Available Now...

These Black Snakes is now available for download from iTunes, Amazon and cdbaby. It's available on CD at cdbaby and Amazon. A new web site is also in the works at

www.benashleymusic.com

I'll post some live show and house concert info soon for things we have brewing in November and onward. Thanks to everyone for the support and thanks for checking in.

BA

The Cover

Just a quick update. Here’s the cover art for …these black snakes. The painting and layout was done by Mariann Mckee. The line work of the logo was done by Jeff Troldahl.

TBS was mastered in Nashville by Richard Dodd and is ready to go. I’ll post more as things move forward. Thanks for checking in.

-BA

www.mariannmckee.blogspot.com
www.jeffsart.com

Mixing...

We spent 8 days mixing …These Black Snakes at Sunset Sound Factory in Los Angeles. Steve Churchyard took the helm and brought this thing home in top form.

Suzie Katayama wrote a wonderful cello arrangement for What You’re Feeding Me and stopped by to conduct Steve Richards, who played beautifully. Jamie Muhoberac was also on the session to lend some piano lines to the track.

Here’s a few photos from the sessions…

Running It Down...

It's taken much longer than I'm used to and this record has suffered long periods of inactivity and many delays, but the tracking for …These Black Snakes is just about done. I’ve got a few things left to pin down and then on to the mix.

Diana Lee and Alice Tatum came by the Salt Mine to lend their voices to two of the songs on TBS. They brought a heavy dose of vocal voodoo to the studio that night, and the results were really special.

Tom “T-Bone” Scott was also by to lend a bass assist on a late addition to TBS. It’s a newer song I needed to close out the record. We got a great take and the song is turning out to be one of my favorites. T-Bone has become the project Mystic. He turns my Am chords into D9th chords at will. It’s pure Alchemy, I’m sure of it.

Mike Broening has been laying down piano, Wurlitzer and B3 on the tracks in various flavors and everything is clicking. He’s got a way of getting inside my head, rooting around in there to find the little bits of info he needs and then delivering the perfect track. It’s like witchcraft. I thought seriously of begging him not to shrink my head to a keychain-sized ornament, but the prospect of giving him any ideas was a little frightening. His Kung-Fu is strong.

More as this thing ramps up. Thanks for checking in.

-BA

Progress...

Basic Tracks for These Black Snakes went down in April In Los Angeles, and I've been back at the Saltmine Studio in AZ for guitars and vocals.

Chris and Kenny spent a day cutting together live in Chris' studio, and were phenomenal as expected. They both brought a lot to the table and the songs sound great even with just scratch vocals and guitars. Steve Churchyard got some fantastic sounds, and the session was the smoothest and easiest I've been on. The 7 tracks we got will join 3 acoustic tunes to round out the album.

On other fronts: Graphic artist Jeff Troldahl has been busy working on a companion piece to the line work he did for the Ben Ashley “wings” logo above. It came out great, and I’ll post it with some color soon. I can’t say enough about how easy Jeff is to work with, and he always finds time to fit me in around the Gov’t Mule’s and Grateful Dead’s of the world. You can check out more of his amazing work here:

http://jeffsart.com/

Thanks for checking in…

-BA

and......BEGIN.

Tracking on These Black Snakes will begin the first week of April in Los Angeles.

Holding things down behind the kit will be legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff. One of the most in-demand session and touring drummers, Kenny’s worked with Joe Cocker, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, John Mellencamp and B.B. King, and played on over 30 Grammy nominated recordings.

LA session fixture Chris Chaney will be handling the bass duties. You’ll know Chris as a member of Jane’s Addiction. He also played with Alanis Morissette, and has worked with Robben Ford, Santana and John Fogerty.

Multiple Grammy nominee Steve Churchyard will be engineering the sessions. You’ve heard Steve’s work on records by Lucinda Williams, The Eagles, The Pretenders, Joni Mitchell, Seal and Sheryl Crow.

I’m very excited and fortunate to have Kenny, Chris and Steve on these dates. They’ve been incredibly generous with their time and talent. Pics and a run-down of the sessions will be inbound soon. Thanks for checking in. -BA

the LOVE & CRIMES ep

Hail-
the Love & Crimes ep, a set of solo acoustic versions of songs from the upcoming album These Black Snakes, will be available for download on Oct. 6th. Included is the bonus track Gunpowder & Glory, which will not appear on the album.

The Ep was tracked live at Bagman Mobile Recorders and mixed at The Saltmine in Arizona. You can check out some clips in the Soundcloud player at left.

The cover painting, acrylic on wood, is by Mariann Mckee. You can see more and order prints of her work at www.mariannmckee.blogspot.com.

If you’re in Europe and wandered over here via a download card, hold on to your Pincode. It’s good for a few Euros off of These Black Snakes and a nice little bonus. Details on the way.

I’ll be playing a run of solo acoustic shows to close out the year. That info coming soon. Thanks for checking in.

-BA