Tappin' The Earths Backbone

Re-released in 2004 with bonus tracks and enhanced content. This CD contains multimedia materials to be viewed on your computer, as well as 15 standard audio tracks.

“Tappin the Earth’s Backbone” is an album whose stories spring from the east slope of the Rockies, in and adjacent to Glacier/Waterton International Peace Park. Six new songs, two remakes of “classic” Gladstone and a traditional Blackfeet drumming song round out the CD, the ninth of Jack Gladstone’s career.

The “Backbone of the Earth” is what the Blackfeet call their westernboundary, today’s Rocky Mountains. “Tappin the Backbone” is a phrasethat, according to Jack, can be taken numerous ways. “We tap the earth when we walk and dance. We tap into something for a deeper understanding. Tappin’ into the Backbone implies that we’re reaching for the deepest level possible of our planet’s being -- physically, emotionally and spiritually.”

The title cut celebrates the kinship of the planet’s mountain peoples to the earth. “It rocks,” says Jack ”about as hard as its dobro and saxophone (the lead instruments) will allow.”

This is Jack’s fourth project with Lloyd Maines, a relationship that began with Buffalo Cafe back in 1997. For Jack, it was a “breath deep” Monday that started overdub week in Austin, for Lloyd had just completed production of the Dixie Chicks new CD the previous Friday. The recording system was world class with the new 24-bit German “Nuendo” system at Cedar Creek Recording.

The album’s opening cut, Legends of Glacier, is a majestic mountainwaltz that showcases the pedal steel guitar of Lloyd Maines and the cello of Max Dyer. A Montana native, Dyer was previously with the Houston Symphony and is now full time with the Houston Opera and Ballet Company. Max lends his cello and arranging talent throughout the CD.

Three cuts on the album are more geared toward the younger set, but should be enjoyed by adult children as well. When Napi Roasted Gophers is a melodic retelling of the Blackfeet trickster Napi (pronounced nawpee) matching wits with a wise old Bobcat. As with all Napi stories, there are elements of deceit, humor, greed and karma woven within.

Thunderman is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the Thunder Chief. With a melodic approach similar to a 60’s spaghetti western, Jack delivers a theme song for the Chief of our sky.

Two previously released songs are given fresh air by the addition of Max Dyer’s cello. Speak to Me Grandma and The Bear Who Stole the Chinook. “On Bear, Max’s cello literally turns into a sound effects library to compliment the story,” says Jack. “It’s entertainment at its playful best.”

Speak to Me Grandma also features Christine Albert, who appeared on Buffalo Cafe’s Rose of Ft. MacLeod. Her lovely voice adds a counterpoint to Jack’s in this moving tribute to his Indian grandmother.

War, and its consequences on our young men, is addressed in Sometimes Eagles. The song is a tribute to an Ira Hayes-like figure on the Northern Plains. Blackfeet Indian and U.S. Army Air Force Sergeant Ernest DuBray was one of the most highly decorated Montana combat veterans of World War II. Ernest flew 52 missions in B-17 bombers through the deadly skies of Nazi Germany. DuBray physically returned a hero, but emotionally was shredded after the war by what we today call Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (Combat Fatigue). A haunting cameo guest appearance is made on the album by retired Air Force trumpeter Sergeant J. Constantino of Great Falls.

September 11 spawned a torrent of poetry and song. Jack assumes a reflective position in the album’s finale, Letter to the World. From the burning village of a Blackfeet encampment on the Marias River in 1870 to the contemporary worldwide epidemic of terrorism, Letter is a call to transcend economics, politics and religion to find the bond of our common humanity.

In “Tappin’ the Earth’s Backbone,” Jack Gladstone has fused local legend and history with events and issues of the global experience. Its focus, in both vision and breadth, concerns the human condition --past, present and future.

2004, 2002, 1992 Glacier Pacific Publishing (All Rights Reserved)
MUSICIANS AND SINGERS:
Jack Gladstone – acoustic 6 – and high string guitars, lead and harmony vocals
Scott Powell – drums and percussion
Gary Snow – electric bass guitar
Lloyd Maines _ pedal steel, dobro, baritone electric guitar, baritone mandolin, mandolin, mandotar and electric guitar
Kendall Flint – harmony vocals and arrangements
Max Dyer – cello and arrangements
David Griffith - synth strings on Eagles
Janet Haarvig – cello on Eagles
J. Constantino – trumpet on Eagles
Chris Gage – accordion on Grandma
Christine Albert – harmony on Grandma
Thomas Big Spring and David Dragonfly – performance on Eagles and Tokyo and Berlin
John Mills – baritone and tenor saxophones on Tappin’
Dave McNeely – low vocal on Thunderman
Kindergartners at Woodland Montessori School, children’s voices on Letter

PRODUCED by Lloyd Maines, Jack Gladstone and David Griffith
Engineering and Recording
– Ron Reeves and Scott Powell at Studio 234, Columbia Falls, MT
– Adam Odor and Fred Remmert at Cedar Creek Recording, Austin TX
– David Griffith at Snoring Hound Studio, Kalispell, MT
– Jack Gladstone at Woodland Montessori School, Kalispell, MT.
Mixed by Fred Remmert at Cedar Creek Recording
Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, Boulder, CO
Manufactured and printed by Disc Makers, Pennsauken, NJ, U.S.A.

BONUS TRACKS CREDITS
Produced by Lloyd Maines, Jack Gladstone and David Griffith
Recorded and mixed at Cedar Creek Studio, Austin, TX by Lloyd Maines & Fred Remmert
Jack Gladstone – lead and background vocals, guitar
Lloyd Maines – bass, acoustic and electric guitar, mandolin, dobro, steel guitar, banjo
Gene Elders – violin /fiddle: To Marry the Sun
Sara Nelson – cello
Darcy Deaville – fiddle, mandolin, bazuki
Steward Cochran – piano, synth
Scott Powell – drums, percussion

CREDIT FOR “THE BUILDER”
Produced by David Griffith and Jack Gladstone
Recorded and Mixed at Snoring Hound Studio, Somers, Montana and Cedar Creek Studio, Austin, Texas
Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow Mastering, Boulder, Colorado
Digital Editing by Morton P. Molyneux, of K2 Productions, Lethbridge, Alberta

David Griffith – bass, mandolin, dobro and organ
Janet Haarvig – cello
Jack Gladstone – voice and guitar

MANY, MANY THANKS
To the core production team: Scott Powell, Gary Snow, David Griffith, Ron Reeves, Lloyd Maines, Adam Odor, Fred Remmert and Kendall Flint for their unwavering energy and input into this project. Your collective spirit lives within these tracks. To my Blackfeet brothers and sister, Thomas Big Spring, David Dragonfly and Tina Norman for the contribution of the WWII Blackfeet warrior song; to Rob Quist for “co-tapping” the first draft of Backbone, and joining me in the creation of Last Best Place; to John Potter for his friendship and insightful editorial on 9/15/01: and to “Dr. Harmony” Kendall Flint, my best friend, for helping me wordsmith Letter to the World.

And, to…
The Glacier natural History Association for their continued support of our Native Speaker series… 20 years and counting; the many folks who provide lodging and friendship around the country: Dave McNeeley (my home away from home while recording in Austin), Scott Anderson and Leslie Sugiuchi, Ed, Marianne and Ann Bastian, Chip and Sandy Watts, the Salvaggio family (Michael, Francine, Samantha and Danielle), Larry and Sally Miller, Gail Barels, Loree Guthrie, Debbie Gavalas, Gordon and Sabra Doggett, the Brett Feese family, the Ed Shirkey family, and Sue Barry.

And, to…
My father, Wally, who has made transition to the spirit world, but who continues to travel with me in spirit; to my Mom, Pearl, who has also beat cancer and continues to make the best apple pie in the world; to my sisters, Gail and Carol; to my aunts, uncles and many cousins for their continued support; and my children, Mariah and Scot, who tolerate the creative storms that periodically swamp our family’s ship.

And, finally…

To all of you who buy my CDs and attend the concerts.
Without you, none of this would be possible.

Tappin’ The Earth’s Backbone