The way Chris tells it, "One day in 2015, an old piano arrived at my home, with a bench full of magic: songs by Jerome Kern, George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Henry Mancini, Irving Berlin, Leonard Bernstein... many more. I fell head-first under their spell, awakening three years later with a long white beard and this collection: 26 songs on two CDs, written and arranged 'under the influence,' performed by some of my favorite singers and players." Vocalists on the two volumes of this lush, orchestrated, jazz-flavored outing include jazz legend Nnenna Freelon, pop icons Marshall Crenshaw, Don Dixon, and Caitlin Cary (Whiskeytown), North Carolina stalwarts Skylar Gudasz and Brett Harris, and exciting newcomers Millie McGuire, Kirsten Lambert, and Faith Jones. Highlights include Django Haskins (The Old Ceremony) and renowned saxophonist Branford Marsalis together on the Irving Berlin-like overture, "Manhattan Melody (That's My New York)," and rising-star pianist Ariel Pocock singing "There's Not a Cloud in the Sky." Cary adds a bit of Americana into the mix, with "Your Last Forever After." All are backed by the "ModRec Orchestra" (named after Modern Recording, Stamey's studio home base in Chapel Hill, NC) with Bill Frisell, Nels Cline (Wilco), and Matt Douglas (Mountain Goats), as well as NC jazz virtuosi Stephen Anderson, John Brown, Will Campbell, Jim Crew, and Dave Finucane, taking turns at the microphone.
