Wendy Waldman • My Time in The Desert

Longhouse Records presents Wendy Waldman’s critically acclaimed album My Time In The Desert, now streaming everywhere for the first time. Produced by Waldman and Michael Boshears, the LP features several iconic songs co-written by Wendy, including the classics “Save The Best For Last” and “Fishin’ In The Dark.”

Liner Notes

A Letter from Wendy

I had a rough time during the transition back from Nashville in the early ‘90s into the early 2000s. Newly returned from a great career and life in Tennessee, I was struggling to reconnect with the industry in Los Angeles. The high notes of those years for me were reconnecting with my partners in Bryndle, Kenny Edwards, Karla Bonoff and Andrew Gold. Though this was only to last a few years, we would finally get a couple of beautiful cds released, and a lot of excellent songs were written. I also began to develop and produce other artists independently, figuring that my years as a producer for major labels in Nashville would not be repeated in Los Angeles. And unseen even by myself I was changing from “label artist” and “publishing company songwriter/producer” to “street musician”, in the happiest sense of the word. It was a 20 year process and I am so glad it happened, in retrospect.

Throughout that period, I was collecting songs, piles of them, some written in the last days of Nashville with amazing writers, and many of them in the late ‘90s, early aughts, as I found my way into the next chapter of my life. I kept writing, regardless of whatever was going on out there.

It should be noted that in that time, the backdrop for all of us “songwriter/acoustic” artists - and actually many rock artists as well - was the slow and steady early disintegration of the music business as we had known it and as it had been for some 40+ years.The floor under us was shifting though we didn’t quite see it yet. Like the industry itself, my professional life was in major transition. Everything I had known in Nashville and the early years at Warner Brothers was no longer relevant, though I kept trying to work within that mold. The universe definitely had other ideas for me: in particular, a lot of difficulty that would lead me into a whole new way of working, ultimately, joyfully, but a long and hard road.

At this writing, some two decades later, tha industry meltdown has been complete, and more than any business out there, the scenario for the musical pop artist has been completely transformed and is in effect, unrecognizable from what it was. This also has given us some unimagined opportunites to show our music, even though the single artist today does the work of 5 different divisions that functioned in the days of record deals.

Against this post-apocalyptic background, my co manager Mark Nubar and I have decided to properly release or “re-release” this album, which in many ways was my best work ever, and which fell through the cracks of time and circumstance. I love the songs on this project and to me, it’s one of the most important works I’ve ever completed. It’s a vital step from where I was to where I am going.

This is My Time in the Desert. My longtime engineer/partner Michael Boshears and I had been reunited when I came back from Nashville in the ‘90s, and we did what we do best: we made records, all kinds of records, for all kinds of people. We were working in Digital Performer, on Mackie boards, on whatever we could afford. We had already begun our little “Seeds and Orphans” series, which consisted of cool orphan tracks from our long history together as well as some tunes and demos I had always liked and felt had been overlooked.

Then together, in 2006-2007, we produced this new album of songs. We pulled from my ‘covered’ catalog, doing some songs I’d co written such as “Fishin in the Dark,” “Save the Best for Last,” “You Plant your Fields” and “Can’t Stop Now.” In the old days, I would have been very uncomfortable for absolutely no good reason—recording my “hits,” but when I moved back to LA, I played many songwriter nights that were just starting up, and I started to sing those tunes. Turns out it was fun and a good thing to do. I also recorded a group of self-penned tunes that I had been developing during that period-these tunes most definitely reflected the transition and often heartache of my life at that point. The album is appropriately named “My Time in the Desert” from the song.

Many of the songs were written by me alone, but some extraordinary songwriters also were my collaborators and guides on the others: Gary Nicholson (“Can’t Stop Now”), Sally Berris (“My Time in the Desert”), Jim Photoglo (“Fishin in the Dark”), Phil Galdston and Jon Lind (“Save the Best for Last”), Donny Lowery (“You Plant Your Fields”), and Reed Nielsen (“New Mexico Cadillac”)

We assembled a dream team of players and singers for this one: the late and much missed Kenny Edwards, Scott Babcock, Mark Goldenberg, Brent Rowan, John Cowan, Jim Photoglo, the iconic star George Wintson, Matt Cartsonis, Arthur Lee Land, the reclusive genius Steve Ferguson, and Seth Osburn. This was a magical group.

Mostly this project was recorded in the “old school’ style, meaning, actually played together in one room by humans who have to learn and execute the music! And an engineer who knows how to mike and handle all the players at one time, perhaps a rarer skill these days. Michael Boshears’ mixes to this day are clear, simple, and powerful. I am extraordinarily proud of this work, and eternally grateful to the wonderful musicians and writers who appear on this record album.

The songs & writers

Can’t Stop Now - Gary Nicholson/Wendy Waldman

We opened the album with “Can’t Stop Now,” which I had written in the ’80s in Nashville with the great songwriter/artist/producer Gary Nicholson, grammy winning producer of the iconic Delbert McClinton among others. Gary and I had written a funky, high energy bluegrass-soul hybrid tune,which had been recorded by a few people. But it found its true life when it was recorded at breakneck speed with lighting precision by the iconic band New Grass Revival. I’m pretty sure it was Michael Boshears, my co producer, who convinced me to do this tune, as I can’t imagine I would have ever thought I could ever pull it off. BUT, when we invited John Cowan to play bass on this record, all bets were off. When we approached “Can’t Stop Now” - played by John, Scott Babcock on drums, Kenny Edwards, Mark Goldenberg, and me - John said, “let’s do this like a Waylon Jennings tune—four on the floor, and very aggressively, but not bluegrass at all.” What a fantastic idea that was, and thus was born our hard-driving version of “Can’t Stop Now” complete with dueling solos from Kenny and Goldenberg, and vocals with Cowan and the marvelous Jim Photoglo.

You Plant Your Fields - Donny Lowery/Wendy Waldman

Donny Lowery and I wrote “You Plant Your Fields” in the mid-80s in Nashville. Here was an iconic and delightful songwriter from Arkansas, who with the legendary Mac McAnally had written some very big hits for the huge country group Alabama. Donny Lowery was also an icthyologist for the Tennessee Valley Authority and perhaps one of the greatest fishermen living then and even now. I had met Donny on my first trip down to Nashville as a songwriter (as opposed to prior visits as an artist) in 1983. We hit it off and wrote many songs together. But one of our finest works was this tune, which I have described as a “zen farming song”, and which has been recorded by many folks, including New Grass Revival. In Bryndle we had sung Plant your Fields, and it was Kenny who had added the flat 7 turnaround that has become a permanent part of my versions, including the Refugees. The superb guitar work of Kenny Edwards is featured throughout this entire album, but here in particular, his tone and haunting part always cuts straight to my core. Also on this track is the very great recording artist, the iconic George Winston.

My Last Thought - Wendy Waldman

DADGAD tuning was all the rage. Kenny became a master of DADGAD. By comparison, I was a dilettante but was quite inspired by it in a few instances. Perhaps the best thing I’ve done in this lovely tuning is “My Last Thought,” which I wrote thinking about my grandkids in particular, and my loved ones in general. I wrote this one alone, and it features John Cowan and myself singing, John on bass, and the wonderful Mark Goldenberg on electric guitar.

Carves New Rivers - Wendy Waldman

It’s pretty clear that I wrote this for/about my son. I’d been sitting on this song for years and I’m so glad we did this version which to me says it all, most clearly. This is a simple, straight-ahead ‘early SoCal folk-rock piano tune’, faithful to that style, and featuring the marvelous Brent Rown on electric guitar.

My Time in the Desert - Sally Berris/ Wendy Waldman

In my last days in Nashville, I did what I consider to be some of my best songwriting collaborations. Included in that was this effort with the brilliant songwriter/artist Sally Berris. We were talking the day we wrote, and she mentioned that her minister once said we all had our ‘time in the desert.’ I went crazy for that idea and probably steamrolled her, following the muse down the path. I’m so glad she went along with it—it’s the title track of this album, and it’s also true on so many levels of meaning for me.

Kenny Edwards outdid himself on mandolin and especially guitar—his solo is fierce as only he could have done. Another special thing about this recording is the marvelous piano work of George Winston. Sung with John Cowan.

The One Who Loved - Wendy Waldman

OK, yes. I did have a broken heart, but I am very proud of this tune. It said it better than I think I’ve ever been able to express it before. Mark Goldenberg played stunning guitar and Cowan played bass. And somehow I survived.

New Mexico Cadillac - Reed Nielsen/Wendy Waldman

I met a gorgeous, brilliant songwriter in Los Angeles—in the days when I still lived in Nashville. His name was Reed Nielsen. He was perhaps one of the best writers and singers I’d ever met. I adored everything he wrote and sang, and I was privileged to write quite a few tunes with him. He wrote many hits with and for Vince Gill, but the art songs were all with me.

The last thing we wrote together was this tune, “New Mexico Cadillac,” when we were both in Nashville. I think this is another case where I just went crazy and he went with me. He was a great pianist, but he could write on guitar, and actually it didn’t matter what he wrote on. I cherish the memory of working with him and this, along with the song “River of Stone” stands as a small testament to my fortunate time with him. He is missed deeply. The song, of course, is playful, and hearkens to the many times I was hanging out in Santa Fe with my family but more significantly, the delightful and wicked Santa Fe artists I came to know and love. I imagined this tune—as a cautionary tune to a nice family who foolishly lets their princess go to Santa Fe—and is never the same. Featuring the ridiculously fun and wicked slide guitar of the master, Kenny Edwards.

That’s What Love Is - Wendy Waldman

I really thought this could be a country hit! What was I thinking? Sure it would be if you could go through all kinds of key changes and extended passages and such, but not in the real world, I think! Nonetheless, it’s one of the most fun things I’ve written. Very proud of the lyrics and the extended passages especially :) Kenny played incredible mandolin, Scott was completely smoking on drums, and one interesting and brilliant feature of this tune is the lead guitar played by Arthur Lee Land.

The Luckiest Woman - Wendy Waldman

This song is driven by the great Steve Ferguson on piano, the real deal, the kind of playing that can’t be manufactured or imitated. You actually have to have it in your bones, and he does. I guess the tune was a gentle reminder to myself, and to the person, I was writing for. And anyone else who forgets how lucky they are to have someone. Also on this track is electric guitar from Brent Rowan, the master guitarist who dominated the recording scene when I was there in the 80s and with whom I became quite close.

Fishin’ in the Dark - Jim Photoglo/Wendy Waldman

On “Desert,” we elected to do a slower, sexier version of Fishin in the Dark, including the brilliant piano playing of the great Steve Ferguson. Interestingly on this track, it was Matt Cartsonis who played electric slide, and Kenny Edwards who played mandolin. Kenny and of course, Jim Photoglo sang on this cool version of “Fishin.” In the greatest ironic turn of all, Jim is now the bassist of the Dirt Band, so he gets to play it every night on stage and I just bet they make a big deal of the fact that he wrote it..with me, of course.

Save the Best For Last - Phil Galdston/Jon Lind/Wendy Waldman

I began writing songs with Phil Galdston, a well-known songwriter who has always lived in Manhattan. I mention this because I found it quite exotic. I digress. Anyhow, I started writing with him in 1983 when I had signed as a writer to Screen Gems in Hollywood, on the cusp of my move (still unimagined) to Nashville. We wrote a LOT of songs. Sometime in the later 80s, I noticed that Phil was writing with the iconic, delightful, and brilliant songwriter Jon Lind, who had co-written Boogie Wonderland for EWF as well as Crazy for You for Madonna. A great singer himself, he had moved into songwriting and record production. I had actually tried to write with Jon before I met Phil, but I was terribly intimidated by him. Not his fault, he was a larger-than-life character with a marvelous sense of humor, melody, irony, and he pulled no punches. I had resolved not to try to write with him again—until I saw that he and Phil were working together. For some reason I will never know, I spoke up and told Phil something silly like “you guys will never have a hit until you write with me.” What incredible bs was I throwing around? Ironically, it came true! They took me up on my silly challenge, and one weekend in 1989, Phil showed up in Nashville with three songs they were working on, among them “Save the Best for Last.” Of course, by now I was some kind of inflated bigwig Nashville songwriter and I didn’t like the title and I didn’t like the premise they had come up with and humbug, humbug, humbug. As it turned out, we did write the title, and we wound up with an enormous hit song recorded by Vanessa Williams on her debut album for Mercury, spearheaded by the visionary Ed Eckstine, one of Billy Eckstine’s sons. When they recorded the song, Ed told us that it was going to sit on the shelf for as long as it took for them to build a great album around it and he gave us his word that it would indeed come out. Oh, tell that to a songwriter and you will get incredible eye-roll. We had hoped Clive Davis would record it with Whitney Houston, but he didn’t think it was a hit. So here we sat, with a new artist holding the song for well over a year. We know how this turned out, so it was a great lesson for us and a great experience.

On my version of Save, which I had begun to perform on acoustic guitar, we took, of course, a more roots direction with the song. Kenny’s guitar work is stellar. We also featured here, a brilliant composer-pianist whose work is outstanding and sophisticated-the stunning Seth Osburn.

Never Love Again - Wendy Waldman

To the lover who had lost faith, I wrote this tune. I loved that it was in both major and minor keys. I had had it for quite a long time, working on it. The story is evident and it’s true that we had amazing times “back then” as I described. Mark Goldenberg was stellar in his fluidity as was Kenny. What an amazing experience to have both of those geniuses on my songs.

The Walkacross - Wendy Waldman

This song was written in the mid 90s after I had moved back to LA. I worked on it for several years. I loved that it was apocalyptic, frightening, howling and musically different. It was very hard to grasp the tune. Michael didn’t agree with the bridge, but I reminded him that at the end of the song, she does indeed hear the dogs howling out there, and all is not well. We recorded a version with full band, but in the end I chose to put it out as a mostly acoustic piece. I’m very proud of the story and the images, and I can see it right now in my imagination. What scares me is that it might yet come true.

I love how Michael framed my vocal. I think I decided to do it more solo because I loved the bones, both musically and lyrically, in this tune. It was, like a lot of these tunes, a challenge to sing.

The players & singers

Kenny Edwards - Guitar, Mandolin

Original member of the Stone Poneys along with Bobby Kimmel and Linda Ronstadt. I met Kenny when he was still in the Stone Poneys and I determined that I must play with him in my lifetime. I’m happy to say I did, for decades, until his passing in 2010. We had Bryndle together, we wrote many songs together, he played on my Warner Brothers records as well as well as many records I produced, the Bryndle records of course, and “My Time in the Desert.” Kenny was one of the greatest and most unsung musicians in our lifetime. He was able to release 2 cds of his own, and he had more people who loved him and followed him than he ever knew. He was in many ways, my muse, my mentor, and a deeply cherished writing and playing partner. He was Karla Bonoff’s musical partner and sometime record producer until his passing.

Scott Babcock - Drums, Percussion

I met Scott through Kenny Edwards, when Kenny was working with Scott’s band, the Brothers Figaro along with Bill Bonk and the great Phil Parlapiano. He has recorded with many artists and also works with local symphonies, among them, Karla Bonoff, Ronny Cox, Grant Lee Philips, Sara Hickman, The Williams Brothers, and Lisa Hayley. Scott played percussion on the first Bryndle record, and then became Bryndle’s drummer. He subsequently has played on 95% of every record I have produced since those days. He is equally comfortable playing jazz, classical music, hard rock, funk and of course the work of us singer songwriters. I find him to be endlessly inventive and it is my deep pleasure to continue working with him to this very day.

John Cowan - Bass, Vocals

Cowan had been the lead singer and bassist of NGR. For the record, New Grass Revival was the seminal band blending bluegrass, funk, pop, and blues—they featured Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Pat Flynn, and John Cowan. I had had a few covers with them, and ironically, had wound up as the record producer on their very last album together, “Friday Night in America.” I had subsequently produced two solo cds for John himself, both of which were amazing experiences for Michael and me. Michael wanted Cowan to play bass on the cd and it was a brilliant choice. Happily at the time of this writing, I’m producing yet another project involving the great and innovative John Cowan, who is always pushing boundaries and who is still one of the greatest living singers. His day gig is playing bass with the Doobie Brothers, but he also does a lot of projects on his own, all iconic.

Mark Goldenberg

I met this famous, multi-disciplined and brilliant artist in 1977 when I was touring with my band opening for Al Stewart on his iconic “Year of the Cat” tour. Mark was playing in Al’s band and blowing people’s minds every night. We became friends and I started working with him. Along with Peter Bernstein, my oldest musical collaborator and friend, and Steve Beers, the “Cretones” were my backup band for the Strange Company album on Warner Brothers. Then they went out on their own as well as working for Linda Ronstadt. Mark and I reunited for my Epic album “Which Way to Main Street”, where his work is fantastic. Mark Goldenberg subsequently played with Jackson Browne for many years as well as the actor/singer Hugh Laurie. Mark has released many superb solo albums and continues to perform and record for himself as well as others.

Jim Photoglo

When I was leaving for Nashville in 1983, I had just met Jim Photoglo, who was fresh out of a pop record deal in Los Angeles. He was a marvelous soul singer and writer, with some hits to his name, but was experiencing the restlessness that many of us were feeling in LA in the early ‘80s. We hit it off amazingly and started writing together. Not long after I moved down, Jim followed, recognizing that the climate had changed in LA for artists like us. We would congregate at my upstairs apartment on 18th Avenue South, and cook, and write, and find our way through this new world.

Jim and I wrote a song that became an iconic hit on the country music scene: “Fishin’ in the Dark” (recorded by the Dirt Band). We recorded the demo in the upstairs apartment on my Fostex 8 track machine, with our friend Vince Gill singing lead. Clearly, none of us knew what was to come; we were just happy to be Californians getting perhaps a second chance at music-making. As I mentioned elsewhere, the great irony is that Jim now plays bass with the Dirt Band so I imagine every night he is celebrated when they introduce the tune!

George Winston - Piano, Harmonica

George Winston really needs no introduction. He is considered to be the ‘founding father’ od new age music along with the original label Windham Hill for whom he recorded. However, he is so much more: a dedicated scholar, a tireless contributor to charity, and supporter of other musicians. George is a dear friend of mine and perhaps one of the most knowledgeable music scholars on the planet. On “Fields” George plays harmonica, a passion of his, and a subject of many scholarly recordings of the master harmonica players he has produced for his own label.

Matt Cartsonis

Matt Cartsonis is one of the most recognized multi-instrumentalists out there on the acoustic/roots music scene today. He played years with Warren Zevon, Bryndle, Pete Seeger, Van Dyke Parks, John McKuen, Steve Martin, and many others. He is a composer for television and film, as well as a record producer. He plays mandolin, guitar, harmonica, banjo, fiddle, and just about every other traditional American instrument. I’m just happy to say I have worked with him a LOT and I love him as a human and a great musician.

Brent Rowan

In my early days in Nashville, I discovered that there were amazing musicians everywhere-truly literate, fast, inventive, at the top of their game, and versatile as hell. And the thing was, you could get them to play on your demos for a modest fee. They were working all the time, so their chops were always up. One such discovery for me was a fellow named Brent Rowan. It is written about him that he “became a premier session guitarist who supported Nashville’s biggest stars, playing guitar on more than 10,000 sessions.” He played on albums by so many people it would take all my pages to discuss this. Sufficeth to mention names like Alan Jackson, Alabama, Chris Ledoux, Tanya Tucker, Kt Oslin, Clay walker and on and on. But Brent and I just became friends doing demos together in the early 80s. I marveled at his speed, his inventiveness, and his superb sense of humor. When I began producing records in Nashville, he was always my first call, regardless of what kind of record we were doing as his versatility was astonishing. I’m so happy to say that to this day, we work together, and he has played on numerous of my post-Nashville projects as well.

Arthur Lee Land

Arthur Lee Land is an artist I had the privilege of producing, one of the great masters in the acoustic jam band world today in Colorado, and as a side point, a cousin of Jim Photoglo. Small world. Arthur is stunning and doing fantastic work to this day.

Steve Ferguson

Ah, Steve Ferguson. A whole other story, and no, you don’t know him. But Linda Ronstadt, Jennifer Warnes, Ry Cooder, David Geffen, Karla Bonoff, George Winston, Matt Cartsonis, Taj Mahal, and a few other lucky people do. Both Kenny Edwards and Andrew Gold loved his work. He was one of the very first artists ever signed by David Geffen, but the time was not right for him, and he subsequently withdrew from the pop music scene, devoting himself to decades of study of classical and roots music equally. He is one of the truly great scholars of music that I know and more formidable a player than ever. I might say he’s one of my closest friends. I first met him through Chuck Plotkin, my first producer, when Bryndle was still forming. Steve was one of the rarest musicians I had or have ever met in my life: an equally talented classically trained pianist and composer as well as a deep scholar in old-time Americana, a stunning guitarist, very great songwriter, a young African American music scholar, genius—and recluse. He was well after and well ahead of his time—and I’m hoping we will begin hearing some of his works soon. If you’ve listened to my Warner Brothers albums you have heard a lot of Steve’s stunning playing on the early records (on piano and guitar). It was a great honor to bring him out to play on ‘Desert’, and there are stunning performances of his on “Fishin’ in the Dark,” and “The Luckiest Woman.”

Seth Osburn

Seth Osburn is a modern piano virtuoso, composer, and educator. I first met him when he was teaching piano—mentoring my son Abraham Parker who has indeed become a force in his own right, I’m sure partially due to Seth’s superb teaching. But Seth is also a stunning interpreter of jazz, new age, and classical music. He has collaborated many years with David Arkenstone as well as performing with numerous artists among them Michael Crawford and Shirley Bassey. I loved his composition and needless to say, his flawless playing. We did a bit of composition together and I always found him nothing short of astonishing.

Michael Boshears (linktr.ee/michaelboshears)

I first began working with Michael Boshears in the “Clover Studios” years in Hollywood-a studio Chuck Plotkin developed so that our group of musicians, Bryndle, myself, Steve Ferguson, and others-would have a place to record. You might say Chuck was prescient in his knowledge that we would need to be able to record a lot of music to get a few great tracks. Boshears began engineering for me in particular before my first album at Warner Brothers in 1973, and he and I together worked on the bulk of my catalog through the ‘70s. We also did many demos in those years. Boshears was a soft-spoken and brilliant engineer with a background also in mastering: he had engineered one of the best of the Black Flagg albums, Little Feat’s Dixie Chicken (due to politics he wasn’t given credit for this until the next album, lamentably), Jimmy Wood and the Immortals, Oingo Boingo, countless R & B projects, and much more. He was ‘old school’ raised, meaning he could set up, mic, record, mix, and master any kind of project imaginable because that’s what great engineers did in those days. But he also loved and understood technology, which was to serve him well in the coming years.

We reunited in the ‘90s and teamed up on all of my independent productions including John Cowan, Brian Joseph, Arthur Lee Land, Bryndle, the first Refugees’ album, and more. Michael and I developed my little ‘Seeds and Orphans” franchise, which actually yielded surprisingly big returns in terms of exposure—these are LPs comprised of demos, tracks, masters—you name it—that had never been heard and that we thought deserved to be out there. He mastered these together, and he named them “Seeds and Orphans.”

Boshears is also a stunning photographer, having garnered some industry magazine covers, and also having shot what I think is one of the best pictures ever of me: the cover photo for My Time in the Desert.