All Wood and Doors is not simply a cover or tribute piece to the Doors. Like the caterpillar turns to a butterfly, they have delivered from the chrysalis a piece that has complex layers and a special beauty, which flies all on its own. The challenging part; respecting the caterpillar, and it is there, underneath it all. The poetry and melodies, brought forth through the ingenious arrangements on every track. Whether a Doors fan or not, then or now, you will marvel at how fresh and different, yet familiar it is.
Chance is what gave us 'All Wood and Doors'. James Lee Stanley wanted to get some memorabilia signed; he got that and the hand on the other side of the signature. Doors' drummer John Densmore said, “If you do to The Doors what you did with The Stones, I’ll play on it with you”. He was referring to Stanley’s previous album, ‘All Wood and Stones’. Stanley had not considered the idea, but welcomed the dare. Then came a lunch meeting with Cliff Eberhardt, asking him if he would like to collaborate on this project. Eberhardt. who had never worked with Stanley and only knew him very casually, said yes. Robyn B. Kaleta spoke to Cliff Eberhardt and James Lee Stanley to gauge the risks, the fun and the results.
Cliff Eberhardt:
The Alternate Root (TAR) – You have a very successful career, what prompted you at this point to seek out a collaborative project?
Cliff Eberhardt (CE) – For years I have wanted to collaborate with someone, having another artists input would make for an interesting album. I was ready for different. Many people I spoke with were reticent to do it, but when I met James at a Folk Alliance conference, he was very open to it. That put the bug in James’ ear.
TAR – You had only met a few times, were you concerned about it being a good fit?
CE – Yes. I flew out to California a week or so at a time. The very first time we sat down at a table, just us with our guitars and the lyrics, we punched out the arrangements in just a couple days... it was pretty amazing. James would add to it, or just let me go where I was going. It was great. We are both workaholics, I admit. James a bit more so than I am but I respected his work ethic and he mine. We were impressed and comfortable with each other. Going in blind was more creative than going in with expectations or rules. It was better for me to go in cold, and it worked out very well.
TAR – How did the distance affect your work on this project?
CE – Throughout the process James would call me to get my input and sometimes I would change the guitar part or add a slide part I felt a song needed, so even out of the studio it was very collaborative. I felt free to what I wanted to. I was never in the studio with anyone but James. In a way it was a very amazing way to do it. James was getting comments from Densmore and Robby Krieger, who loved what we had done so far. Having not met either of them, it was really cool to know they loved my work on its own, without having met me. We actually kept about 90 percent of the original arrangements we had worked on.
TAR – What are you most proud of about All Wood and Doors, and what pleased you the most about having done it?
CE – I am proud that it’s great that you can’t easily point to what we know is different. The harmonies make it very special too. I was pleased that although James and I sound very different, our approach and our influences are the same, so singing together was very natural. James was as serious as I was, focused and incredibly hardworking. We were like race horses seeing who could get something done first, or come up with the most ideas. I was excited to wake up every morning and get into the studio. It was exhilarating.
TAR – Was collaboration all you hoped, and will you do it again, what’s next?
CE – Absolutely, we even spoke about working together again while working on this album. I am not interested in doing solo work now. I am enjoying the gigs with James. The travel is tough but it is worth it, those two hours are very special. I try writing every day, in fact, right now I am writing for a production of The Taming of the Shrew. Not only am I writing, I am going to be performing it on stage and singing the songs for a ten week run at The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC. I have always wanted to do a theatre project. The show will run May 1st through June 10th of 2012. I am very excited about it. The only downside will be missing the time touring with James.
TAR – Anything you would like to add?
CE – When handling others work it must be done with kid gloves on, not trying to out-do the existing work, but enhance it with your point of view and doing it with respect. To take it over would be disrespectful to me, so the structure and the intent of the songs remain. We asked ourselves often; what would they think of this? I really love this album as whole.
James Lee Stanley:
TAR – James, I can hear an almost childlike excitement in your voice just mentioning the 'All Wood and Doors' album.
James Lee Stanley (JLS) – I think we have something really special here.
TAR – Was it scary for you, taking on a project like this, being a fan and working with original band members, John Densmore and Robby Krieger?
JLS – Not really, I suppose it should have, but since All Wood and Stones was so well received I had no doubt I could do it again. As soon as Densmore suggested the idea I contacted Cliff. On the way home from that lunch, I already had an idea for ‘Light My Fire’. I had so many ideas I could not wait to get started.
TAR – It seems as though it was meant to be.
JLS – I did certainly feel that way; Cliff and I had no period of adjustment, he came in and we went to work, it was quite amazing. It felt quite nice and fun, it was mysterious in a very good way, something that creates a duo from two individual artists. It was really a bold move on Cliff’s part but once we got together it was effortless. The night we finished there was a PBS special about The Doors that Cliff and I watched together. They used exactly the same songs we did on the album. All tweleve, a great omen we think!
TAR – How difficult is it rearranging music already so familiar, and what is most important?
JLS – I studied arranging in college, and it seems to come naturally to me. Densmore at one point said “what, are you an arranger?” I said “John, I think so”. As far as importance, simply put it has to be at least as interesting as the original, and be validly different. The decisions must be utterly logical musically, and it has to be fun to play.
TAR – No accident that the first song was ‘Break on Through’, and the last track ‘The End’, that and the fact that there are no individual credits on the tracks, keeping in the tradition of The Doors?
JLS – Honestly it was completely an accident, I thought only about making a recording that worked. When the songs were done Cliff was adamant about ‘Break on Through’ being the first track, Cliff said “I love the statement it sets up because it lets people know we are doing something different.” About the credits, I had not really thought of that until you pointed it out, but it is absolutely a happy coincidence; that this is a joint effort by a bunch of great people, and these are the people. I am so glad you pointed it out! Interestingly, I had decided that already. I loved the old Steely Dan albums, where there was just great playing and you never knew who did what. That was part of the fun, trying to figure out who played what. Perhaps in a year from now we will tell.
TAR – When one listens to the album they’d never guess that you were not all together when making this recording. Cliff had never met anyone other than you during the creation of this album, talk a bit about that, and all the geographical hurdles.
JLS – Cliff travels on the road and I choose to be home. It fell to me to put this together as the engineer in the studio, after all, 'All Wood and...' was my franchise. Cliff and I got together for a week each time. We worked 14 hour days laying down Cliff’s guitar and vocal tracks, then I would put on the engineers hat so to speak and work on putting the tracks Cliff and I played together. Then I called in the bass player Chad Watson, and the percussionists Scott Breadman, to have the rhythm section playing at the same time. I chose the instrumentation to force change to the arrangements. They did two or three passes of every single song. I listened to each one many times. Every rhythm and bass track is a combination from all three passes. Also recorded in the studio were John Densmore and Paul Berrere (Little Feat). Everyone else, Robby Krieger, John Batdorf, Timothy Schmit (The Eagles), Laurence Juber (Paul McCartney's Wings), Rick Ruskin, and Peter Tork (The Monkees) sent their material in. Cliff returned to record his tracks to go with the band's recordings. With the material I had from everyone, we again went through it and picked what Cliff and I liked most. In total it took 415 hours to put it all together.
TAR – Aside from the engineering work, is there a special point of pride for you?
JLS – I really enjoy playing the lead guitar solo on one of the tracks. A few people took a whack at it and they were good, but it was not what I wanted to happen. It’s not normally what I do, but I decided to play the lead, and it came out exactly the way I wanted it to!
TAR – How does an album like this translate to a live stage?
JLS – Cliff and I are loose about it, every single note doesn’t have to be just like the album. My feeling is that the album already exists and you can hear that anytime you want. There are certain parts that are germane to the arrangement that either Cliff or I learned to play for our live gigs, otherwise it’s just jamming good fun. The other important factor is practice, and a lot of it. It allows you to go out there and just be the song. If you do the work, when you get out there on stage you don’t have to think about anything.
TAR – Aside from creating music you have a music journal, and are a board member with the Folk Alliance, what inspires you to do all this giving of yourself?
JLS – My journal Datamusicata started because my wife said "you've been doing what you do so long that you know things that you don't even know you know", that was the inspiration I needed for datamusicata. There are over 400 articles there and a site search engine. It’s about ways I found to make the things I had to do easier to do. I participate on the board of the Folk Alliance to give back as well. The community has given me so much over the years. I believe we should all serve the public in some way, then step aside and let someone else have a turn.
TAR – What, if anything else, would you like to add?
JLS – I would love for people to experience as much joy listening to "All Wood and Doors' as Cliff and I got out of making the album. We had a great time and poured a lot into it, the more you listen the more you will hear. Everyone on the album is a great player and an enormously generous friend to me.
For more information please visit their websites; James Lee Stanley and Cliff Eberhardt
