Mark and I started collaborating over a very long distance in 2006. He in London, I in the northwoods of Minnesota. We finished our first CD without ever laying eyes on each other, meeting for the first time fall of 2007 in Minnesota, Mark on a backpacking world tour.
We made a start on our second CD setting out the pattern for our creative friendship, writing and recording when we could both be in the same room. At least that was our preference though not entirely practical it did become somewhat more feasible when I began spending time in the UK beginning in the fall of 2008.
With Mark living in York and me in Bolton, distance was still an obstacle but we always worked on tracks whenever together. A typical session involved me getting the train to York, catching the wrong bus or some other fiasco. Once Mark and I were stranded on a train platform at midnight in a blinding snowstorm. Typically I’d be spending the weekend, we’d go out the first night investigating the many pubs of York, second night Mark would make a roast dinner and in between recording. I’d have mornings to myself and Mark might stay up some several hours after I’d crashed. We somehow managed to record quite a lot. 6 CDs with a possible 7th made up from leftovers.
