John Wesley Harding Online-Only CD

First volume of solo acoustic demos of tunes culled from his back catalog. Second volume due later this year.

By Blurt Staff

The ever-prolific John Wesley Harding has a new goodie that you can only get at his JohnWesleyHarding.com website. Titled John Wesley Harding Sings to a Small Guitar Vol. 1, it contains 14 previously unreleased tracks, all originals, that cover 15 years' worth of his career. It's just him and his acoustic guitar ("with occasional harmonica blast," we are told), on demos of tunes that found their way onto such albums as Awake, The Name Above the Title and the recent Who Was Changed & Who Was Dead.

Folks who order the CD (which includes a poster that has a complete song-by-song list of every demo session JWH ever committed to tape) will get a download code shortly after placing the order so they can start listening right away. According to JWH, "There are no other ways to buy the record, and no other formats in which to buy it, though a digital only version of the album will later be available through iTunes."

Meanwhile, you can hear a couple of samples now if you need convincing:

Go to www.johnwesleyharding.com to hear "The Dark Waltz", or go to www.myspace.com/wesleystace for "Funny Old New World."

Full tracklisting is below, followed by an explanatory note that JWH helpful provided us. He indicates that a Vol. 2 is in the works for later this year.

Track Listing:

1. History In The Remaking (from JWH's New Deal demo)

2. Funny Old New World (from Confessions of St. Ace demo)

3. The Dark Waltz (from JWH's New Deal demo)

4. Be With Him (from Adam's Apple demo)

5. Circles (from Why We Fight demo)

6. The True Story of Buddy The Kid (from Awake demo)

7. Good For the Ratings (from The Name Above The Title demo)

8. The Splendid Life (from Who Was Changed & Who Was Dead demo)

9. I See You (from Why We Fight demo)

10 Its Never Too Late (from JWH's New Deal demo)

11. The Undercard (from Awake demo)

12. Dear Lawyer (from Who Was Changed & Who Was Dead demo)

13. Rock'n'Roll Code (from Adam's Apple demo) 

14. Write What You Know (from Confessions of St. Ace demo)

Throughout my career, I've chosen, for whatever reason, to make my demos in epic sessions often lasting three or four hours, thirty or so songs at a time. Each one of these demos, though it is only me and an acoustic guitar, gets a name that ends up as the first working title of the forthcoming album: from Love Songs In The Face of Social Adversity (1988) to Dilettante's Inferno (2006.) It's the unedited, alternative history of my albums, and, since I've never owned any equipment that could remotely be described as a "home studio", it always takes place in someone else's studio.

"JWH Sings To A Small Guitar" Vols I and II contain the best of these otherwise unreleased songs from the many sessions - none have been released, most have never even been played live. Often these songs were forgotten because I had written too many by the time I next made a record; sometimes because they didn't suit the style of the album I wanted to make. Some get passed from one demo tape to the next, changing titles on the way. Some, including many you know, never got recorded as demos at all because they popped up at the wrong time. 

You'll find a  complete sessionography of these tapes on a poster. You'll notice that some of the tapes are in alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order: I recorded them this way to stop me putting all my favourites at the top. Equal opportunities for all songs! Also, it's interesting to realize things I couldn't have told you (and to wonder why those things were): like the fact that 50/50 Split could easily have been on "Here Comes The Groom", or that When You Smile could have been on "JWH's New Deal", let alone "Awake" and "Confessions", before it was finally rewritten to become the closing track on "Adam's Apple", or that Byron Road was finally renamed Narrow Road after five years and three recordings. Why?

I am making my next demo of new songs next month, recording my next record of band new songs in November, and releasing Vol II of "JWH Sings To A Small Guitar" before the year is out.

In the meanwhile... 

best wishes from

JWH