This session was recorded Independence Day night. The kids were running around, as usual, and there’s a lot of chatter here and there. You can hear Atticus bringing his laptop over and Lucas asking about pictures on the screensaver. 😛 Even though I edited out as much as possible, you can still tell it’s a for-real live ‘show.’

July 4th fell on a Sunday this year; not the best situation for us, since Kevin had to be at work before six AM the next day.

I really love going out and watching the fireworks, but since they didn’t even begin until half-past-ten this year, I’m glad we didn’t brave it. Plus, as Kevin reminded me, the tens of thousands of dollars the City spent on fireworks could’ve fed and clothed a whole lot of people around here. 🙁

Once again, we recorded straight into our Zoom H2 recorder without separate mics, and Kevin was playing his acoustic.

You can click on the song title or the arrow to listen, or feel free to right-click on the title to download.

All originals are starred, and we try our best to properly credit the covers. 🙂

Full show: All files below merged into one. 🙂

1. Every Picture*: Kevin says, “I wrote this song in the early ’90s, along with a bunch of other songs over the course of a few days’ insomnia.” Most of his songs, he says, are him putting himself in someone else’s position, rather than autobiographical. This one is an example. (See legal.)

2. There’s No Way*: Kevin wrote this song the same weekend as “Every Picture.” (See legal.)

3. Lonesome Reuben: Kevin says he’s been playing this instrumental written by Earl Scruggs since he’s been playing . . .about 25 years!!

4. Why You Been Gone So Long: One of the coolest things about starting to post all these songs on this website is finding out so much new information about the songs and who wrote and performed them. This one, we discovered, was written by Mickey Newbury, whom Ralph Emery dubbed “the first hippie cowboy.” He also wrote that old Kenny Rogers (before he became Kenny Rogers and was doing the hippie thing) song, “Just Dropped In (to See What Condition My Condition Was In).” Kevin heard the song through Tony Rice.

5. What Else Can I Say*: Kevin wrote this song at home during the weeks he was recording “Johnny LV” and “200 Days” in a local studio. (See legal.)

6. Franklin’s Tower: This tune by Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter has always been one of my favorite Grateful Dead songs, though I’m not so good at remembering all those crazy lyrics. (Nothing new. 😉

7. I, John: The first time Kevin heard this song was from the video footage of Elvis in his hotel room right after one of his concerts. He would sing gospel songs to try to calm himself down. The song was written by gospel great, Bill Gaither.

8. A Beautiful Life: Kevin says he always called this one “The Hawker Song” because it’s one his dad’s family is known for singing together. It’s special to him because it reminds him of his now-deceased grandmother and grandfather. I’d only sung this song once before, several years ago with Kevin and his dad, Ryland Hawker, at my parents’ church. It was the morning of Kevin’s first (and only) sermon, and the video recorder was full, so we filled time while the recorder was emptied. 😛 So, needless to say, I wasn’t prepared. There was a take before this one where I didn’t even remember it was a call-and-response. Kevin mentions in a break between verses that we really need a couple more voices. . .

9. Highgate Shuffle: This was on Rod Stewart’s live “unplugged” CD. Strangely, his official Warner Bros. Records website is pretty much down, but we found out something interesting from his Wikipedia page: The area of North London where Rod grew up is called Highgate, which apparently lends its name to this song.

10. Nine-two-nine Means Bedtime!: Kevin and Atticus :love: