The Acoustic Cafe Series
The Acoustic Cafe series was born out of live performances in and around Lebanon, Oregon—a small town with eight venues within a mile of our home. After moving my family to Lebanon in March 2017, opportunities to perform at local restaurants, pubs, and parks began to appear one by one. New restaurant owners would call me, inviting me to play, and since I hadn’t performed regularly in many years, I needed to develop a set list and reconnect with my music.
I started revisiting the songs I’d been playing since my early days in San Francisco back in 1980. As I dusted off those old favorites, other beloved tunes came back to me, and I rehearsed them to add to my sets. As the local audience discovered my sound, I found a niche with these timeless songs and gradually built a loyal following.
I reached out to Michael Dowdle, a ‘Wrecking Crew’–level studio player from Utah who had contributed to many of my recordings over the years, and asked if he’d be willing to record studio versions of the songs I was playing live. Fortunately, he was on board. We started working one song at a time, discussing each next step as we went. Then, just as we finished our second or third song, COVID-19 shut everything down in March 2020.
With live gigs off the table, we shifted focus to studio work. David Morse, a talented engineer from Salem, Oregon, invited me to record vocals with him—something we’d done together a few years prior. One song turned into another, and then another. Soon, Steven Lerud of Lakeview Recording Co., based in Saratoga Springs, Utah, joined the team, mixing and mastering each track as it came in.
We didn’t have a plan at first—we were just making it up as we went, one song at a time—until suddenly we had 13 completed songs. We realized we needed one more to round out the project. With all the political turmoil swirling around, what better song to cover than James Taylor’s Shower The People? That choice felt right, and with that final track, The First Set was complete.
The idea behind the concept of Acoustic Cafe was to do the songs I did in my set, and to keep them uncomplicated. Acoustic guitar, standup bass, and very light percussion. All of which was arranged and reformed by Michael Dowdle in his home studio in Orem, Utah. The vocals are all performed by me (James F Wright) first in Salem, Oregon, and now in our own vocal tracking ProTools studio in Lebanon. We have named it Suite 200… as that is the name on the door. nothing like keeping things simple… Then the tracks are shipped to Steve Lerud in his Saratoga Springs Utah studio for the finishing touches. A great little system for now.
With The Second Set completed in the summer of 2022, The Third Set is now well underway, aiming for a fall 2025 release. So order another beverage, sit back, and stay tuned for more from the Acoustic Cafe — there’s much more music to come.James F Wright
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