Ben E. Brady - The Lost Studio Sessions

When I was 17 years old I was living with my Dad in Circle City, Arizona and going to high school in Wickenburg and a friend of mine, who lived across the street, had some company come and visit from Owensboro, KY.  They stayed for about 3 months and when they finally decided to go back to Kentucky, they were packing things up in the car and realized they didn't have room for an old beat up guitar they had brought out with them. They asked me if I would like to have it and I jumped at the chance. I had always wanted to learn to play guitar but growing up in a family with 6 brothers and sisters there wasn't a lot of money to spend on a luxury like guitar lessons. So, I took the guitar and nearly drove my Dad crazy with trying to learn how to play from a book. He used to tell me "Throw that damn thing away, you'll never learn to play it."

Well, life has a way of working out in an interesting way and I ended up going back to stay with my mother in Massachusetts, about a month before my 18th birthday. When I turned 18, my mother told me it was time to make my own way in the world and out I went with everything I owned, including that old beat up guitar.  I lived in a small room in a rooming house without any radio or television, tried to get through my junior year of high school for the fifth time (family issues were darn tough on my scholastic career) and spent all of my free time learning how to play the guitar. Some friends from church where I went also played and it was through their patience that things started to sink in.  After a while, I had the opportunity to move back out to Arizona and after a short stay with my Dad, I got a job working as a cowboy on a small cattle ranch. (Pretty fun for a kid who spent most of his life in a mill town just north of Boston.) 

I had been playing guitar for about a year in church, doing gospel music when someone said to me, "You've got a great voice, you should do that for a living".  Well, the job on the ranch between Phoenix and Wickenburg, Arizona was an 'easy' job in terms of the demands on my time, so I figured 'What the heck" and started singing in the local beer joints.

After a short period of time, I wrote the song "Enough to Stay" and happened to play it one night at Larry's bar in Wittmann, AZ. (which is where this picture was taken in 1975)  Annie Olof, Larry's mother, knew a record producer in Wickenburg and she called him on the phone and told him to come to the bar right away. About a half hour or so later, he arrived.  I played the song a few times for him and then he said, "I've got some studio time in Phoenix on Monday. Can you meet me here and we'll go down and record it?" I said "Sure!".  A couple of days later I was in a recording studio with a brand new 12 string guitar that my Dad bought for me, he really was supportive after he saw that I could actually play the thing. 

On the way back from the recording studio we stopped in a beer joint and did an impromptu set and that pretty much launched my singing career on the road. For the next few years I went from beer joints to hotel lounges all over Arizona, New Mexico and West Texas doing a single act. It was a lot of fun, I met a lot of great people, made a bit of money with some record sales and generally had a great time. But life on the road does wear on you and I got tired of singing in a new place every two weeks or so, not having anywhere to get my mail and living in motels or sleeping in the van. That's when I decided to get back to doing computer programming for a living and just play the guitar for recreation and in church, where it was more enjoyable for me and those who were listening.

Just RIGHT-CLICK on each of the links and select "Save Target As" from the context menu.
I hope you enjoy listening to these as much as I enjoy singing them.
 
I wrote this when I was 19 years old for a girl I had a crush on... I don't know why but people really seem to like this one. When I played it on the road it was always a favorite.

Enough to Stay (original - 1976)		 One of my favorite good old country songs originally done by Ned Miller, it's been covered by many other famous country artists. And it's a lot of fun to sing.

From a Jack to a King
Glen Campbell was a very influential artist to me
when I was growing up. When I finally learned how to play the guitar this was one of my favorites. This was written by John Hartford and is probably one of his most successful songs. I used to sit around the old taxi station in Wickenburg, AZ and play this with a guy who was in a band that used to play backup for Glen Campbell. Tom had some pretty wild stories to tell about those times.

Gentle On My Mind		 Old country songs were a real 'staple' for me when I started singing on the road. I was 19 in Arizona, traveling around to different beer joints and many times people would tell me, "You're too young to know those old songs."... and then I'd do some REALLY old ones, just to show them I could. How about some old Jimmie Rodgers and Gene Autry?


Green, Green Grass of Home
When I was about 12 years old my grandfather
gave me a cassette tape for Christmas. It was my
first 'album' and featured Johnny Cash. I think I drove my parents crazy playing that tape until it finally wore out in the cassette player. Later on, this was the only Johnny Cash song that impressed me.

If I Were A Carpenter		 This is one of my most favorite Christian songs to sing. I started singing in church when I was 18 after I learned how to play guitar and some friends of mine taught me this song. Being from New England it reminds me of home due to it's nautical theme.

Jesus Pilots My Boat
I wrote this when I was 22 years old to sing for an Easter sunrise service at the church where I was attending. The pastor asked me to sing something and I didn't want to sing some tired old hymn that would tend to remind people they could be home in bed, still sleeping. So I decided to write something that would wake them up that early in the morning.

Praise God, My Lord Still Lives! (original - 1978)		 Growing up I was very influenced by folk music of the mid-sixties. Peter, Paul & Mary were so popular you couldn't go anywhere for any length of time without hearing one of their songs on the radio, (nor Bob Dylan for that matter).  This was actually my most requested song when playing in clubs.

Puff, The Magic Dragon
This is my absolute favorite gospel song. The message really means a lot to me and with its nautical theme, once again it reminds me of home. Whenever I sing it at church people ask me over and over if I'm going to record it on an album.

The Lighthouse		 Lefty Frizzell grew up in a small town in New Mexico and used to pal around with a good friend of mine, Bob Wolfe, who used to also play fiddle with Bob Wills all over west Texas, but it's been done by several artists.

Long Black Veil
This one is my "I'm gonna write a song about something I know nothing about, song." Since I don't drink I figured that was a pretty fair subject and I had always wanted to write a song that also had other people song titles in it. I actually wrote this one while living up in Waterville, Maine (where it's just too darn cold for any sane mortal to live).

The Sunshine of My Heart Is Now The Jim Beam In My Hand (original - 1990)		 An old folk song, this one was made famous by The Kingston Trio in the early sixties.  This one is a lot of fun for me to do because I get to sing 3 different parts (no not all at the same time) by the magic of recording technology available today it's just too easy to pass up the opportunity to try doing it. If you like folk music, the Kingston Trio was 'IT'
 
Tom Dooley
   

How These Songs Were Recorded:

On April 1, 1995 a buddy of mine, Chris Stripling, called me up and said "Hey, c'mon over! I just got some new studio recording equipment and I want to fool around with it."  So, after work I packed up my guitar and headed over to Chris' house where he had a studio set up in his basement. (something I would dearly love to be able to do myself!)  So, while he got familiar with the functionality of his new Roland digital 8 track recording equipment I just messed around singing some of my favorites.  I just sat and played and thoroughly enjoyed my afternoon. I didn't know Chris was actually rolling any tape on these. I figured he was just goofing off playing with buttons and knobs and getting to know his equipment. Some of the songs on this page were recorded by Chris.

Quite some time later, just before Christmas 1998, I received a CD-ROM in the mailbox with no label, no return address and no note inside. I put it into the computer and couldn't for the life of me remember when I had done these songs. And then it hit me... one of the songs on the disc (that's not on this page) was Jingle Bells... and I had made a comment to Chris that it felt weird to sing Jingle Bells on April Fools day.  So this is why the page is called "The Lost Sessions".

A couple of years ago, Rita got me a Boss BR-8 for my birthday. It records up to 64 virtual tracks and is a blast to play around with. I wish I had more time to do it.  Some of the other songs on this page were recorded with that unit here in my office.  One of these days I'm planning on putting together a bunch of gospel songs and sell them through our church to raise money for the 20-odd missionary families we support. 

I hope you have enjoyed the songs and in some small way have been blessed with the talents that God has given me. I made a promise to Him a long time ago that if He helped me learn how to play the guitar, I would use it for His glory.   I still sing and play in church, 30 years after making that promise.

God bless you all!
Ben E. Brady