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“Land of Plenty”
Produced and mixed by Jesse Sprinkle at Bluebrick Recordings, Avon, NY. Brian Moore of Red Booth Recording Mastered the project in his Pittsford, NY Studio. The majority of the songs on the album were written by Smith and Sprinkle, but Smith teamed up with a couple of old friends for “In My Mother’s House” written by Smith and Stef Loy (The Miscellaneous) and Edward Raison, (The Funeral Crashers) on “Forever Without You”. One song is co- written by Smith/Sprinkle and Freeman and features the lyrics of the late Mark Heard.
“We received permission from Mark Heard's wife through his former manager to put music to some of the lyrics that were published in his biography, Hammers & Nails, “ Says Smith, “There were about 20 more songs that were published in lyrical form and we assume they all had music at some point, but those tunes died with Mark's passing in 1992. He was truly and American treasure. It is a shame not more people have heard of him, I hope we did him justice”. The song is “I’m Afraid of You”
The sound on “Land of Plenty” has a lush Americana feel. Kind of big and wide open in spots. Serious, but not too much so. Melancholy at times but not depressing, a touch of humor here and there. Land of Plenty is music wrought out of the struggle and joy that is the human condition. Like sweat on the brow, a thorn in the flesh, relief from a heavy burden. Looking forward, over yonder horizon. Like heading home.
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Bio
The Redemption Center started out as a songwriting project with J. Stephen Smith and Jesse Sprinkle (Dead Poetic, Demon Hunter, Poor Old Lu), which soon developed into a full album project. Smith and Sprinkle had worked together for over ten years; Smith on the record label side (Blind Records) and Jesse as a recording artist on Blind Records, but this was the first time they were able to get together creatively. Smith tapped Charlie Freeman to add bass. Charlie had worked with Mojo Heroes (another Blind Records act) in the 90’s but had been away from music raising his kids and teaching Physics. Yes physics! There is a Doctor in the house (PHD). Think of Sheldon from The Big Bang with musical talent. “As the songs progressed” states Smith, “ Jesse and I started reaching out to friends to fill in the musical space” They ended up with Rick Millard on harp, Dave Gillis and Chris Landon on Guitars, along with Jesse who also plays drums and Smith providing vocals and the lyrical direction to the project. “We also pulled in some great guest musicians,” says Smith. “One most notable guest was Timothy Dick of Auld Lang Syne, this record would not be the same without him”
Hailing from two different parts of the country, Smith from Oklahoma and Sprinkle from Seattle, their musical influences are complimentary but divergent. Some how, these two became friends in the Rochester, NY area nearly 15 years back. Charlie Freeman is from Westchester County NY, Gillis from Long Island and Millard from New York’s southern tier. This variance of backgrounds, musical taste and geography helped create a musical style that is truly a melting pot of several great American music traditions, blues, rock, country, pop and gospel.
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