Thank you for checking out my newest recording project!

"A Pick In My Pocket" is now available from CDbaby.com

Questions? Email me - jim@apickinmypocket.com )

EP stands for “Extended Play”. That means it’s not the full, final release of the album. It’s a shorter version. I know – I know – hang with me here through the funny part. It’s “Extended”, meaning “longer than a Single”. But it’s not as long as an LP – or “Long Play”. Got it? Me neither.

What’s important is that it’s an early release. (I jokingly referred to it as the "bootleg release", but it's completely legal) There are several reasons for doing this. First, many of you have been patiently waiting for my next project. It's been a long time coming but is finally picking up steam. I wanted to get something in your hands in appreciation for your support and also to whet your appetite for the rest, which will probably be finished in late summer or early fall. Also, every dollar from the EP sales goes toward the LP project. If you're a recording musician, you know that's a chunk of change.

I appreciate your support!

Liner Notes

The Songs and Stories Behind

"A Pick In My Pocket"

This album is a work in progress. I'm releasing an early EP with six tracks to help with the final push to full LP.

Here is the story of the songs so far...

"A Pick In My Pocket" is the CD's title track. This album is dedicated to my father, who not only got me started on the guitar but also whose sincere and enthusiastic support is the reason I love to play. Every tune on this album passes one test - when I play it, it makes me smile with the thought, "Dad would have liked that one." I wrote the title song in memory of him.

Not long after learning to fingerpick, Chet Atkins' arrangement of the great old fiddle tune, "Black Mountain Rag" became my all-time favorite instrumental. From as early as I can remember, Dad used to tell me, "You better keep a pick in your pocket. You never know when you might meet Chet and he'll want to hear you play Black Mountain Rag."

I never got to meet Chet, but I've always kept a pick in my pocket. And that's why those are the first two songs on my album.

I think Dad would have liked that.

"Waiting For Linda" is a song that I started working on one night while waiting for her to get home from nursing school. It is the first original of mine that became a full-fledged arrangement. It progressed over a long period of time and has meaning to me on several different levels.

One part of the song was inspired when we were on vacation in Mexico. In a little seaside town, I sat at a cantina and waited while she had her hair braided. I was enjoying the sounds and smell of the water on the breeze and watching some local boys playing soccer on the white sand when a man carrying a guitar came by.

"Senior", he said, "Your wife has beautiful hair. It will be a long time before she is finished. I can play you a song while you wait. Do you have a request?"

I didn't know what else to say. "Can you play 'Malaguena'", I asked? He said, "Oh, Senior! That is such a sad song - about unrequited love. Wouldn't you rather hear a happy song?" I suggested we might not have the same song in mind and offered to show him. He handed me his guitar, and I pulled a pick out of the pocket of my swim trunks.

Because I ALWAYS have a pick in my pocket.

I played it for him. He was intrigued and when I gave him his guitar back, I gave him the pick as well. When he left, a Canadian fellow watching from a nearby table laughed at me. "I liked your version better. But what will you do when the next one comes along? You gave away your pick!"

I smiled and pulled out another pick. "I have two pockets. A pick in each. You just never know..." Later that night I worked out another part of the song with my own guitar, sitting in the white sand in the dark by the water. I often wonder if that song would have ever finished if I'd only taken one pick to Mexico...

"The Twirling Dress" is a song for fathers with daughters. Every young girl has the same reaction when they put on a new dress. They spin around like a ballerina to see how well the dress "twirls".

This song arrived in my idea in-box nearly intact after only a few minutes of tinkering with the initial cascading riff. Most of it was written in one session on my "truck guitar" during a lunch break. That evening at home I was playing it over and over, desperately worried I might forget some part of it, when my oldest daughter Stephanie walked in the room. It was prom night and she wanted to show me her dress.

I don't know how else to describe it, other than there was nothing about that dress that was going to twirl. I guess you'd have to be a father to understand the emotions that arrive at the moment you realize your little "Daddy's girl" is suddenly a young woman. I was playing that song when it happened and it's been Stephanie's song ever since.

When my oldest son Ben announced his intention to join the United States Marine Corps, "The Armed Forces Medley" quickly moved from an idea on the back burner to an important project. I wasn't really prepared for the response it would get.

I began with the same four songs that I'd seen most marching bands do - Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. But the first two times I played it publicly, someone came up to me and said they liked it but, "you forgot the Coast Guard". I had to admit I had no idea there was such a song. But when I researched it, I immediately loved it and it became the opening song for the medley.

The songs are:

1. "Semper Paratus" (Always Ready) - Coast Guard

2. "The Caissons Go Rolling Along" - Army

3. "Anchors Aweigh" - Navy

4. "Into The Wild Blue Yonder" - Air Force

5. "The Marine Hymn" - Marines

This has quickly become one of my most requested tunes and is the one that gets the strongest response. Very often, veterans of these military branches will stand in the audience when they hear their song. I was never in the military but have always been grateful - beyond words - to those who were and are. I'm honored to have this way to show them my appreciation.

"Be Thou My Vision" is one of my favorite hymns and is also a great old Irish melody dating as far back as the 6th Century. This was a fun project for me to try to arrange the tune with a nod toward it's historic roots. Guitarists will recognize the tuning - DADGAD - which is frequently used in Celtic-flavored arrangements.

The Players:

Jim Deeming: Guitar, all tracks.

Bonnie Sims: Mandolin, "A Pick In My Pocket"

Bruce Netherton: Drums, "The Twirling Dress"

Garrett Lloyd: Drums, "The Armed Forces Medley"

Bijoux Barbosa: Upright Bass, "Black Mountain Rag" and "The Twirling Dress

Recording/engineering by Paul Andrews, Bridge Studios