“I could imagine a Charlie Daniels / ‘Devil Went Down’ thing — so having J’Anna Jacoby and Brian Whelan both on the song got it where I wanted it.”
Singer/songwriter Mike Stinson is an undiscovered legend. If we were living in the late ’70s, Stinson would be signed to a major record label, flying a private jet to and from appearances and sharing the stage with the likes of George Jones, Merle Haggard and Charlie Rich.
Years ago, I saw Stinson play when I was opening for him at Taix in Los Angeles. Stinson commanded the stage and held the crowd’s attention while the club booker handed him whiskeys, effortlessly plowing through one tragic hurtin’ song after another. He’d played Taix many times, sitting in on drums with I See Hawks in L.A. and other Los Angeles bands, before he left for Texas. Because I kept track of Stinson’s whereabouts through mutuals, I read about his L.A. lineup, including guitarist Brian Whelan.
Los Angeles has 3.8 million people, but with musicians, anyone will tell you, it’s a small town. There are micro-scenes within a scene that occasionally sync with geography, like the Cinema Bar in Culver City which is a scene unto itself. The OG country and alt-country/rock crowd of the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys all came together at a lively joint in Burbank, Viva Cantina. Viva was hosted in an old vintage restaurant, located at the trifecta of classic Burbank establishments: the Burbank Equestrian Center, the Pickwick Bowl, and Pickwick Diner. That part of Burbank always feels like a visit back in time, and Viva had the feel of an open-air palapa in Baja. It was such a great place to see live music (Jonny Whiteside’s Messaround).
I’d gone to Viva one night to see my friend Skip Heller and his band in the back room. As I walked in, I caught a few minutes of Brian Whelan and band in the front room. In the back, I sat down with old friends Madame Pamita (who booked Grand Ol’ Echo) and musicians Kristy Callan and Karen Basset. We talked about the bands who were playing. Pamita urged me to meet Whelan, so I beelined his way to meet him. I suggested I’d love to have him play on one of my songs someday and he agreed, but at that point, I didn’t even have any plans to record.
Last year, after recording basic tracks of “Silver Lining” with Jim and Derrick, I knew I had to have Brian on guitar. Jim’s drumming created an engine force on the tune that was exactly what I wanted, and I knew Brian would add the rockin’ country lead that the song needed. A few weeks later, Brian met us at Marc Doten’s place in Echo Park and jumped right in; he played on “Silver Lining” (as well as “Cork” and “On the Lake”). Brian thought it was hilarious that I suggested he play in an aggressive “Devil Went Down to Georgia” way — that’s the guitar sound I was looking for. A Bill Monroe or Grand Ol’ Opry example didn’t feel like enough of a guideline. He was a joy to work with, full of entertaining stories and music tidbits, and he certainly spun his magic on the track.
I could lament that I miss this part of the Los Angeles community, but truth be told, so many folks have relocated to the desert (both Palm Springs and Joshua Tree, high and low desert) that it’s now a bona fide extension of the L.A. music scene.
