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Johnny J Blair with Prairie Prince & Chris von Sneidern - Halfway to Dakota

from HALFWAY TO DAKOTA (limited edition EP) by Johnny J Blair w/Davy Jones, Mike Garson, Prairie Prince, Chris von Sneidern

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about

The evocative "Halfway to Dakota" was expertly recorded with Chris von Sneidern in charge. It's a Leiber & Stoller-ish tale about a man driving relentlessly over the great Western open spaces to be with his woman. The original demo was in a Roy Orbison vibe, but the recording went in more of a tango direction.

The song was written by Taylor Matthew Jordan, that Mystery Cowboy who left me boxes of songs to do. Everyone has a Mystery Cowboy story. Maybe it’s not always called that, but reach into your misty memories and you’ll recall that intriguing person who affected you, captured your attention, and moved in the shadows of your life at key and unexpected points, then disappeared into an unreachable place.

The wind was blowing hard around the 23 Club in Brisbane, California, on the night I met this particular Mystery Cowboy. It was like a scene from the movie “The Petrified Forest,” the building clattering as if Duke Mantee would come busting in. Instead, in walked a weathered but sturdy looking elder I would come to know as Taylor Matthew Jordan. For weeks he’d been slipping in and out of my shows at the 23, listening quietly in a dark corner, making me think of Strider if he groomed himself like Waylon Jennings.

Bourbon and blood spilled on the stage of the 23 Club in the wild, old days when Johnny Cash, Wanda Jackson, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Hank Williams were in their prime and took the stage there. It all folded into the canyon village of Brisbane, where people lived hard, worked hard, and played hard, just a mile below the San Francisco city line.

The rough wood structure of the 23 Club still echoes the melodies of a time before the Telecaster was a 'vintage' guitar, but the clientele today is slightly more genteel than in the 1950s heyday--when the slogan was “music at 9, fights at 10.” Meanwhile, the 23 atmosphere stays Americana (emphasizing alt-country and rockabilly). This was the perfect place for me to meet Mr. Jordan.

I was just wrapping up my last set when I heard big boots strolling up to the stage. I turned and looked into eyes that seemed both haunted and at peace. He introduced himself, complimented me on my singing and playing, then handed me a notebook and a small box of old reel-to-reel tapes. He spoke in an accent that could’ve come from anywhere between Deadwood to Tupelo, “It would be my great pleasure if you could go through my songs and record them. Take the publishing and everything. All I want is for them to be done proper, and you’re the man.”

Taking a seat on the edge of the stage, I opened the box, letting loose the musk of sunbaked California sage and that familiar dust of recording tapes. Then I flipped through the notebook with dozens of songs. I had questions, but when I raised my head to talk to Mr. Jordan, he was gone. No one saw him leave.

The few who know about him say he lived self-sufficiently before dying in one of the shrouded canyons where banditos hid in the 19th century. Others told me he’s a mentally disturbed “prospector” rambling around the mountain looking for a lost gold mine. Gleaning from his own notes, he was a rising rockabilly star from the late 1950s who, right when he was breaking into the big time, inexplicably walked away from it all and vanished.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting here with his notebook of amazing songs: Sweet songs that make you think of heaven, sad songs that absorb your pain, songs to make you dance, cry, pray, reflect, celebrate…too good to sit unsung. So I’m going to work on these songs in days to come, and "Halfway to Dakota" is a good place to start.

credits

from HALFWAY TO DAKOTA (limited edition EP), released January 29, 2013
JJB: bass, acoustic guitar, piano, vocals
Prairie Prince: drums
Paul Robins: electric guitar
Chris von Sneidern: electric guitar
Produced by Chris von Sneidern. Recorded and mixed at Hyde Street Studios, San Francisco, summer 2012.

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Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large" image

Johnny J Blair "Singer at Large" San Francisco, California

"Johnny is a virtuoso"--Brian Wilson
"Pop music with a conscience.”--Goldmine
“the Harry Houdini of rock and roll.”-- Spotlight. Listen to Johnny's fast-paced mix of old school soul, psychedelia, punk/new wave, & classic pop/rock. Singer-songwriter in his own right, he was also a sideman for Davy Jones and The Monkees + performed with David Cassidy, Al Stewart, Buddy & Julie Miller, & others. ... more

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