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about
In February 2019, I traveled to Elko, Nevada to sing harmonies for my dear friend and fellow songwriter, Shandee Layne at the Outside Circle Show, hosted at the Star Hotel during the last weekend of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The Star is a magical, historic place that is brimming with stories and during the Outside Circle Show, folks pack the place out for singing and dancing until dawn. This ballad tells the tale of a brief, quiet love story that was found in the midst of the bustle of the festivities as the narrator looks back on it months later, sitting alone in the now silent bar...down at the Star.
The track itself is so special. It started with a simple recording I made using voice notes the morning after I finished the song. It was a rainy April morning and I recorded what I thought would just be a scratch demo with the windows open, the sounds of the gentle spring rain sprinkling onto the recording. But the performance was so emotional and raw and the thunder rolled perfectly during the intro and instrumental breaks that I thought I’d present my producer, Kyle Reid, the idea of using it as the base for the final version.
That Friday, he came up to Stillwater to work with me and Nick Gedra on the last few edits we needed for “Geography,” the record I’ll be releasing in 2020. I played him the recording and of course, he loved the idea. After our other work was finished, in the basement of Saint Andrew’s Episcopal Church, we grabbed a beautiful fiddle part from Nick, a la Ken Burns Civil War. Kyle took it home and added a simple pedal steel part to it and sent me the finished product—it was pure magic....and as a friend recently pointed out, very different from the tracks on the full album.
I couldn’t have asked for a better piece to be my first introduction to the world of recorded music.
I was over the moon when renowned photographer Ivan Agerton, who was documenting events during The Outside Circle Show last year, was amenable to the idea of using this incredible photograph for the cover art and thankfully Darby Ingram, the beautiful woman who is subject of the photo, was equally amenable to her image being used.
So much love and talent has gone into just this one song and I am pleased as (Picon) punch to share it with you.
lyrics
On a hot July eve I return to the scene
Of the crime where you stole my heart
On a cold winter night I put your hand in mine
By the circle down at the Star
When you held me so tight under those lights
You promised to catch me when I fall
Now I sit here alone, sipping Picon
Dreaming of you down at the Star
I wish there was a song to help you along
Whenever your life feels to hard
You can go in your mind, there you will find
My love you left down at the Star
Yes, follow me there to those two empty chairs
Where to lovers once sat at the Star
credits
released December 27, 2019
VOCALS: Rigby Summer
FIDDLE: Nick Gedra
PEDAL STEEL: Kyle Reid
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