Right or Wrong

The Turnip Yard. That’s what they used to call this part of South Deerfield. It’s on the old maps. It’s on the deed for the little stone house I’ve lived in since 1988. I could rightly have called this band or album The Turnip Yard. That’s where its roots are. Next to the stone house is a music studio covered in barn boards. We nailed it together in the summer of 1989 and had a place to plug in and play.

People showed up – with instruments and joie de vivre. Wednesday O’Rourkestra sessions – all welcome, anything goes. Bands forming and rehearsing other nights. Recording sessions. The place kept itself busy.

Then came the spring of 2020. You remember. It got quiet. “You’re out of excuses, O’Rourke,” Richard Cahillane said, “We’re making your album.”

“My album? I can’t sing!”

Yeah, but I had songs. Who could sing them? A guy among us liked my writing and I liked his singing. Like me, Paul Yandoli plays drums, though unlike me he’s a natural singer. So then, who’d play drums on the album? Paul? Me? A little of each? How about neither? How about Fraser Stowe? Fraser’s our Jim Keltner, our Hal Blaine.

Three drummers – Paul, Fraser and me. Richard, what could go wrong? Richard produced the songs with a deft hand and light touch. We enlisted friends for various songs and parts, but sparingly. I sat back in wonder.

I wrote these songs but don’t sing or play at all on the album. Can you be in a band and not be in the band?

— Joe O’Rourke

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