1- A Tear Falls
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Drums: Renaldo Stefanel
Acoustic guitar: Larry Lafferty
Violins: Larry Simpson, Sybil Vernon and Linda McDill
Horns: Camp Kirkland
Lead vocal: Skip Birong

2 – Sunshine
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Drums: Derrick Hess
Lead acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Vocal: Skip Birong

3 – Odyssey of a Camel Driver
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Acoustic guitars: Skip Birong and Chuck Anderson

4 – Dreamin’
(Skip Birong; Doug Pike: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Drums: Derrick Hess
Electric guitar: Larry Lafferty
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong and Doug Pike
Harp: Doug Pike
Tambourine: Ray Lynn
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocal: Ray Lynn

5 – Sportin’ Life Blues
(Sebastian, Yahowsky and Butler: Hudson Bay Music: BMI)
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Harp: Doug Pike
Vocal: Skip Birong

6 – The Waffle House Blues
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Drums: Renaldo Stefanel
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Electric guitar: Larry Lafferty
Steel guitar: Jim Brown
Violins: Larry Simpson, Sybil Vernon and Linda McDill
Horns: Camp Kirkland
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocals: Ray Lynn and Leanne Hodges

7 – Sweet Georgia Blossom
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Acoustic guitars: Skip Birong and Doug Pike
Banjo: Mike Peyton
Dobro: Pat Ogilvie
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocals: Ray Lynn

8 – Dammit
(Mike Peyton: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Drums: Derrick Hess
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Vocal: Skip Birong

9 – Find Me a Home
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Glen Harper
Drums: Derrick Hess
Lead acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Rhythm acoustic guitar: Doug Pike
Mandolin: Lee Peyton
Banjo: Mike Peyton
Lead vocal: Skip Birong
Background vocal: Ray Lynn

10 – Dream on Me
(Skip Birong: BMI)
Bass: Larry Nader
Acoustic guitar: Skip Birong
Harp: Doug Pike
Vocal: Skip Birong

Continue “The Songs”

[The following is excerpted from “Friday – Skip Birong’s Musical Story”, which may be found in its entirety on the Bookshelf in Days Seven.]

The “Skip Birong” album cover was created in pen and ink by Terry Barckholtz from the publicity photo above. Terry, who is the founder and current president and CEO of the Barckholtz Group in Saginaw, Michigan, was part owner of PDM Design in that same city back in the mid-seventies when I played a  really posh restaurant there. He and his partner needed an instrumental soundtrack for a marketing film they were producing, and I needed an album cover. Thus, my first “trade-out.” And the cover ended up being printed in black and white, whereas the original artwork included green and yellow print for the name. Couldn’t afford the color print.

The album was produced by Ray Lynn and me at the Warehouse Studio in Jacksonville, Florida in 1976. It took about two months to complete the recordings. All but two of the songs were written by me alone or with Doug Pike, and the first cut of each side was fully produced, including strings and brass. Side A was contemporary, pop-oriented, and side B was country-oriented. I had intended to use the album not only to sell off the “back of the truck,” as it was called, in order to earn the money to repay the loan I had to get in order to produce it, but also as a demo album for other opportunities which I hoped might come up from time to time. The songs can be downloaded from the “The Songs” link on the post  above.

Continue “The Album”