Jefferson Fox's latest album is a group effort

They say it takes a village to raise a child. That's certainly the case with Jefferson Fox's new baby, "Chronicles of Harvey."

Fox originally planned to record the album in a studio in California, but changed his mind as he started gathering sounds from his neighbors.

"As I got settled into life here in Southeast Missouri, I've found more and more great musicians to work with," he said.

Like borrowing eggs, flour and milk, he went to houses around town and gathered voices, keys and bass lines.

He found bassists in Chris Moore and Pat Koetting. He got backup vocals from Anastasia Gonzales. Scotty Bierschwal added piano to a few tracks.

Fox said he liked what those and other artists did to his music.

"I finally decided to record it myself," Fox said. "I liked what they were doing more than what I had written."

As he went around collecting layers of songs, he said the album turned into "more of a product of this group of people."

Most records come together in a studio. Fox spent six months recording in the homes of guitarists, singers and drummers.

"I recorded with Darren Burgfeld in his living room. I recorded with Anastasia Gonzales in her kitchen," Fox said.

He tapped local hired gun Bierschwal for piano. Bierschwal said Fox gave him some raw recordings of a few songs. He listened to them, came up with a part and called Fox over.

"It was pretty cool, very easy," Bierschwal said. "We recorded in my bedroom."

Bierschwal has played on other albums for area bands and routinely plays with the Bruce Zimmerman band. He said with Fox, he tried to "imagine what piano part would sound tasteful -- not too busy and not overshadow" the other music.

"I probably had the most fun playing on 'Bait and Switch,'" he said.

"Bait and Switch," a bluesy track about greed and people driven by it, turned out to be more than just fun. IRL Music Consultants included the song on its compilation album and took it to an independent music convention in France. Two companies contacted Fox about buying the rights to the song and album after that.

While he said it's nice to be chosen, the album is about more than awards. He said it's one of his favorite projects yet.

"Musically, this one is more concise," he said. "It all sounds more the same. The songs are more congruent."

Fox's previous albums were always a mixed bag of his favorite songs or compilations of ones he'd already recorded.

"We'd go from rock to folk to whatever" on those albums, he said. "We do that a little, [on [OpenSingle]Chronicles'] but it's a more solid project in terms of a theme."

He had five songs written when he decided to start recording the album. He added another seven along the way.

"I could see as I was beginning to form ideas about the next song how it would fit with the album overall," he said.

The result is a CD about transitions and traveling through life's passageways, something that will be reflected in the stage for the CD release party today. Most of the musicians from the album will be there to perform their parts on different songs.

"This is the first time I've had all of these players in one place at one time," Fox said. He said he's filming the show so he can gather footage and is recording the audio for a live disc.

"I'm always intrigued by what happens when you let other people affect your art," he said. "I don't want to miss that."

Fox will also show his finished music video "My Brother's Keeper." Fox filmed the video in February, using about 100 extras and crew, he said. His schoolyard friend Tim Gill -- who's worked on sets from MTV to ABC to ESPN and many more -- wrote much of the script and directed the video, which Fox described as nothing less than spiritual.

"It's like falling in love with 100 people, living the relationship and then it ending three days later," he said about filming it in Savannah, Ga.

See the music video and the live show at 8 p.m. today at Dockside.

charris@semissourian.com

388-3641

Pertinent address:

4 N. Spanish St. Cape Girardeau, MO

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