Archive for February, 2016

Songwriting, like many, many things, changed dramatically after the secong world war. Life was suddenly fragile and it no longer made sense to write sugar-coated songs that had no bearing on the real world. The war had brought death into every family, poverty to many others and the ever-present angst of the nuclear age. Several songwriters started writing mature, honest songs about the new world, like Hank Williams did with his anthems to the breakdown of relationships (Your Cheating Heart, I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry, Cold, Cold Heart). It was at that time that “A Satisfied Mind” came to be, a modern masterpiece of songwriting whose lyrics will live throughout the ages.

 

When I first started talking to my brother about our music project, the first song we considered was “A Satisfied Mind.” It was in the mold of some of Johnny Cash’s great American Recordings that I love so much. The song was written by Joe “Red” Hayes (1926-1973), a fiddler who died on stage, and Jack Rhodes (1908-1968), a professional producer and songwriter inducted posthumously into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. I loved “A Satisfied Mind” the first time I heard it in 1965 on The Byrds first album. The song has also been recorded by Porter Wagoner, who had a no 1 hit with the song in 1955, as well as Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Lucinda Williams, to name but a few.

We would like to thank Tom Butterworth for the use of his South Nation Studio during the mixing process.

Bob Séguin – vocals
Richard Ségion – acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin, MIDI guitar (upright bass)
Roch Tassé – drums