…time is a river, TERRY LEE HALE The Gristle & Bone Affair
Terry Lee Hale The Gristle & Bone Affair is available on Glitterhouse, Bandcamp, Spotify
by Walter Price
Just like his life itself, Terry Lee Hale’s new 8-track album The Gristle & Bone Affair is brimming with all the self-reflecting highs and lows of a journey, or rather, journies this songwriter has weathered. Its beautifully heavy throughout and it’s without a doubt, the truth.
Via his label Glitterhouse Records, Hale reminisces about the collaborative pandemic-era project, “I’m older, content to step back and let the music speak for itself. It’s enough to contribute at a base level, to be part of a collaboration. I wanted to leave room for others to fill in their parts. We all recorded separately, no choice with the lockdowns. I had no idea what the others were going to do.”
With this burgeoning folklore surrounding this masterclass in storytelling, it’s said, the recommendation came from longtime producer Chris Eckman, that Hale let his friends, new acquaintances, and contemporaries add their own mostly unknown-to-him touches on the tracks. “I gave very little direction on purpose. I’d send them their tracks and a week or so later I’d receive their parts. I hold my friends close, but it was wonderful to work with people like Catherine and Chris Cacavas, (Dream Syndicate, Green on Red) who played keyboards on “Curve Away”. I’ve known him for years, but we’ve never done a recording together before.”
The results of this approach couldn’t be more gorgeously executed. There’s undeniable emotional respect and realism sewn throughout this picturesque album and it’ll leave marks on any soul who experiences it in full.
Hale has come a long way and traveled many roads in his long and winding career from the Seattle grunge days and time on Sub Pop to a quieter life in France, but his dedication to the authenticity of his songwriting has stayed unwavering as his 14th studio album The Gristle & Bone Affair will forever stand as not only one of his best but as a testimony to this songwriter’s legacy.
As we all wait for TLH to chronicle his next chapter, you can stream The Gristle & Bone Affair here at the GTC.
TERRY LEE HALE The Gristle & Bone Affair
Artist photo via Facebook // Quotes courtesy of Terry Lee Hale and Glitterhouse Records
TLH -vocals, guitars, harmonica
Žiga Golob – contrabass (1,2,3,5,6)
Catherine Graindorge – violins (1)
Jon Hyde – pedal steel (2)
Chris Cacavas – keyboards (6,7)
Claire Tucker – vocals (2,5)
Mixed by Matt Emerson Brown @ Space Ranch Studios, Seattle
Mastered by Levi Seitz @ Black Belt Mastering, Seattle
Recorded @ Denger Studio, Marseille
Engineer – Gerald Kuentz
Assistant – Mathew Lavenu
“All Fall Down” Recorded @ Studio Tchaman, Roquevaire
Engineer – Christophe Khatchik Hovikian
Assistant – Massimo Bologna
Additional recording by the participating musicians.
Cover artwork: “Heat” by Laura Hamje
TLH photo: Robert Hale
Cover design: Håvard Winther Gjelseth
Produced by Chris Eckman
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Beneath the walls you’ve come undone
That itch you scratch, the wrong one
Hard way to learn, maybe not fun
But it got us both here and maybe that’s enough
A parade of sighs, reductions due
We agree about that, oh yes we do
What you say you never, it fools no one
Still, me just wishing never has changed much
It doesn’t matter much I heard her say
Time is a river now just running away…