Bahamas Live To Tape Episode #1 #2 #3

Afie Jurvanen, the Sad Hunk himself, took his musical moniker Bahamas from an Eric Wreck song "Whole Wild World" typically attributed to the singer/guitar slinger himself. Once Afie got a hold of the song, which appears as the final track of his breakout album 2009's Pink Strat, it was scarcely recognizable from the original now rendered with, what we know today as, "the Bahamas sound". The song contains the lyrics:

When I was a young boy

My mama said to me

There's only one girl in the world for you

And she probably lives in Tahiti

I'd go the whole wide world

I'd go the whole wide world just to find her

Or maybe she's in the Bahamas

Where the Caribbean Sea is blue

Weeping in a tropical moonlit night

Because nobody's told her 'bout you

Jurvanen, who taught himself to play guitar while growing up in the rural hamlet of Barrie, Ontario, once filled in on a few gigs for Jason Collett then shortly thereafter his group Paso Mino became his backing band. The drummer from that band, Rob Drake, along with his friends from The 6ixty8ights, namely Mike O'Brien and Carlin Nicholson, went on to form Zeus who also backed Collett. 

When Paso Mino went their separate ways Jurvanen had the greatest success touring the world with Leslie Feist on what amounted to her three year international tour de force promoting 2001's Let It Die. In early 2006, Feist moved to Paris, where she recorded her followup The Reminder at LaFrette Studios, a residential recording studio in a 19th century mansion with 6 bedrooms and equipped with a Neve A 646 console, joined by Gonzales, Mocky, Jamie Lidell, and Renaud Letang, as well as the members of her touring band Bryden Baird, Jesse Baird, Julian Brown of Apostle of Hustle, and Afie Jurvanen.

By 2009 it was Afie who was taking centre stage internationally with 2009's Pink Strat wherein he introduced the world to "the Bahamas sound", it's a matter of small debate exactly what that sound is. When it came to finding players to play on the album he drew from his immediate circle of musical hombres, members of the Ill Eagle family. O'Brien and Nicholson were producing records as Zeus, for the Golden Dogs and others out of their studio of the same name at the time.

Dave Azzolini, an unsung Canadian legend who fronted various line-ups of the Golden Dogs (which over the years included Neil Quin from Zeus), was pulled in on Pink Strat as a sort of not-so-elder statesmen. Feist herself appeared as well. He also pulled in a solid bass player Darcy Yates, who would later tour with him. Greg Millson, from the Great Lakes Swimmers, was on drums.

Jurvanen recorded his first two albums at his then-girlfriend's house north of Toronto with the help of Robbie Lackritz, his former roommate. Afie refers to him as his engineer, manager and "best buddy." Nicholson is also  credited with additional recording on the first record. Lackritz at the time was Feist's road manager; now he's both hers and Afie's manager. Pink Strat amounted to a good musical hang which Lackritz ably captured like lightning in a bottle.

Despite, or indeed because of, it's homey four track basement recording quality, Jurvanen managed to craft such a complete statement that he realized he was clearly onto something. Displaying an innate sense for melody, Jurvanen's incredibly tasteful guitar playing, in particular his tone, drew the attention of Jack Johnson who released the record and subsequent releases on his Brushfire Records label. 

2012's Barchords stayed in the vein of the first release defined, largely, by its breeziness.  Jurvanen has said the choice of the name Bahamas, a country he by point of fact has never visited, was because people seem to like it when you “pick something weird” to go by, like Bon Iver did. By 2014 he'd tired of the title and tried a rebrand with the album Bahamas Is Afie (it didn't stick). 

Despite his acclaim Jurvanen was due for reinvention; he risked going stale otherwise. Jurvanen had been particularly moved by the surprise release of D'Angelo's long anticipated album Black Messiah which had been gestating for over a decade. Credited to D'Angelo and the Vanguard: drummer Questlove, bassist Pino Palladino, guitarist Isaiah Sharkey, and horn player Roy Hargrove. On one of the album's standout tracks, "Sugah Daddy" with Q-Tip and Foster, the rhythm section is Palladino and legendary R&B session drummer James Gadson.

Many know Pino Palladino from his work touring with The Who, recording with Nine Inch Nails, and, fittingly, as a member the John Mayer Trio. Gadson, who played with the original line-up of the seminal Charles Wright's Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band, has worked with everyone from Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, the Jackson 5, Bill Withers, Teddy Pendergrass even Justin Timberlake.

When asked by the Globe & Mail how did you get these guys, D'Angelo's rhythm section, to work for you? Jurvanen's characteristic dead pan response was matter of factly: "You email them." (He left out you pay them, what their worth, but that's fine too.) 

For Bahamas fourth LP, 2018's Earthtones, Jurvanen sought them out due to that album and wrote much of Earthtones with these particular collaborators in mind. The sudden decision by D'Angelo to release Black Messiah, albeit pressured by Questlove, was because of what was happening with the Black Lives Matter movement, "young black men and women are getting killed for nothing" he said. Jurvanen ruminated on those meditations and in turn reflected on his own white privilege lyrically.

Musically the collaboration had the effect of bolstering Jurvanen's laid-back blue eyed soul vibes with a deeper roiling funk groove. Jurvanen went down to L.A. and recorded 9 or 10 songs with Palladino and Gadson finding a deep pocket. You can hear this pocket playing on a song like "No Wrong", which, fasicinatingly was recorded at a later session in the Czech Republic with Bahamas touring drummer Jason Tait formerly of The Weakerthans. In the end what you're hearing is Tait playing what has been described as Gadson's "signature less-is-more approach to a masterly slow groove". This ended up being true for many of the songs on the album as Afie pleasantly observed himself:

"You can't really tell who played what, you know the songs just kind of meld together really nicely"

Drummer Don Kerr who used to play drums with Canada's legendary Rheostatics, and now tours with founder Dave Bidini's group Bidiniband, also plays on the record. To tour the album Jurvanen brought Darcy Yates  back into the fold to deliver the pulsating underbelly that Palladino had crafted on record; a task he was ably up to. Yates is a popular Canadian workhorse on the Fender Bass whose primarily associated with being a member of Fred Eaglesmith's backing band The Flathead Noodlers  (also known as The Smokin' Losers and The Flying Squirrels). Yates has also recorded with Doug Paisley, Kathleen Edwards, Great Lake Swimmers and many others.

The other musician who is always on stage with Jurvanen, central to his sound is another innately musical creature, Felicity Williams, whose instrument is the Shure SM58 microhopone. Her backing vocals are by now central to the Bahamas sound. The daughter of two parents who played in bar bands in the 70's and 80's, Williams sang in her  school’s chamber and jazz choirs as well as the Baptist church every Sunday. She later studied jazz and graduated from York’s music program in 2006. She then studied eastern and western music including at the Banff Centre in 2007. Williams, who is associated with groups including Bernice and The Road To Avonlea Choir, also plays duet shows with Toronto based free jazz guitarist Justin Haynes.

You would think most of the tasty guitar lines on Earthtones come from Jurvanen himself, many however are by another phenomenal guitar talent on the record Christine Bougie on the Fender guitar who also toured the record. Bougie is known primarily for her guitar and lap steel prowess and touring in support of Amy Milan (of Stars and Broken Social Scene) but has flown under the radar for years appearing on well over 30 recordings including her own instrumental album 2012's Hearts and Galaxies. That sonically adventurous release is reminiscent of the cosmic Americana of multi-instrumentalist William Tyler.  The appeal to Jurvanen of a player like Bougie is self-evident ,she straddles a similar line to his; between roots and jazz; between easy listening and sonic experimentation. 

Bougie and Williams are unparalleled musicians, so it's important not to gender their preternatural contributions. But it may be, if less self-consciously, that as a bandleader it is important for Jurvanen to have women in the group in the imprimatur of Sly and the Family Stone and Prince after him. In this light it's not unfair to compare Bougie and Williams to The Revolution's Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman, who have been prescribed as the artists "musical shadows".

With 2020's Sad Hunk, Afie Jurvanen, now sporting a fine walrus moustache, a young family at home in Nova Scotia, seems to have embraced the role of being a dad who makes dad jokes and plays dad rock. From that genre he's been compared at times to Randy Newman, largely for his penchant for humour, but his songs scarcely resemble Newman's complex character based songs. Boz Scaggs is a better fit. The Globe & Mail put it well “Taylor Swift digs Afie Jurvanen, but the cool kids do not.”

Perhaps struggling a bit to tap into the wellspring of creativity which fueled his previous releases Jurvanen brought one of his longest standing musical brohemes, Mike O'Brien, back into the fold. Although his band, Zeus, had by now achieved a fair measure of critical acclaim they had nevertheless failed to launch and their 2014 album, the appropriately titled Classic Zeus,  looked like it might have been their last. It may have been that their straight ahead version of rock 'n' roll just wasn't niche enough for the music press. Still,there's a pretty reasonable argument to be made that Zeus, a multiple songwriter group with unerring musical chops and peerless harmonies, are about as close to a modern day version of The Band as you'll find in contemporary Canada (although they also closely resemble The Eagles in the Joe Walsh era).

Jurvanen was joined again by Don Kerr, on drums, and Christine Bougie, on guitar, on Sad Hunk. A new player he brought into the fold was from Canada's west coast, Sam Weber who put out a solo record Everything Comes True on Sonic Unyon in 2019. Weber's material definitely has a Jackson Browne quality, which likely ebbed with Jurvanen's onsetting middle age malaise.

Jurvanen bemoans that he finds himself on so many "Chill" playlists, as much as he does purport to in fact be a "chill guy". Still, for lack of cool cachet, those playlists have driven Jurvanen's music to 2.2 million listeners on Spotify monthly. To put that figure in context, Bahamas' stream easily outnumbers those of underground-press darlings the War on Drugs (2 million average listeners), Father John Misty (1.8 million), St. Vincent (1.4 million), Kurt Vile (1.2 million) and the Broken Social Scene themselves (800,000).

Over the years, in addition to working with Canadian legends like Jason Collett and Leslie Feist (both at one time or another members of the Broken Social Scene), Jurvanen has, by now,  worked with The Lumineers, Howie Beck, City and Colour and another singular musical figure from rural Ontario Tamara Lindeman (who records as The Weather Station).

Now, as a way to slog through quarantine, Jurvanen decided to expand his idea of playing with his dream backing bands, by recording his songs remotely with musicians around the globe. Live To Tape shows Afie peforming largely solo backed by various rhythm sections and singers he reveres or has played alongside over the years. Each pre-recorded installment of Live To Tape will be recorded remotely from his home base of Halifax, Nova Scotia with musicians in locales including Nashville, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Perth and Toronto. 

The premiere episode featured Jason Isbell's backing band The 400 Unit, a group which once included his wife Amanda Shires, like Isbell himself whose father was a legendary Muscle Shoals player, everyone is primarily from that part of Alabama.

Live to Tape Episode 1 features:

Afie Jurvanen - guitar, vocals

Sadler Vaden - guitar

Jimbo Hart - bass

Derry DeBorja - keyboards

Chad Gamble - drums

Dan Knobler - guitar, music director

Afie Jurvanen and his 400 Unit banged out his originals "I Got You Babe", "Little Record Girl", "Trick To Being Happy" (from 2020's Sad Hunk). "Up With The Jones" (which was aired on CBS This Morning Saturday as well) had a great flair with Sadler Vaden taking Jurvanen's trademark electric guitar lines. "All The Time" was an even bigger kick with Vaden now playing the lead from Bahamas breezy anthem on pedal steel.

While the collaboration was well made interestingly it was episode 2 with the little known The Teskey Brothers from Melbourne, Australia that seemed to be an even better fit.

Live to Tape Episode 2 features:

Afie Jurvanen - guitar, vocals

Josh Teskey - vocals, rhythm guitar

Sam Teskey - vocals,  guitar

Brendon Love - vocals, bass guitar

Liam Gough - vocals, drums

The Teskey Brothers, who Jurvanen must have connected with on a tour down under, have released two albums, Half Mile Harvest (2017) and Run Home Slow (2019). Afie's set with The Teskey Brothers kicked off with "Can't Complain" containing the line "I can't complain make my livin' with my brain/ I make something new for all of you from some old refrain".  "Own Alone" from Earthtones had a real peppy Vulfpeck vibe suited to the Aussies. The group have great harmony vocals in particular rhythm guitarist Josh Teskey in particular. "No Depression", "Trick To Being Happy" and "Way With Words" all delivered thanks largely to the back end, Josh's lead vocals and his brother Sam's refined lead guitar. Their set closed out with a Teskey original "I Get Up".

Live To Tape episode 3 was hotly anticipated with Bahamas pulling in the big guns in the form of Bob Glaub, a top drawer session bass player, and Russell Kunkel a drummer and producer from the same echelon. Bahamas Music only describes the pair as “two prolific musicians that have been featured on 100's of legendary recordings” which is an accurate enough assessment.

Jurvanen is probably most closely familiar with their shared tenure backing Jackson Browne whose work bears a strong resemblance to the Bahamas sound which vacillates slightly more towards the sunny side of the street. Together Glaub and Kunkel have also worked with Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt and various members of Crosby, Stills & Nash. Kunkel was the studio and touring drummer for Crosby & Nash in the 1970’s, and has played on all four of their studio albums.

Glaub started his career in 1973 playing for Indigenous guitar legend Jesse Ed Davis' record Keep me Comin', which led him to work on records of artists such as Arlo Guthrie, Booker T. Jones, Dave Mason, Rod Stewart, Leo Sayer, Carly Simon, Robby Krieger and Steve Miller Band. In 1978 Glaub joined Jackson Browne's band leaving in 1989.  In 1980 Glaub joined Linda Ronstadt’s band with whom he played until 2000.

In the following years he played on records by Gladys Knight, Katy Moffatt, Dusty Springfield, Jim Morrison, Bonnie Raitt, Nicolette Larson, Cher, Kiki Dee, Jennifer Warnes, Rita Coolidge, Donna Summer, Eric Carmen, Gordon Lightfoot, Karla Bonoff, Eddie Money, Peter Cetera, Stevie Nicks and the Bee Gees. Over the years Glaub has played with serious luminaries including Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Jerry Lee Lewis, Stevie Nicks and Journey.

Kunkel, a drummer and producer, has worked with a similar stata of A level talent including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Glenn Frey, Harry Chapin, James Taylor, Joe Walsh, Steve Winwood, Jimmy Buffett, Bob Seger, Stephen Stills, Carly Simon, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Dan Fogelberg, Art Garfunkel, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Carole King, Lyle Lovett, Reba McEntire and still others himself.

Jurvanen/Glaub/Kunkel's set featured "Not Cool Anymore" and "Half Your Love" from this past year's Sad Hunk. Glaub comments before "Half Your Love" that "this one has no rhythm or band under it so we can just sort of do our thing right?" Kunkel right away slips into a pocket with a little shuffle pattern. You can hear a bit of back and forth after the track between Robbie Lackritz, best known as a recording engineer at first, now Bahamas and Feist's manager and co-producer, and the players as to how they liked the last cut to which there was no response as they scratched their heads. "Turn Back Time" which follows, also from Sad Hunk, works musically but lyrically it can be a bit of a head scratcher hearing Jurvanen, whose clearly doing alright for himself, singing about how "I'm not thinking about the distant past if I'm trying to make first and last".

Glaub and Kunkel were joined in studio by Sam Weber. The musicians are likely familiar with one another through Tyler Chester who produced the record and has also done work with Jackson Browne as a session musician himself. Glaub also recorded on Everything Comes True as did a really strong contingent of L.A. based session players.

Countless musicians have been able to figure out how to work remotely, recording fine albums or recording performances for TV or the internet, but watching the Live To Tape series gives you a sense of how actually difficult it is to build a musical rapport over cellphones on speaker phone. Before "Be My Witness", which Jurvanen plays on the pink strat itself, they quickly hatch out how to work the drum pattern with Afie calling out cues over the phone. 

Nearing the end of their set with "Never Again" from Barchords the ensemble has really locked into an uncommon bond with Felicity Williams and Robin Dann on backing vocals elevating the whole affair. One thing that Williams, a jazz musician who plays in progressive contexts, personally works on is using her voice more freely to improvise outside of standard vocal conventions. You hear that at the end of this live rendition where Williams, if given the chance could extemporize considerably. By the time they get around to the set closer "Summer Time", from Bahamas Is Afie, which is particularly well suited to this rhythm section, hence the selection, you would think the ensemble had been playing together 100 dates a year. 

Future episodes will include Bahamas teaming with Wylie Gelber and Griffin Goldsmith of Dawes; and Gus Seyffert (Beck, Adele) and Joey Waronker (REM, Atoms for Peace) featuring Lucius. Jurvanen also has a session in the can with The Secret Sisters and famed Nashville studio musicians guitarist Russ Pahl, bassist Dave Roe and drummer Gene Chrisman.