Wearing a masque!
The facts…
His face is hardly known. His names are numerous. 'Christopher B McCarty' aka 'Chris McCarty' aka 'CB McCarty' aka 'Christopher B' aka 'Le Masque.'
His songs are classic. "Swingtown", "Serenade", "Wide River", among others, for the legendary Steve Miller Band. "A Woman Knows" and "You Baby You" for country superstars Martina McBride and Highway 101.
His performances are rare, unannounced and usually done under the dim lights of some out-of-the-way smoky bar in North America.
His new album was recorded in a hotel room in Austin, TX and studios in Los Angeles, CA, Nashville, TN, Santa Fe, NM.
His guest musicians and singers have performed and recorded with artists such as Steve Miller, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Paul Winter Consort, The Dixie Chicks and B.B. King.
The music of Le Masque - a musical roadmap...
McCarty began this cross-country musical road trip to see some old friends and, hopefully, make some inspired music. His love of musical diversity and good times, and of recording with cats that just happen to be some of the finest musicians in America was reason enough to hit the road.
The journey began in Santa Fe, New Mexico. McCarty traveled east on I-40 into the panhandle of Texas, then down highway 287 just out of Amarillo. He merged onto I-35 at Ft. Worth and soon blew into Austin, Texas. He unpacked a bag and a couple of guitars in room 50 at the Hotel San Jose, and it wasn't long before he had some of Austin's finest musicians and singers over and making music. Over the next few weeks they recorded 'live' and with a whole lot of that 'Austin vibe' on recording gear snuck into the hotel room. The sultry late-night recordings, featuring McCarty and his loose affiliation of saints and sinners were nothing short of magical.
The next leg of the journey took McCarty back up to Dallas on I-35 and then north via I-30. Making really good time, he flew by Little Rock and headed east on I-40, stopping for a night of barbeque and some blues in Memphis. The next morning it was up to Nashville, where another series of remarkable recordings began at Mark Thompson's Forest Hills studio. Some very cool Nashville A-list session players dropped by and played "clean as country water."
McCarty was soon back behind the wheel again and headed way out west. I-40 would take him all the way to I-10 and onto the Pacific Coast Highway. Chris Jullian's hillside studio in Malibu, California was the place where some extremely mindful music was made. A stellar cast of West Coast musicians dropped by to play and sing and it was then back to New Mexico on I-40 and up I-20 and into Santa Fe.
McCarty finished his musical ramblings with some of Santa Fe's finest musicians at Jon Gagan's hacienda-styled studio. It was definitely a trip full of musical diversity, some really good times and some very fine recordings. His guest musicians are: Kenny Lee Lewis, Gary Mallaber, Michael Rhodes, Chad Cromwell, Jamie Haddad, Mark Thompson, JonathanYudkin, Paul Peterson, Jon Gagan, Pat Malone, Carolyn Wonderland, Malcolm 'Papa Mali' Welbourne, Gurf Morlix, Guy Forsyth, Eldridge Goins, Steve McCarty, Bradley Kopp, Chris Jullian, Jim Hoke, Maxine Waters & Family, Clea Rose, Busy McCarroll, Sharon Shaheen, Matthew Andrae, Michael & David Manzanares, Baird Banner, Camilo Quinones, Peter Giardina.
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