DREAMING BIG

“Two young dudes growing up hot.”

WHAT IT’S ABOUT
I have two friends who grew up together in Phoenix AZ. (Trivia: one of them plays on this album.) They are more or less my age, so for reference, when they first met in grade school, the population of the Phoenix metro area was about 650,000. In high school, the population had grown to about one million. Today, Phoenix is home to about 5 million souls. The world and their hometown sure changed, but some part of these two guys remains rooted in a very different time. And somehow, the heat always seems to win here.

The song is in no way biographical of my two friends; it is pure invention. What was it like, I wondered, growing up here in the heat, on the streets (east side) and the avenues (west side), seeing the changes happening and more coming?

Ed Skibbe, Cave Creek
August 2023


CREDITS
Ed Skibbe: acoustic and electric guitars, electric and acoustic pianos, vocal
Spencer Pyne: bass and electric 12-string guitar
Brian McClure: drums
Kevin Causey: backing vocals
Glade Wilson: backing vocals
Wes Bestern: backing vocals

NOTES
This track also began as a “legacy” track that Spencer, David Sondrup and I originally recorded for the “Wood & Wires” sessions. The original bass and drum tracks had some technical problems we couldn’t fix, but we really dug the basic vibe of the guitar and vocal, so we used those rough tracks as a guide for recording new bass and drums at ESP in Colorado. I also sang a new lead vocal at ESP. We loved the track and were thinking “something Byrds” right from the start.

We tried a number of approaches to this song with different instruments and nothing seemed to quite “click.” After weeks of frustration, one night I decided to just fire up a big ole Rhodes electric piano part like I would have played back in the 70s, instead of the various guitars we’d been trying. I think it worked. The pianos give this a different vibe from some of the other songs.

If anybody needs twenty-or-so electric guitar parts we couldn’t use, let me know!

Independently of me tracking furiously in Arizona, Spencer played the electric 12-string in Colorado. Back in AZ, I pounded out a few piano solo takes. The new mix rocked! I added a new electric guitar to support the 12-string and to add some crunch–a little Crosby to Spencer’s McGuinn. I also enjoyed having Glade and Kevin contribute backing vocal parts, along with the mysterious Mr. Bestern. Technically, creatively and musically, this track was by far the biggest challenge Spencer and I had to make a song we loved. Turn the heat on high, get some beer, score you a lid and enjoy!