Veitch Munich I had the very good fortune to recently live in Munich Germany for about two years. While there, I discovered a thriving songwriter scene and helped organize the first meetings of the Munich Songwriters Group, modeled after the famous Jack Hardy Monday meetings in Greenwich Village. The first results of these two years in Munich is “Veitch Munich” - twelve new songs, written and mostly recorded there. I had heard from Judy Collins that she wanted to record my song “Veteran’s Day” for her new album “Bohemian.” In addition to being thrilled at this news, it triggered a songwriting spree that added to my collection about 50 new songs..songs about “days”- holidays, important days, burying days, etc. It became a running joke at the songwriters meetings — what day is he doing next?—enough new material for at least another album—“Veitch Munich 2” This was originally going to be called “The Best of Many Days” to encompass all those “days” I had written new songs about. But I especially wanted to include my song “White Rose” - originally titled “Fine, Fine Day” so I settled on “Veitch Munich.” Ironically, I was in Germany when I heard of Jack Hardy’s passing. The song “One Step Beyond” was written and recorded in true Fast Folk style, it took altogether about a day, and with the exception of adding Kirsti Gholsen’s beautiful backup vocals, it was all recorded in Munich in one take, including the drum machine. “The Lucky Ones” - also not a “day” song, came about after having read Judy Collin’s new autobiography “Sweet Judy Blue Eyes.” I had written her an email to say how much her story hit home, especially about the addiction and loss of loved ones. A good friend of mine had just passed away from a battle with Hepatitis C and I shared a bit of that story. She wrote back that “we are the lucky ones.” The song is part of a trilogy of tunes I wrote for a dear friend and co-writer who also passed away while I was in Germany after a long battle with cancer. “ Fevered Dream” and “Angels Out There” are the other two. I was very fortunate to have Dan Whitley add some blazing guitar to my song “Happy Fourth of July.” The most political one on this album, too! We flew in his tracks here in the states after I returned. Thank you thank you! Drumming is all Eric Parker and some, like “Valentine’s Day” were done without me even in the room. It is a song I wrote together with Julie Last ( who also mixed and engineered most of this record) that I think we started before I left, and went through several versions before we found this one. Everything except the drums and bass and Julie’s backups were recorded in Germany. I flew the files over to Coldbrook and viola! Thank you thank you! “Try Try Try” is not an actual live recording but it does open and close with the crowd from Bagels and Muffins who would come out for the shows I did there. We had some very crowded nights. Hepple Ettlich theater was another regular performance spot where I worked out the kinks in a lot of these songs. Many thanks to the International Songwriter’s Evening for having me! And check out the you-tubes of some of those performances if you get a chance. I was very fortunate to have some super backup help from Alma Honal on White Rose, and piano by Alex Sebastian on WR too. And Solly Aschkar sings the moving duet with me on “Home Again.” Thank you thank you all! Bass is mostly Kyle Esposito, when I am not doing a keyboard synth bass line. And Kirsti Gholsen also added her voice to “The First Day.” Thank you thank you! Footch Fischetti plays the violin on “First Snow” and the rest is pretty much just me. Most of the basic tracks were recorded in Munich using Apple’s Garageband. We then flew the files into Pro Tools at Julie’s Coldbrook Productions Studio. A few of the songs were recorded live, one take, vocal and guitar at Rick Davis’ “Majik Kabin” studio in Ascutney Vermont and we layered everything else on. Thank you thank you!! The artwork on the cover is by Aeneas Art with some layout and text added by Rick Veitch. Aeneas gave me the painting after a show in Munich and as I was looking around for art for this cover, I contacted him to ask if it was okay to use. He happily said yes and I sent him “White Rose” to give him some idea what it was going to sound like. He wrote back that his grandfather had actually helped Sophie Scholl and White Rose during the war and that he had founded the White Rose Foundation after the War. It is a very small world indeed. Thank you thank you!! Without Anne Sutherland, I would not have had the chance to experience so much of Europe, including Russia no less!. And Zoe was there too. What a most amazing trip! Thank you thank you!!! I kept a blog that you can access at www.veitchmunich.blogspot.com where you will find a photo journal and my reflections on what we were seeing and experiencing. This record is the soundtrack to that most glorious trip. And to all my Munich friends, Jens, Yogi, Marko, Ben, Franchesco, Matt, the songwriting group, and of course Alma, Alex, Aeneas and Solly, Danke von der Unterseite meines Herzens. I’ll be back.