Americana folk rock in the vein of 70's acoustic giants James Taylor and Cat Stevens. Good time rock and roll with the beats that get the heads bobbing.

10 MP3 Songs in this album (31:01) !
Related styles: FOLK: Folk-Rock, ROCK: Acoustic

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Details:
âOn the beach at night / the ships go passing byâ Marc Gartman (Two Many Banjos, Coyote) sings on the track âBack With Youâ and with those words this record was born. The bulk of material on âMe And My Big Egoâ, written in a matter of weeks during the summer of â08, earmarks a great few months Marc Gartman had out on the beach in Duluth, MN. The CD is an upbeat affair that has as much to do with Duluth and Lake Superior as it does about what was going on in Gartmanâs head at the time.

âBack With Youâ was truly the first song written for this CD and it was Rich Mattson (Minnesota Producer of the Year Award) that Gartman had in mind knowing he would bring the song to life. Inspired by Mattson (and most specifically his band Olâ Yeller and their CD âGood Luckâ) he went to work filling in the holes that would make up the rest of the album.

Gartman discovered Mark Glenn (Flamscheram) through a mutual friend when Two Many Banjos was in search of a potential new bass player. At the time know one really knew who was going to play that role in TMB but he did have a few songs he had written on guitar and would he want to hear those? They got together and it was clear from the start that Mark was a fantastic player and would do the job swimmingly.

They booked an initial session up at Mattsonâs Sparta Sound recording studio on the Iron Range thinking Mattson himself would play the drums. He suggested perhaps they should call his friend Derek Rolando (The Tisdales) to play the skins. An hour later he was there and three hours later the first 3/4 of the CD was done. Rolando had never heard the songs before but after a single run through the tape machine was set to record. Impressive indeed.

Motivated by the extraordinary playing of Glenn, Rolando and Mattson, Gartman went back to work to write the final 1/4 of the album. What was once an EP of music was making its way into full-length territory. A month later they were back in the studio again to finish things off. This time Two Many Banjos resident fiddle pro Jillian Lantry was brought in to the mix to round out the band.

Gartman also wondered what Alan Sparhawk (Low, Retribution Gospel Choir) and Mattson, who had never collaborated together before, would sound like working on a track together. âWho Decidesâ written with Sparhawk in mind was how that question was answered on this CD. A couple of mixing sessions later (a little steel drum here, a little ebow guitar there) the record was completed.

It should be noted however that there are no plans to play any of this material live. Gartman and Lantry are busy with their TMB project (with Glen occasionally sitting in as well) and Rolando still lives on the range and is busy enough himself as Mattsonâs drummer in their new band The Tisdales. âMe and My Big Egoâ is simply a snap shop of a great few months out on the beach in northern Minnesota. Perhaps itâs best summed up on the track â33 is the new 17â; âI pitch a tent in the yard at night / I hear the stars as they tell me goodnight / some lucky kid he did this at ten / but I donât remember living much thenâ.