ben wakeman : : Journal

Kristian Bush Lends a Hand

October 1, 2006

Here we are in the final stages of the record and much of it is blissfully out of my hands at this point. Glenn Matullo is hard at work mixing, Alex Lowe is queued up to do the mastering and I have completed all of the artwork. I always forget what an incredible pain in the ass working in print is until it comes time to put together another record. Things are a bit of a crunch now with getting the actual CD manufactured --- it will be a nailbiter waiting to see if they make it here by the release party on November 4th.

In much more exciting news, my old friend Kristian Bush snuck in under the wire to lay down some parts for "Blue Ridge." Though we've kept up with each other via telephone and e-mail, I don't think I have actually seen him in the flesh for almost two years because he is constantly on the road with Sugarland. He had a tiny three day window at home and generously gave me one of his nights to track some mandolin and background vocals.

Kristian has more energy than anyone I know in the music business, and his spirit and enthusiasm are contagious. Even though I know he was tired, he put some wonderful mandolin parts down and lent his 'authentic' Kristian voice to the song. I say 'authentic' because I still can't get used to the 'country' Kristian voice that he has adopted for the Sugarland gig. He gave me a needle-drop preview of the soon-to-be-released Sugarland record and it's amazing. It's incredibly tight and well-produced and of course, the songs are great.

He also played a number of recent demos he has done for songs he is pitching to a wide range of country artists. He's got several songs being held by various folks and close to getting some of them cut. It's a very difficult circle to gain entrance to, the Nashville songwriting scene. I have complete faith that he will do it --- Kristian is tireless. Fame has not changed him. He laughed about how the pain-in-the-ass factor of managing people has not changed at all since four years ago when he spent his days doing web development like me.

Our lives are so very different now. The night after we hung out, he had to get on the bus at midnight to do a show somewhere in Alabama and from there to somewhere else, and so on. He knows how fleeting what he has right now can be and that's why he's not slowing down. It meant a lot to me to have his presence on the new record. Not because he's Kristian Bush --- big country star, but because he's my friend and musically, anything he touches shines a little brighter and burns a little hotter.