Jon Anderson

Jonathan Anderson is an artist, producer and multi-instrumentalist living in Langley, BC, with his wife and 2 children. Equally comfortable on the stageas in the studio, Jonathan has been playing music since his early days in
childhood piano lessons, through high school jazz bands and choirs, through
his first band and the many subsequent bands to follow. He’s as likely to be
found playing drums, bass, keyboards, banjo, or lapsteel as he is to be singing
or on the guitar.
Jonathan has toured all across Canada, Germany, Denmark, Holland and
the UK and has performed at many of the major music conferences in North America
(New Music West, NXNE, SXSW, CMW, WCMA, Junofest and the Halifax Pop Explosion)
and has shared the stage with the Weakerthans, Julie Doiron, Josh Rouse, Joseph Arthur
and many more. He has released 1 solo album under his own name and 4 cds with his
musical entity Jonathan Inc. (with a 5th to be released within the year). His songs
have been featured on TV shows (scrubs, degrassi jr high, falconcrest) and
independent films alike.

These days Jonathan finds himself making music more and more in the studio
having caught the production bug and discovered a real love of sonics, arrangingand collaboration with other artists and songwriters. He's produced albums with
many different solo artists and bands including Stabilo, Sheree Plett, Lance Odegard,
In Medias Res among many others and frequently appears as a guest musician on
other albums. For more info visit: www.buenavistaaudio.com

Garth Bowen

Garth is currently in his 30th year of teaching high school music at Hugh Boyd Secondary in Richmond, specializing in Jazz Education, African Drumming, Music Comp & Studio Production. He began writing songs and playing instruments as a boy and then during studies in music UBC he played clubs, and bars. During this time came some great solo experiences opening for the bigger Christian Acts. At some point, family and work life directed creative energies into his students. Both of his sons went through his jazz bands and drumming classes. Since the late 80’s Garth has worked on the side as worship leader, camp director, community band director and completed a Masters Degree in Jazz Education. Running showcase performances with many talented people and playing music with good friends such as the Wildings and Graham Ord have been precious. Some think his fiddling is pretty freaky and that’s because he’s still young at heart. He now enjoys summer resuscitation on the Sunshine Coast with his wife Barb and two golden retrievers. Garth was blessed to meet Jay and work with some great folks on this project. He finally produced his own Christmas CD in 2008, entitled “A Single Birth.” You can contact Garth at gobowen@shaw.ca or www.garthbowen.com.

The Players

I've never done another recording like this one. It's been 2.5 years in process. Its starting to feel a bit more like an epic than the snapshot I intended it to be. All good I guess. In the midst of it all we've had some highs and some lows. hope it is worth it in the end - though I have no idea how to define 'worth it'.

So here is a bit of a snapshot of each of the players. Most everybody played multiple instruments or made themselves useful in other equally important roles.

The Songs

Songwriting has become a diary for me. It helps me vent. It helps me explain myself in ways I can't in conversation, and in learning the great value of re-writing I've come to write and re-write for the sheer pleasure of the creative process. While some parts of the songs are true and factual, some are not. Some are a vague word picture of a reality I have a hard time putting into words. Some are fun and though you might think I'm poking fun at an aspect of society, such as the prosperity gospel in Jesus Drives A Cadillac, on a rather serious level, I'm actually poking fun at myself. I hope I can shed a bit of light on whats behind the songs here. Thanks for reading! Here's the list...

1. Here we Are
2. Into The Arms
3. Mambo On The Rooftops
4. The Lights Up Ahead Song
5. Jesus Drives A Cadillac
6. Louder Than Words
7. Waiting For You
8. Something
9. Lead Me To The Rock
10. Longing For The Moon
11. White-Washed Tomb
12. Maybe Tomorrow

and possibly...
13. All Creation

Who Did What?

It takes a bunch of good souls to make something like this. Here are the players and the roles they played...

The Band
Kenton Wiens - drums
Jon Perkins - bass guitar
Brett Ziegler - piano & keyboards, harmonica, backing vocals, toy piano, Wurly
Jon Anderson - lap steel & electric guitars
Garth Bowen - electric violin
Daphne Rademaker - backing vocals, acoustic & electric guitar
Steve Klassen - backing vocals, 12 string electric guitar
JD - acoustic & electric guitars, lead vocals

Production
Engineered by Steve Klassen
Produced by Daphne Rademaker
Additional Production by Steve Klassen and Brett Ziegler
Additional Engineering by Daphne Rademaker and Roy Salmond
Recorded at Whitewater Studios in Surrey, BC, c/o Roy Salmond
Mixed at Suite Sounds Studio, Abbotsford, BC
Mastered - not yet???
Executive Producer - JD

A Long Road

The last time I saw Steve we made a list of all the signifigant events that have taken place in the lives of the people on the record. It's been over 2 1/2 years in the making, and probably five years in the writing - so I guess its no surprise that some important things happened along the way.

Irena and I were married.
Steve and Courtney were married.
Brett and Julia were married.
Irena and I had our first child, Noah Lukian.
Jon & Katie had their first daughter.
I spent 3 months in Uganda teaching two students.
I spent 3 1/2 months in Uganda teaching 11 students.
Kenton biked across Canada.
Kenton had knee surgery.
I moved numerous times.
I had a few vehicles.
My grandmother died.
Steve's grandmother died.
I worked for a church I fell in love with by accident.

I'm sure I'm missing lots, but you get the picture. Needless to say, I am stock piling the new song ideas for the next record in 10 years!

How Did This Happen?

Knowing nothing at all about blogging I've decided to use a blog to replace the sixteen page booklet that would have accompanied my new cd. Maybe no one will ever read it - and maybe no one will ever hear the disc - who knows? The disc is huge for me. A real learning curve on so many levels.

I wanted to find a way to share whats behind the disc, and to tell about the special people who helped to make it a reality, and I wanted to talk about the songs themselves and the stories behind them - the journey that led to making another record.

It seems I make a new record every 5 - 10 years. Slow like molasses over an open fire in the middle of an Albertan snowstorm - you know they're melting, but you're also frightfully aware you may freeze to death before they're good and gooey.

Thats all for now. Keep your stick on the ice and your eye on the sparrow.