The Story

Lay This Burden Down

      After 7 years and two albums with his modern rock band Freeze the Hopper, Shaw took a 2 year break.  He then began anew playing acoustic music, hooking up with Roger Mitchell and playing in and around the St. Louis area.  All the time Shaw was writing new material, some of which the duo would perform live.  “The music was evolving and eventually I sort of developed  this vision of what I wanted to pursue; much more eclectic with lots of different instruments; more of an Americana turn than what I was writing before.  Stacie (Mitchell) was always around and she was interested in getting involved.  I always knew she was a great singer but then I found out what a fabulous flute player she is. It was a perfect fit.” 

      The oldest song on the disc is ‘Something Here’, which was originally recorded by Freeze the Hopper and released on a compilation by Ink Records.  As Shaw slowly moved towards putting songs together for a solo disc, he went back and re-tracked the vocals, electric guitar, bass and organ and added a mandolin track.  Then the feel of the song took another turn.  

      ”Stacie was at the studio with me on a late night.  I wanted this thing to be as ‘musical’ as possible so I was trying to add backup vocals.  We were tired and drunk, and I was frustrated because I couldn’t get the part.  She was trying to help me and was singing it great.  Dave Probst was engineering the session and he suggested she do it.  Well, we really had to prod her into singing it.  I remember she was so timid that Dave had to crank the input signal all the way up for us to even hear her.  She laid down four tracks of backups and it sounded great but I really had to sit with it, because I felt it was a major thing to introduce a female voice to the music.  It just sounded so good to me that it helped me make this change in my approach.  It really made a lot of sense because, like I said, I wanted this thing to be different - more musical and eclectic.  A year later Stacie was in the studio confidently laying down all of these flute tracks and singing solo lines.” 

      From there Shaw set out to make this vision of his a reality.  Without the constraints of a ‘band’ album, he realized much more creative freedom.  “Being solo, you don’t have to compromise.  In a band, you do compromise or you deal with the guilt and conflict of not compromising.”   

      With most of the songs written on acoustic guitar, Shaw began writing and arranging all the other instrument parts using a keyboard and an 8-track recorder.  “I locked myself in my basement and just took my time until the parts were right.  It was a pretty cool experience - no pressure, no band-mates trying to change things, just me being all up in my head, creating.  I took the parts to Roger and Stacie and they just took off with them.  Everything seemed to work real well.  Roger plays piano, guitar and melodica and Stacie plays the flute and arranges vocals real well so it wasn’t like I didn’t have any help.  They were real supportive.” 

      After recruiting drummer friends, the recording started ‘for real.’   Freeze the Hopper band-mate and Shaw’s cousin, Jim Fowler Jr. tracked three songs at Oliver Studios in St. Louis, Dan Kathriner of the band Wagon and RoadHouse Ramblers tracked a song at Probst Studio in St. Louis and Toby Mechem, formally of SugarStickyGirl, tracked 12 songs at Sallee Studio in Cahokia Illinois.  “I’m very fortunate that these guys were available and willing to help me out,” Shaw said.  “It was important that they play to a click and also capture the feel I was going for and they all did a great job.” 

      “Things all started falling into place once the drums were down and I had all the parts written and arranged on tape.  All I had to do was recruit a few more players to play those parts that Roger, Stacie, or myself couldn’t.”  All the acoustic guitars were tracked by Steve and Roger.  Stacie took care of the flute parts and most of the backing vocals.  Shaw laid down all the mandolin, keyboard, organ and most of the piano, bass, and electric guitar. He even went out and bought a four-string banjo to play on ‘Living in a Box’.  

      Shaw felt one of the most important aspects to recording the disc the way he wanted was when he decided to go with Ron Sallee to engineer and co-produce the project at Sallee Studio.  Shaw said, “Dave Probst was very busy at the time that I really wanted to start hitting it hard so he recommended going with Ron.  Ron was great because he’s a fantastic guitar player plus he can find his way around on the keys for some production techniques he used.”  Sallee is a veteran on the St. Louis music scene and has toured nationally with various bands throughout the years.  “He helped me so much. He played a dobro slide part, added some tasty riffs on electric guitar and even sang a little backup,” Shaw added, “he also introduced me to Diana.” 

      As in Diana Starr, another area veteran musician who has also been all over the country playing piano and singing.  Starr helped arrange backing vocals and sang backup on four songs. She also arranged and played the intro to ‘So This Is Me’, and played the piano on it.  “I describe Diana’s talent as breathtaking.  She was great to work with.  We hit it off immediately.”  Other players included Shaw’s other Freeze The Hopper band-mate and cousin, Steve Fowler, who played bass on a song and fiddle player, Colin Blair. 

      All in all, the album took over a year and a half, from start to finish, including over 130 hours of studio time. “I really feel good about this record,” said Shaw. “There are no regrets. We left no stone unturned. I didn’t compromise.  There really is nothing on there that I feel ‘I have to live with’.  I recorded the best album I could at this point in my life. It is what it is and I hope many people are turned on to it. The people who were involved in this with me are all very special people and I still enjoy their company and enjoy listening to this record even after it’s all over and finished – now that’s saying something!