Penelope Houston was the wisest, fairest bandleader I ever worked for. I started about twenty years ago and I was cut about ten years ago. Playing in her band I saw a lot of Europe, where for the most part we traveled in comfort and had great shows, and the US, where for the most part (God bless Pittsburgh) we traveled like parasites and performed for annoyed and insulted teens.
I miss the music, and I miss the comraderie. Here are two lovely acoustic keepsakes from the last part of my tenure in Her Band, which was pushed ever louder, first by Warner's, and then by the chefin herself. I was comically slow to catch on, but both label and artist agreed they would have to replace the staff (even me!) if they were to make a new, more accessible sound.
Anyway, Water Wheel is from the Euro-only release, Karmal Apple, and doesn't use the actual Her Band line-up. Our drummer, Kevin Mummey, and I on string bass, play with the song's composer Pat Johnson on guitar, who chimes in as Penelope sings his erotic love song. (Not her typical subject matter.) I got to write the song a string chart, which my enduring associate Julian Smedley executed on violin and octave violin.
Penelope and Pat
Trouble Walks By, written by Virginia Dare's brilliant Mary O'Neil, is a song piggybacked on Karmal Apple's pre-release single, Ride. Present are Penelope Houston and Her Band for real: Kevin and me, Eliot Nemzer on fifths-tuned steel string guitar, and Mel Peppas on mandolin. This is all played and sung together in real time in our little practice space under what was then Penelope's house in Bernal Heights. This is how I remember our band sounding. I think I'll have that little drink about now.
Water Wheel - Penelope Houston
Trouble Walks By - Penelope Houston and Her Band
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