THE PERRYS - REMEMBERING THE HAPPY GOODMANS
By Wayne Haun

Well.....we've finished. This project has been discussed for years and has finally come to pass. When Tracy asked me about producing the tribute, I didn't think twice. After the paper work was started, I started getting nervous. Paying tribute is scary. There's room for a lot of error.

When all songs were chosen, we decided to keep the musical arrangements exactly like the original recordings. As a producer, I thought it'd be a piece of cake because I didn't have to come up with new intros, turn arounds and endings. I was wrong. When you're trying to musically make a carbon copy you have to really pay attention. The charts for musicians had to be extremely detailed. The tracking day was a blast. We hired some of the original Goodman band to play. Little David Young played piano on three tracks. He was popular for those little piano intros in the upper register and that day was no different. Our old friend Steve Easter was on hand for those famous steel guitar licks and Glen Duncan, although never on stage with the Goodmans, replayed some of the famous fiddle licks he tackled on the original recordings. The vocal days were a lot of fun too. This is my 9th recording with The Perrys, and I've never seen them have so much fun singing in the studio. We finished early, which never happens.

One of the most memorable moments was recording the vocal for I Don't Regret A Mile. OK, so I'm gonna tell on Tracy. At first we thought this song had two verses. I was on the phone with publishers, friends, and even my mother trying to find the lyric to a second verse that didn't exist. Tracy almost collapsed when he discovered he had to record a recitation. For a minute I thought we were going to change songs, but then he gave in. He put the spoken part off until the VERY end. Of course, joking was inevitable and a few "fun" punches were thrown by other group members (who will remain nameless) about Tracy's big moment.

I recall Dottie Rambo once saying that the Holy Spirit shows up sometimes when you least expect it to do such. As Tracy started speaking, the Holy Spirit just......showed up. By the time he finished, there wasn't a dry eye in the studio. Howard Goodman's simple words really impacted me that day. It's not the most poetic thing ever written. There are grammatical errors everywhere, and the timing isn't perfect. But it works, and it works well. To sum it all up, this recitation basically says that life stinks. But there are moments so incredible at times, we forget about the bad. This has to be my favorite moment on the CD.

So, check it out! It's a fun trip down memory lane. You'll find the classics such as Who Am I and God Walks The Dark Hills, but you'll also find some not so popular songs that to me are just as good like, How Much More and Over The Next Hill. Enjoy, remember and be blessed.