Jody Mulgrew

After studying Vocal Jazz and Classical Voice and touring the U.S. and Europe with award-winning vocal ensembles, he formed old-time-americana outfit The Johnny Starlings with friend and collaborator Yohei Shikano. The group released an album “Aiming Too High” and an E.P. “Be My Baby Bright” and had an unreleased song “Slow-dance” featured on A Prairie Home Companion as sung by Inga Swearingen, before disbanding. His debut solo album, Rocket Ship was released September 1st, 2011. Wasting little time, “Rocket Ship” won “Best Album” at the New Times Music Awards in October, and his song “I Will Not Fall in Love with you Again,” was awarded First Place in the Durango Songwriters Expo “Write with a Hit-Maker” Songwriting Contest in March of 2012, and in June, Jody was awarded the Abe Olman Award for Excellence in Songwriting by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Jody Mulgrew & the Skeleton Crew released their new album, "Let Them Talk" in June 2014 with Sebastian Luna on bass and backing vocals, Anthony Langston on drums and Jody Mulgrew at the helm on vocals and guitar. "We recorded the new album the way that we play our music: In one room, all together at the same time, making the occasional, inspired musical mistake. We wanted to capture that skeleton crew sound, so our buddy Bear let us set up in his studio the way that we rehearse: Monitors on the floor, surrounded by our amps and instruments. The resulting record may not sound like the others in your collection. There is a lot of spook lurking in the spaces between the instruments. You can hear the sounds of the room sneaking back into the microphones: the drums echoing off of walls; the crackle of the speakers; the floor creaking under the weight of the performance. Our first session, we spent the better part of a day and an evening laying down performances. It was August 30th. It was 100 degrees outside, and at least 110 in the studio. Drenched in sweat and determined: Seven of the songs on the album, including the title track were recorded that day. Some, like "Ring of Fire", "Crying, Waiting, Hoping", and "I Got Stoned", were only played through once. What you hear on the record was the one and only take we did. I went to Nashville to do some soul-searching later that fall, and when I returned to California for the holidays, the Skeleton Crew and I went back into the studio to record a few more things. On December 5th and 6th, we finished the record in near freezing conditions. Looking more like eccentric arctic adventurers, with electric guitars instead of ice axes, we laid down versions of "Girls Gather Round", "Love my Little Baby", and a new song that I had brought back from Tennessee called "California Wait for Me". For me, this record is a snapshot of where we were as a band by the end of 2013. I couldn't have done any of it without Sebastian or Anthony. They had my back through the strange and awesome changes of 2013, and played their hearts out. And with Bear and Ky at Erickson Sound Labs giving us the space to be ourselves and play our music, we made this record. We hope you enjoy it." Jody Mulgrew Nashville, TN April 21, 2014 Music from Jody Mulgrew