CFBA: Circle Be Unbroken Weekend - May 17 & 18

What is a Circle Be Unbroken Weekend? This weekend will be done much like the album of the same name was done. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and John McEwen invited all the acoustic musicians that they knew to a large house and put them up for a few days. Each singer formed a band from the people at the large house and practiced several songs with them. There were jam sessions everywhere and people generally having a good time, except for maybe Jimmy Martin who was a known sour puss. When a group had a song figured out they would go to the recording room and sit in a big circle with microphones and a recording engineer running a big soundboard. They would then do a couple of songs, no pressure for the perfect take, no splicing in of a horn section, no big shot producer trying to sculpt a cookie cutter Nashville sound. You can hear the pure joy that these musicians felt at being together in the recordings. I want to organize a weekend such as this and capture some of the talent that we have right here in central florida.

What we need. I have a professional recording engineer and a an excellent mobile sound recorder. We need a place for this to happen. The property would need to have one medium sized room with central air conditioning. The room needs to hold 5-7 musicians in a circle and a dining room table for the sound equipment and engineer. The property should have outdoor space for practice and jam sessions as well as low cost motels or cabins near by or RV parking on site. If some one has such a property and would like to host this event then get in touch with Ken Bailey-813-390-4796. If no such property is available then we may all meet at one of the fish camps in Panasoffkee or some other location with RV space and at least one air conditioned space for the sound studio. The second thing we need is for you to decide right now that you will participate in this and to sign the list with your contact information. If you write your name down it will happen and you will have joy. If you say “ I have to think about this, I am scared, I will wait to see if anyone else will do it and join myself at the last moment, Bahh Humbugg , I don’t like other people or having fun,” then this list will remain empty and this event will not happen.

What you must do. Sign up and recruit others to this weekend. Bring 5 songs with you and have a idea of what you want it to sound like. Be friendly and make it happen.

What do you get out of it. You will get a weekend of jam sessions. A chance to work out specific songs. A CD of the entire weekend. Sign up now. Give out these flyers, and help recruit others. Questions or suggestions call Ken Bailey 813-390-44796.
Questions and answers:

Q. How much will the studio cost? Same for the CD duplication, etc. etc.

A. The studio engineer is a volunteer and we only want to cover the cost of the cd printing so the cost is minimal. I don't know exactly how much yet... We will have a donation jar for those wanting to help the CFBA continue.

Q. Is somebody going to act as the producer? Somebody has to be able to make the hard decisions and control the whole thing.

A. I guess I will be the boss/bouncer if any problems or fights break out. Those road weary recording veterans, or anyone who is too fussy about small mistakes should not come.

Q. How long will it be held?

A. We plan to spend friday and saturday night as well as sunday morning if needed.

Q. When do you plan to have it?

A. It will happen the 3rd weekend of may.

Q. What facilities are available? Showers? Restrooms? Some of the musicians could be living in tents.

A. It will be at a house so everyone can be comfortable and have restrooms available. There are cheap motels nearby. The RVs I hope will provide some practice space outside the house if it is too hot.

This should be fun. If it gets too hard we will jam for a few hours and record it all. This is an experiment and I hope everyone gets in the spirit of it and has fun with it. Unlike a jam session this will give everyone a chance to work out a song and practice it a bit for the performance. Our engineer is a good producer and sound recorder so everyone will benefit from that as well. Thanks for your help and insights. Let everyone know that they are welcome to participate. The location will either be in Ocala or Plant City, to be decided soon.........Ken