Still in Nashville with Charlie Judge
02 March 2007 
It’s been lovely working with Charlie again, we’ve written some new songs together and we also wrote some songs with Bill De main from Swan Dive.
Not sure if they will be right for the next record that I want to make, as they’re in such a different vein from what I am directly inspired by. But it’s great writing with different people and I always feel that a song is never wasted.
Me and Charles Judge at his studio Photo by Metso
It’s quite out of the way here and the only thing to do is to work on music, so when Charlie’s out working, I am editing what we’ve done or the other demos which I’ve been recording along the way.
I’m gathering more and more songs now, though it’s hard to get a clear picture of where it’s all going. They’re really varied and I’m beginning to move away from some of the older songs I’ve written.
Oh dear, this is what happens when you lose direction, a lot of time passing by and lots of songs and suddenly I wonder where I am and what all this will come to.
Metso is really patient, not having a car out here is pretty confining, he may be going stir crazy, me too a bit.
Charlie’s family are lovely, especially his grand children who rush in to the studio after school, to hug Charlie and say hi to me and Metso. They bring a gust of mad joviality into the room and remind us of that freedom of spirit that children possess.
Sometimes, we head out into town for lunch which is nice and Charlie showed us around the record/studio district of Nashville, the other day. It’s pretty strange looking. lots of white Nashville style houses which apparently are homes to some of the biggest recording studios and record companies in Nashville. It’s all very clean and pristine and the more time we spend in Nashville, the more we’re wondering where the dark side of it is.
Sure there is one but on the surface, everything seems kind of manicured and pop country. Not much trace of the Johnny Cash rugged energy around here.
There are more churches than we have ever seen anywhere though. Driving around Nashville you get the feeling that people spend a lot of time repenting. The churches are huge,vast structures, dominating the landscape with anonymous requests to repent and commit to the Lord.
At night, we enjoy a huge glass of Charlie’s favorite vintage wine and sometimes Metso and I will go outside at night to enjoy our wine and see the deer who are really magical and not phased by us at all.
