Garry's Corner, The tribute page to Garry W. Tallent

Joe "Guido" Welsh
	Every now and then I discover an artist I had never heard about and then I wonder how much great music I'll never had a chance to enjoy. That's how I felt when I first downloaded a few tracks from "Seaworthy", the new release by Lucky Man Clark, Guido's band.
	BIO INTERVIEW USEFUL LINKS
Joe "Guido" Welsh, has over 30 years experience as a writer, performer, multi-instrumentalist and producer. For the last 15 years, he has written virtually thousands of original music compositions for several national and international companies, and has since 1992 provided all the live musical direction for hundreds of Wal-Mart, Sam's Club, and Wal-Mart International events in both the United States and abroad. As the songwriter and leader of several Kansas City bands including The 4Sknns, The Artists, The Gweedles, and blah blah blah, he performed live between 1971-1994 using the stage name Guido Toledo. Guido has also recorded and/or produced many Kansas City and regional favorites, at either one of his own studios or most of the greater Kansas City facilities. For several years, Guido was the staff engineer at Chapman Recording in Kansas City and a busy freelance engineer/producer for many others. Located in Nashville, Guidotoons now has many musicians available to facilitate the complete process of designing custom music to your exacting specifications. Their session players and singers have worked with every one from The Rolling Stones and The Beatles to Faith Hill. Regarding the album that intruduced me to Guido's music, what follows is a excerpt of what you can read in their website (check the link at the bottom): "...Lucky Man Clark grew out of well ... ahem ... I ain’t gonna lie to ya. This music was born out of listening to the records that I listened to in high school. Period. The Band — ANYTHING by The Band. Steve Miller Band's #5. Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde. The Rolling Stones' Exile and Sticky Fingers. The Beatles' White Album and the like. I just happened to be listening to 'em again and wrote these songs. Get the picture? I'm 47 years old [sound of anyone under 30 clicking off]..." Well, I'm under 30 (just for a few days) and I highly recommend you to stay.
Guido kindly asked a few questions about Garry's role in the album and his plans for the future:

How did you meet Garry?
I had met him several times at music stores/guitar shows and he was always personable and friendly.

How did he get involved in the project?
When time came to do the sessions with Levon, the bassist who played on most of the record, Dave Jaques, was out of town on one of the days we were gonna track w/Levon. I jokingly told guitarist Kenny Vaughan that he should call Garry and see if he'll play. He did and Garry wanted to play with Levon, so... there ya go!

July 2001 trackin' team: Kenny Vaughan, Jeff Armstrong, Levon Helm, Guido and Garry

How did you present the songs to Garry and Levon?.
As for presenting the songs to him...I had three tracks I wanted Levon to play on for certain, as they were in his style of drumming. I played the songs to all on acoustic and discussed how I originally heard them. One song, Hallelujah (Yer on Yer Own) was a classic Band/Levon Helm feel...halftime and slightly 'church-y'. Nailed that one by the 2nd or 3rd take. The next song, Set Me Free, I was hearing as a Staple Singers style arrangement. It was Garry's brilliant idea to stop on the four chord, as the Staples did often. Levon kept forgetting we were gonna stop, so with a bit of
creative editing...Garry's ending idea made the track!

Brand New Day, a bonus track on the disc, was written in 1991 with Levon in mind. It was Lee's favorite track and it was also somewhat melancholy that he could no longer sing it....

Levon Helm and Garry groooovin'

This one's for gearheads: What gear did Garry use in those sessions? I can see his '63 Jazz Bass in some pics.
Yep.... He brought that and we ran it into my mint 1962 Ampeg B15. We mic'ed the cab with a Neumann U67 tube condensor mic. Ran the mic through a Neve 1073 pre/eq and used a distressor for compression.

What are your plans for the future?
As far as plans, my new record is a complete about face...I'm making a 'Moog" record with jazz piano great Steve Million of all Thelonious Monk tunes....on SYNTHESIZERS!!! Not computers... 70's analog synths. Wild, man! We're hoping to call it 'Thelonious Moog'....I'll let ya know more later.

Thanks Fran!