Recorded at Red Zone Studios, Burbank, CA
Additional Recording: Chapel Studios, Encino, CA and Kiva Studios, Memphis, TN
Mixed at Master Control Studios, Burbank, CA
Additional Mixing: Devonshire Studios, North Hollywood, CA and Ultrasonic Studios, New Orleans, LA
John Porter wishes to thank Jack Kontney (Shure Mics), Roger Giffen, Candace Korn, Phil Gregory, Diane Medak, Hammond Scott, Nauman Scott and the musicians!
Maria Muldaur wishes to thank Vicki Heiner, Bob Heyman, Carol Butler, Joe Mulherin, Susannah Mills, Tracy Nelson, Ann Peebles, Don Bryant, Becky Russell, Lucy Burnett, Tommy Eyre, Virginia Armstrong and all the musicians and singers for their soulful spirit and performances. Special thanks to Marty Grebb for the faith, support and encouragement that made all this possible.
Ann Peebles and Tracy Nelson appear courtesy of Rounder Records.
Shout! Factory Reissue Notes:
In 1994, when Black Top Records asked me to do a follow-up to Louisiana Love Call (an album that celebrated my longtime love affair with the music of New Orleans), I decided to take a musical and spiritual excursion up the Mississippi to Memphis, another major wellspring of American roots music. Often dubbed the Home of the Blues, Memphis is where the blues plugged in and evolved into what became R&B and then soul music. I've always loved the Memphis sound; its simmering, hypnotic, percolating grooves and funky, down-home, gospel-tinged "testifying" became the inspiration for this album.
The songs I searched for (and found) cover the entire emotional geography of love - from its dry gulches and rocky terrain to its soft, sweet places. Good soul songs tell it like it is, expressing pain and loss, lust and longing, passion and joy - all of it. Rather than a sentimentalized, gooey, whitewashed, wishful-thinking version of love, good soul songs tell the real thing, the whole package, from the ecstasy all the way to the agony. They give practical advice about these matters that one can use in real, nitty-gritty situations. The songs here do that.
In the decade or so since I made this record, I've gone on to make over a dozen more albums, producing most of them myself. As I tend to fall in love with and get totally engrossed in each new project, I don't often go back and listen to my previous work. (Heck, I don't have the time to!) But when Shout! Factory asked if they could reissue Meet Me At Midnite, I gave it a listen (and then another and another) and said to myself, Damn, we made a good record! The band - Tony Braunagel, Larry Fulcher, Johnny Lee Schell, Jon Woodhead, Rick Vito, the Texacali Horn - are just groovin' their asses off; Ann Peebles, Tracy Nelson and all my soul sisters and I are testifyin' and singin' our little hearts out; and the timeless subject matter of the songs continues to be engaging and relevant.
I've given Shout! Factory my blessings to re-release this record and a big shout of gratitude for being one of the few record labels that endeavors to keep good, honest, timeless music on the shelves for us, regardless of whether it happens to be part of the up-to-the-minute pop trends. So here, one more time, is Meet Me At Midnite. Get your groove on!
Maria
(P) & (C) 2005 Shout! Factory LLC
2042-A Armacost Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
All Rights Reserved./Distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment Inc.
550 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10022-3211
ISBN: 0-7389-3067-9
8 2666 2 2