tracks

I'm So Glad U Let Me In
My Bonnie
Journalistic Girl
One Planet-One Utopia-One Helmet (Espresso Mix 2007)
Grateful
She's Not Some Animal #2
The Sleeping Giant (Of Love)
Drive A Nail
The Brakeman's Dead
Unresolved (Graham Greene's Script For Laurel & Hardy) Kick Mix
Please Don't Wait Too Long (Beach Mix)
Exotic Animals & Beaches Of Pennsylvania
Dumb Angel
(I Wanna Bein) Pennsylvania
Desert Ruby (Yellow House Canyon Mix)

notes

Take songs on tapes that have outlasted earthquakes, hurricanes, and incarcerations. Add some digital salvation and out comes the "Franken-compilation" CD, GRATEFUL.

Blair exclaimed, "I'm grateful that people kept requesting these songs, even though I thought the master recordings were gone. I was told that some were destroyed in an earthquake. Another set was in a fire. Some were trashed by record companies. One guy took my tapes to South America and lost them.

"Last year, my friends discovered pieces of these tapes 'marooned' on two continents. It's like finding lost people on an island!”

Thrashy-guitar pop, stacks of Beach Boy-like vocals, string quartets and hard-rock improvisation are features of GRATEFUL. Titles include full band versions of Desert Ruby ("a surreal diary of a bus ride from Tampa to Los Angeles"), She's Not Some Animal, and other songs Blair often performs live. He said, "This isn't your typical compilation. Many of the songs have never been released. The older songs have been remastered or remixed, or I added new parts. It's a total makeover. There are also some new songs fresh off the board.”

“Unearthed gems" include a jet-propelled cover of My Bonnie, dressed in riffs from David Bowie's glam era. The punk-psychedelia of I'm So Glad (U Let Me In) is Blair's "love note to San Francisco," where much of GRATEFUL was recorded. Other parts of GRATEFUL take a whimsical look at the Keystone State (I Wanna Be In Pennsylvania).

Guest artists include ex-Monkee Davy Jones, Michael Miller (Gilmore Girls), Michael Roe (The 77s), "power pop prince" Chris von Sneidern (www.cvsmusic.com), and members of the seminal "jangly-guitar band" Flying Color. Engineers include Aaron Gregory (Chris Isaak), Grammy-winner Rusty Richards, "Williamsport legend" Tim Breon, and Hunter Wentzler. Scott Francis is the executive remixer.

Blair's "quirky music career" spans decades. Urban irreverence, romantic abstraction and bittersweet spirituality define his offbeat but sunny brand of "pure pop music."

credits

Bass, Drums, Drum Machine, Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion, Violin, Accordion, Lead Vocals, Harmony Vocals, Producer, Songwriter – Johnny J. Blair (tracks: All)
Bass, Electric Guitar – Frank Hakava (tracks: 12)
Drums – Bennett Green (tracks: 9), Bil Bryant, (tracks: 12), Billy Reynolds (tracks: 4, 11), Brian S. Wilson (tracks: 13), Erik Nielsen (2) (tracks: 6, 14), Ron Davis (tracks: 15)
Electric Guitar – Chris von Sneidern (tracks: 9)
Engineer – Aaron Gregory (tracks: 9), Rusty Richards, Tim Breon
Engineer, Remastered By – Xavier Scott Francis
Lead Guitar – Daryl Puett (tracks: 4), Michael Miller (tracks: 9)
Lead Vocals – Davy Jones (tracks: 12)
Lead Vocals, Harmony Vocals, Percussion – Michael Roe (tracks: 14)
Songwriter – Amy Mintzer (tracks: 8)
Sound Designer, Engineer – Power F/X (tracks: 3, 6, 9, 12)
Strings – Felix String Quartet (tracks: 1, 12)
Tenor Saxophone – Vince Alire

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