This album was an interesting listen:
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter has had a wide-ranging career, from being guitarist in the early version of Steely Dan and also one of the Doobie Brothers, to working as a defense consultant for the US Department of Defense and several defense contractors for the US Government, as well as a guitar technician who once wound his own electric guitar pickup coils on his mother's sewing machine. This is his first solo album after decades in the music industry as a sideman for hundreds of sessions.
He covers four songs, including two from Steely Dan; his cover of "My Old School" turns the song into a rocker (and is my favorite track on the album); "Do It Again" gets a downtempo 6/8 shuffle treatment that is unexpected. Songs written by Skunk and his collaborator C.J. Vanston flesh out the rest of the album, with guest artists Michael McDonald, Clint Black, and Jonny Lang also co-composing with them on their guest tracks. "Ladies from Hell" is a nod towards his Scottish heritage, following the history of Scotland.
The sound quality gets a little bit slammed with compression (as modern recordings do) but it's not too obnoxious like some others out there. Musically it's a variety of styles and moods, and well worth a listen.
"My Old School" has an interesting story behind the vocal. Skunk had sent the track to Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) to sing the lead vocals but Tyler, hearing Skunk's scratch vocals on the track, insisted Skunk use his own vocals over anything he could record, since Skunk had sung the original with Steely Dan when they toured in the early days. And, Skunk's solo closes out the Steely Dan version.
Jeff "Skunk" Baxter has had a wide-ranging career, from being guitarist in the early version of Steely Dan and also one of the Doobie Brothers, to working as a defense consultant for the US Department of Defense and several defense contractors for the US Government, as well as a guitar technician who once wound his own electric guitar pickup coils on his mother's sewing machine. This is his first solo album after decades in the music industry as a sideman for hundreds of sessions.
He covers four songs, including two from Steely Dan; his cover of "My Old School" turns the song into a rocker (and is my favorite track on the album); "Do It Again" gets a downtempo 6/8 shuffle treatment that is unexpected. Songs written by Skunk and his collaborator C.J. Vanston flesh out the rest of the album, with guest artists Michael McDonald, Clint Black, and Jonny Lang also co-composing with them on their guest tracks. "Ladies from Hell" is a nod towards his Scottish heritage, following the history of Scotland.
The sound quality gets a little bit slammed with compression (as modern recordings do) but it's not too obnoxious like some others out there. Musically it's a variety of styles and moods, and well worth a listen.
"My Old School" has an interesting story behind the vocal. Skunk had sent the track to Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) to sing the lead vocals but Tyler, hearing Skunk's scratch vocals on the track, insisted Skunk use his own vocals over anything he could record, since Skunk had sung the original with Steely Dan when they toured in the early days. And, Skunk's solo closes out the Steely Dan version.
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