Master Sessions

As front man of the acclaimed roots-rock band Last Train Home, as a solo artist, and as a duo with songsmith Peter Cooper, Eric Brace is a prolific and admired artist. A former music journalist for the Washington Post, Brace relocated to Nashville in 2003. He has released eight CDs and one live concert DVD with Last Train Home (Last Train Home, True North, Holiday Limited, Time and Water, Bound Away, Tributaries, Last Good Kiss, and Live at IOTA), as well as a sublime album called The Skylighters, where Brace led a band that included bluegrass luminaries Mike Auldridge on dobro and Jimmy Gaudreau playing mandolin.

After moving to Nashville, Brace began touring and recording with duo partner Peter Cooper, and the pair has two much-lauded albums to their credit. You Don’t Have To Like Them Both was released in 2009 and was a #1 album on the Freeform American Roots Chart, Top Five on the Folk Chart, and Top Ten on the Americana chart. The opening track on that CD, "I Know a Bird," which was penned and sung by Brace, was the #1 Folk song on its release and a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. The pair's most recent album, Master Sessions, is a tour de force that made its way onto numerous critics' lists of the best albums of 2010. It features the instrumental work of pedal steel guitar legend Lloyd Green and dobro master Mike Auldridge.

Brace continues to tour and record with Last Train Home, most recently releasing a record called Six Songs, which Twangville called the best EP of 2010. Brace lives and works in East Nashville, where he runs indie record label Red Beet Records. He's a devoted champion of the rich and productive East Nashville music scene, having produced three compilations of East Nashville music featuring some of Nashville’s finest songwriters. Brace is co-producer of the Grammy-nominated I Love: Tom T. Hall's Songs of Fox Hollow, on which he appears with his band Last Train Home. His next project, slated for release in 2012, is a 20-song folk opera about the California gold rush.

Master Sessions

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Musicians:
Mike Auldridge: Dobro
Richard Bennett: Guitars, octave mandolin
Eric Brace: Acoustic guitar, vocals
Peter Cooper: Acoustic guitar, vocals
Lloyd Green: Pedal steel guitar
Jen Gunderman: Keyboards, accordion
Pat McInerney: Drums, percussion
Dave Roe: Bass
With:
Jon Randall: Harmony vocals (2, 5, 11)
Julie Lee: Harmony vocals (4, 7, 8, 11)
Kenny Chesney: Harmony vocals (1)

Recorded by Adam Bednarik at House of David Studios (Nashville) and Mike Esser at 16 Ton Studios (Nashville)
Mixed by Richard McLaurin at House of David Studios
Mastered by Alex McCollough at Yes Master (Nashville)
Photography by Jim McGuire (Nashville)
CD design by Bill Thompson (Harrisonburg, VA)
Produced by Eric Brace and Peter Cooper

1. Wait a Minute

Lyrics

(by Herb Pedersen) ---- When Eric and Peter were absorbing the lessons of the Seldom Scene on those long ago Thursday nights, this Herb Pedersen song was always on the set list. It's one of the best songs ever written about the consequences of the oft-romanticized life on the road. Of course, it made them both want a life on the road. Weren’t they listening? (And yep, that's Kenny Chesney on the low harmony. Turns out he's a huge Seldom Scene fan too.)

Wait a minute

Did I hear you say you're going far away again

Try to change it

I can't take the lonely nights without your love

Doing the road

Get the music done and move along

What good does it do

Play your songs for her and hear her say

Wait a minute....

Rolling along

Life's been good to you, and even so

She comes to you

Late at night's the time you hear her say

Once again

Wait a minute....

Waiting for you

Thirty days and nights without a rest

Gotta hold on

Twenty-five to go and once again

I hear you say, hey

Wait a minute

Did I hear you say you're going far away again

Try to change it

I can't take the lonely nights without your love

2. Suffer a Fool

Lyrics

(by Peter Cooper & Don Schlitz) ---- People get better at stuff through practice. Ask Peter’s wife, Charlotte, who has gotten so much better at patience.

3. It Won't Be Me

Lyrics

(by Eric Brace & Karl Straub) ---- Eric loves railroads and train stations so much he named his band Last Train Home. Long ago, Peggy Lee had a hopeful hit, "Waitin' for the Train to Come In," but here, the train that comes in is bringing bad news, and this guy has to grab the next one out.

Standing by the railroad track

Waitin' 'til the train comes back

Just to see it go

Just to feel the wind blow on my face

She's a mile away at most

Downhill so she can coast

And everybody knows

That's the way it always goes

They'll be wiping eyes and telling jokes

Blowing kisses and blowing smoke

Outside in golden rings

If I'm a judge of anything

You will find a happy man riding on that train

But it won't be me

Won't be me waving from the window

Me stepping to your arms

Me handing over to you

All the pretty things

All the things I brought you

From everywhere I've roamed

I can feel it coming

Before I can see it coming

Then it's screaming by

Inches from my face

She's flying straight to you

Guess I'll do some flying too

And climb up in that boxcar

Don't need a ticket on a

Freight train heading far from here

The price is right and the distance might

Just take away the sting

If I'm a judge of anything

You will find a happy man

Riding on that train

But it won't be me

Won't be me waving from the window

Me stepping to your arms

Me handing over to you

All the pretty things

You will find a happy man

Riding on that train

But it won't be me

4. Missoula Tonight

Lyrics

(by Eric Brace & Peter Cooper) ---- When Eric saw a Montana forest fire up close, it stuck in his head. Fire. Wind. Water. Powerful stuff, especially for those in the way.

Fire on the mountain, smoke in my eyes

Look up and see the red flames in the black night

We prayed for a hard rain

What else can we do?

The fire breaks are cut and the fighters home

Come closer darling there's ash in your hair

A tear in your eye

This time tomorrow we could be anywhere

Missoula tonight if we tried

We watched them fly over

In modified planes

Dumping the water again and again

Time now for leaving

What will you take

We won't need very much, we shouldn't wait

Come closer darling there's ash in your hair

Tears in your eyes

This time tomorrow we could be anywhere

Missoula tonight if we tried

Your brother's a brave one

Flying like that

There's a man with no fear

I think that I saw him waving his hat

Pointing to get out of here

Come closer darling there's ash in your hair

Come closer don't cry

This time tomorrow we could be anywhere

Missoula tonight if we tried

5. Big Steve

Lyrics

(by Peter Cooper & Don Schlitz) ---- Music belongs to the ones who love it most. In Nashville, that's Big Steve, Music City’s favorite doorman. You can likely find him at Douglas Corner next time you're in town.

6. Circus

Lyrics

(by Eric Brace & Peter Cooper) ---- It’s hard to be a clown, and harder not to be one. Good thing kids love ‘em. Lyrics aside, here’s a simple, finger-picked pattern that Lloyd and Mike weave into something far beyond what Eric and Peter could have imagined. Come to think of it, that applies to this whole record.

Here comes the circus back to town

I've got a kid he loves a clown

When I was his age I did too

Now I don't, what can you do

He doesn't worry 'bout the lions

Tigers and bears they are his friends

I'm stuck with fearful agitation

And disbelief I can't suspend

We won't be going to the circus

I can't imagine why we would

There's a brand new sucker born every minute

You can spin it most every way but

Would you bring back something

From the circus

Some kind of little souvenir

He'll think much better of the circus

Imagining the thing from here

Here comes the circus back to town

I've got a kid he loves a clown

When I was his age I did too

Grew up to be one, whoop-di-do

7. Behind Your Back

Lyrics

(by Peter Cooper) ---- Talking behind your back doesn't have to be a bad thing. Characters in this song include Lonesome Bob Chaney, Allison Moorer, Chris Richards, David Olney, Denice Franke, and Vince Bell. Peter wrote “Behind Your Back” mostly about Eric Taylor, about whom many great things are said. Not enough, but many.

8. I Flew Over Our House Last Nig...

Lyrics

(by Tom T. Hall) ---- As usual, Tom T. Hall shows how it's done. He wrote this song while flying over his old house, seated next to Connie Smith after a gig. He was looking out the window, humming a tune. She said, "What are you doing?" He said, "Writing a song." Could something so great, so moving, really be that simple? Eric recorded this in 2007 for the "Last Train Home: Live at IOTA" DVD and CD, but he couldn't pass up the chance to hear Lloyd and Mike and Peter and the rest of this team of all-stars sink their musical teeth into this great song.

9. Nice Old Man

Lyrics

(by Peter Cooper) ---- Peter probably wrote this song about his grandfather, John W. Cooper.

10. Silent Night

Lyrics

(by Jon Byrd) ---- This song shares a title with the holiday tune, but East Nashville's Jon Byrd reminds us that the sentiments of that old carol always apply, even when you're "gliding down the road on a hot summer day, so bright."

11. I Wish We Had Our Time Again

Lyrics

(by John Hartford) ---- The saddest romp ever written. “Dear old friends have to turn their eyes.”

Master Sessions

Master Sessions

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