West Texas

Details

The first notes of "Fences Down" were written on a stage in Japan in January, during a moment of solitude at a sound check on what would be the final At The Drive In tour. I had been listening to the old 97's and slowly discovering that some sort of country and rock n roll combination was taking me over. I met some new friends who introduced me to the Flying Burrito Brothers and Gram Parsons and I was hooked. I made some half-joking plans to start a country band, but then got distracted by life. At The Drive In ended, Sparta began. In the fall of 2002 I went in to a west Texas studio to record some demos of the songs that were bouncing around in my head. There at Sonic Ranch I met Chris Heinrich. He was from El Paso, a little younger than me, but was a pedal steel player and that was what I needed. That session led me to finish writing “Fences Down” and a new song called “Heavy Weights”. It was never meant to be a band, it was just a jam, just fun. But I was hooked even more. I wrote some more songs here and there but never thought too much of it. Then in July of 2005 my friend David Garza convinced me to get a group together to play these songs and open for him on July 4th weekend in El Paso.

After the show, we recorded a more detailed demo to document the progress. With 8 songs now and a decent recording, I continued to chip away at the music while on tour, or when I was home for a break. I started the final recording in a second-story loft that houses an ad agency in El Paso—a little at a time. I recorded all my guitars and keyboards and pianos at my own home studio. Heinrich, Gabe Gonzalez and my dad would round out the recordings on guitars, bass, and drums respectively.

-Jim Ward.

Tracks

1. A Broken PromiseClick to listen to this song
2. Wasting My Time
3. Fences Down
4. Wednesday Nights
5. Kings And Compromises
6. Heavy Weights
7. Sound The Alarm
8. End Of A Year
9. You Should Run
10. All Will End Well
11. Stumble In