry Lewy at the board, we captured ‘Needle and The Damage Done’ and that was the first track that made it onto the Harvest LP.
Early in February I was in Nashville to appear on the Johnny Cash show. Broadcast from the Rhyman Auditorium, the show had just opened the week before with Bob Dylan as a guest, singing with Johnny. James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt were playing the second week’s show and I was on the show as well. Elliot Mazer, who I had just met, had an idea. James and Linda joined me in the studio for a session. Elliot Mazer chose the musicians for the session and put the whole thing together. ‘Harvest’ would have never happened without Elliot. He is great. He was at the board, recording. We captured ‘Bad Fog of Loneliness’, ‘Old Man’ and ‘Heart of Gold’ that first day. James and Linda sang with me, overdubbing on the choruses and James played banjo with us live on Old Man. These were all brand new fresh songs that I had been performing on my solo tour. The sessions were an amazing time with Kenny Buttrey on drums and I could not believe how great he was, so locked in with my right hand. He had his drums set up so he could see my hand on the guitar. Tim Drummond played bass and Ben Keith was on steel guitar. These were great musicians and wonderful people. They were so tuned in to what I was doing; it was easy going and that was the beginning of life-long friendships between us. Ben Keith played with me for over 40 years. Tim Drummond was with me for a very long time as well. What a wonderful group of musicians they were. Elliot got a pure clean sound, using a bit of tape repeat on my vocal. He mixed on the Quad-8 console at Quadrafonic Studios on Nashville’s legendary 16th avenue, where many historic studios were located at the time. It was part of Nashville’s famed Music Row. I was over my head with good fortune and luck combined! Elliot Mazer was key to Harvest’s success.
The next month I was doing a solo concert at Royal Festival Hall in London England and had booked the London Symphony Orchestra for a recording session at Barking Town Hall. Jack Nitzche was arranging and producing the live session. Glyn Johns was at the board. We captured ‘A man Needs A Maid’ and ‘There’s A World’. The sessions were filmed by Wim van der Linden and we will soon be premiering unseen footage here at the Times Contrarian. Both songs were included in ‘Harvest’. This again, was an amazing experience. For me, everything was new and I was living the dream.
Soon April arrived and we were back in Nashville recording with Elliot Mazer at Quadrafonic Sound Studio. I had more songs- ‘Out on the Weekend’, ‘Harvest’, ‘Journey Through the Past’ and ‘Dance Dance Dance’. John Harris, pianist, joined us for the session. You can really hear him on the song ‘Harvest’. Tony Joe White played electric guitar on ‘Dance Dance Dance’. The first two of those songs, ‘Out on the Weekend’ and ‘Harvest’ made it onto the album. Then we headed home. (More footage from that session may exist and the archivist is looking for it now. If it is found, NYA will share it with you soon).
A few months later in September we were at Broken Arrow Ranch, my home for a year since September 1970. We recorded in the barn on a stage built by John Snodgress, Carrie’s brother. Carrie is the mother of my oldest son, Zeke, who is an important part of our archives team. Those were some great times! The stage was built from old barn wood to be ready and looking good for some filming with the band. We played ‘Are you Ready for the Country’, “Alabama’, and ‘Words’, the subject of a previous article here in the Times-Contrarian. ‘Are You Ready for the Country’ was written at the ranch shortly before the barn sessions happened. It’s a simple song based on an old blues melody that has been used many times. I thought it would bring some welcome relief from the other songs.
The raw film we see here is found in the (9/26/71) info-card for ‘Are You Ready for the Country’. I particularly like the groove of this recording as Tim Drummond lays it down with Kenny Buttrey, while Jack plays slide guitar, something I had never heard him do before that time.
Occasionally you can see Tim Mulligan, who is my incredible live-sound mixer and mastering engineer and has been since shortly after that time. Tim is the young man moving around in the background. He helped produce some of my albums such as ‘Comes a Time’.
That’s how Harvest was made and those songs have left a mark on me and many of the people I see in my life today. If you are one of those people, a deeply felt thanks for being there.
ny / NYA