Windless Day

Scott Hirsch's name is one you'll find lurking in the liner notes of many admired recordings from the last two decades. As a founding member of Hiss Golden Messenger, he was integral to the band's first five records, lending his sonic imprint on their productions, as well as shaping the sound of the live outfit, having toured heavily through the formative years of the band. Much of this work is reflected on the recent Merge Records box set entitled Devotion: Songs About Rivers and Spirits and Children. Along the way he produced and played on records by Kim Krans' Family Band, as well as recording a Grammy nominated record by the legendary folksinger Alice Gerrard. Having stepped off the demanding tour schedule of Hiss in 2016, new pathways opened up for Scott to fully engage in the craft of songwriting. Hirsch introduces his self-produced third solo album Windless Day with the new song "Much Too Late." About "Spirit True," Hirsch explains, "I was looking for an entry point into this record. I'd been obsessed with this rhythm section turnaround on a Willie Nelson song, 'Pretend I Never Happened' on his brilliant Phases and Stages record. I started working on how to get something like that into a song. From there, I found the sideways groove that hits once the songs gets rolling through the pumping bassline. The horns, played by Karl Hunter, were inspired by Jamaican music, particularly some of Burning Spear's grand horn intros. And finally, Greg Loiacono provided the effervescent vocal "oohs" for punctuation. Once I sparkled in some Velvet's inspired electric guitars, and Daniel Wright got the marching beat going, the musical melting pot was really cooking."