From Greenwich Village in the mid-1960s to Haight-Ashbury at the end of the decade; from the new wave inflected Nu-Models to the dance-heavy Mystery Tramps, all highlights in a career full of producing and writing for a slew of other acts, Bill Cutler’s career had already hit any number of magnificent peaks long before he released his first solo album.
But he’d been recording it for years!
Bill recalls, “Making [this album] was the most difficult undertaking of my entire professional life.” Work on what would become Ridin’ High began in 1975, with Jerry Garcia (Grateful Dead)front and foremost on the sessions. Scheduling conflicts, however, saw work come to a halt, and the tapes were mothballed until 1993, when “Jerry asked me what had happened to the tapes from my album. I told him they had been sitting in my house for the last 18 years. He said, ‘Let’s restore those tapes, cut the other half, and finish your album’.”
Tragically, Garcia passed away before work could recommence, “and those tapes went back in the closet again. But a few years later, since these were some of Jerry’s only studio tracks outside of the Grateful Dead that were still unreleased, people wanted to hear them, and I decided to go back to work on my album.”
Fresh sessions followed but so did legal issues surrounding Garcia’s involvement, “a firestorm that lasted almost a decade.”
But Cutler did not give up and, when the album was finally released in 2008, it was clear that the wait had been worthwhile. Drawing further contributors from a lifetime of musical collaborations and friendships, Ridin’ High features appearances from Garcia’s Grateful Dead bandmate Bob Weir, Jorma Kaukonen (Jefferson Airplane), Jerry Miller (Moby Grape), David Nelson (New Riders of the Purple Sage), Pat Campbell (the Good Ol’ Boys), Barry Sless (the David Nelson Band), Roy Schmall (Big Brother), Matthew Kelly (Kingfish), Mark Karan (Ratdog) and more!
This much-anticipated reissue is titled for “Ridin’ High,” a song Bill first recorded back in 1973, as a member of the country rockin’ David Rea and Slewfoot. Revisited here, however, it is a very different proposition.
Across the album, Garcia’s unmistakable lead guitar shines brightly, but so does everybody involved with this remarkable record – Kaukonen’s bass on “Sailin’ Man”; Sless’s pedal steel (“Starlite Jamboree”), Michael Falzarano’s mandolin (“Ballad of Bras Couple”)… and too many more to name.
With its mood and atmosphere firmly locked within that glorious west coast vibe that has never dimmed since it first slammed into view, back in the mid-late sixties, Ridin’ High is now firmly established as a favorite not only with Cutler’s own following, but with an army of Deadheads, too.
And Cutler concludes, “In spite of all that I went through to make this album, it’s still one of my proudest musical accomplishments. The experience taught me that there’s no expiration date on music and art.”
Ridin’ High releases on November 6 on CD and vinyl.
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=bill+cutler
Track listing
1. Rockingham Hill
2. Ridin’ High
3. Starlite Jamboree
4. Burning The Candle
5. Slow Glider
6. Delta Nightingale
7. Sailin’ Man
8. Crossing The Line
9. Ballad Of Bras Coupe
