(Sorry it's a little pixelated.  Working on getting a better image.)

This is the first CD Derek did with The Michael Feldman Group. Derek has no role as a writer or producer in the band. As such, this website is not adequately structured to detail this project, but Derek will share some words about it below...

November 2008; Revised 3/3/09:

I met Mike by accident through a mutual friend who asked me to play bass at his church. Mike was in attendance and liked my playing. He needed a bass player to sit in on a gig he was playing in a prison as entertainment for the inmates...and he called me. So, we played our first gig together in prison, in front of the lifers.  The murderers, rapists, kidnappers, etc, etc. That was the first time Mike and I ever really hung out. As such, I like to tell people that, "I got to know Mike when we were in prison together."

When it came time for Mike to make his first solo record, he signed me on pretty easily. It helped that he was working with my friend and neighbor Tony Gambill in the studio. It's always fun to work with Tony. The bass parts were done over a couple of months, with me writing them as I was recording them. It was hectic and weird...made weirder by the fact that there weren't really drums on the project when I went in, and I'd never MET the drummer who would do his parts after I was done (Boyce Kanupp).

In all, it's a solid effort. I don't think Mike's as proud of it as he should be. I can understand why. There are all of the "first record" flaws...but they don't really add up to much to anyone but the guy who wrote the songs. To everyone else, this one's just as fun as the ones that followed.

I think I enjoyed the recording experience the most on this one...but it doesn't have my favorite songs on it. It has some good ones, don't get me wrong, but Mike's work really grew from record to record, and this was the first one. It's definitly worth having, though. The songs are solid, and if you're interested in tracking MY career, this is the only record I've done with Mike where I'm really happy with the tone the engineer got out of my bass (which is no slight on the other records...I just thought this one was truest to my sound). That probably has something to do with this having been the only time we worked with Tony, who has mixed my bass for like 10 years, on and off.

-db