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Eric Brace

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As front man of the acclaimed roots-rock band Last Train Home, as a solo artist, and as a duo with songsmith Peter Cooper, Eric Brace is a prolific and admired artist. A former music journalist for the Washington Post, Brace relocated to Nashville in 2003. He has released eight CDs and one live concert DVD with Last Train Home (Last Train Home, True North, Holiday Limited, Time and Water, Bound Away, Tributaries, Last Good Kiss, and Live at IOTA), as well as a sublime album called The Skylighters, where Brace led a band that included bluegrass luminaries Mike Auldridge on dobro and Jimmy Gaudreau playing mandolin.

After moving to Nashville, Brace began touring and recording with duo partner Peter Cooper, and the pair has two much-lauded albums to their credit. You Don’t Have To Like Them Both was released in 2009 and was a #1 album on the Freeform American Roots Chart, Top Five on the Folk Chart, and Top Ten on the Americana chart. The opening track on that CD, "I Know a Bird," which was penned and sung by Brace, was the #1 Folk song on its release and a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition. The pair's most recent album, Master Sessions, is a tour de force that made its way onto numerous critics' lists of the best albums of 2010. It features the instrumental work of pedal steel guitar legend Lloyd Green and dobro master Mike Auldridge.

Brace continues to tour and record with Last Train Home, most recently releasing a record called Six Songs, which Twangville called the best EP of 2010. Brace lives and works in East Nashville, where he runs indie record label Red Beet Records. He's a devoted champion of the rich and productive East Nashville music scene, having produced three compilations of East Nashville music featuring some of Nashville’s finest songwriters.  Brace is co-producer of the Grammy-nominated I Love: Tom T. Hall's Songs of Fox Hollow, on which he appears with his band Last Train Home. His next project, slated for release in 2012, is a 20-song folk opera about the California gold rush.

 

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Master Sessions

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Musicians:
Mike Auldridge: Dobro
Richard Bennett: Guitars, octave mandolin
Eric Brace: Acoustic guitar, vocals
Peter Cooper: Acoustic guitar, vocals
Lloyd Green: Pedal steel guitar
Jen Gunderman: Keyboards, accordion
Pat McInerney: Drums, percussion
Dave Roe: Bass
With:
Jon Randall: Harmony vocals (2, 5, 11)
Julie Lee: Harmony vocals (4, 7, 8, 11)
Kenny Chesney: Harmony vocals (1)
 

1. Wait a Minute
Lyrics
(by Herb Pedersen) ---- When Eric and Peter were absorbing the lessons of the Seldom Scene on those long ago Thursday nights, this Herb Pedersen song was always on the set list. It's one of the best songs ever written about the consequences of the oft-romanticized life on the road. Of course, it made them both want a life on the road. Weren’t they listening? (And yep, that's Kenny Chesney on the low harmony. Turns out he's a huge Seldom Scene fan too.)
Wait a minute
Did I hear you say you're going far away again
Try to change it
I can't take the lonely nights without your love
 
Doing the road
Get the music done and move along
What good does it do
Play your songs for her and hear her say
 
Wait a minute....
 
Rolling along
Life's been good to you, and even so
She comes to you
Late at night's the time you hear her say
Once again
 
Wait a minute....
 
Waiting for you
Thirty days and nights without a rest
Gotta hold on
Twenty-five to go and once again
I hear you say, hey
 
Wait a minute
Did I hear you say you're going far away again
Try to change it
I can't take the lonely nights without your love
2. Suffer a Fool
Lyrics

(by Peter Cooper & Don Schlitz) ---- People get better at stuff through practice. Ask Peter’s wife, Charlotte, who has gotten so much better at patience.

3. It Won't Be Me
Lyrics

(by Eric Brace & Karl Straub) ---- Eric loves railroads and train stations so much he named his band Last Train Home. Long ago, Peggy Lee had a hopeful hit, "Waitin' for the Train to Come In," but here, the train that comes in is bringing bad news, and this guy has to grab the next one out.

Standing by the railroad track
Waitin' 'til the train comes back
Just to see it go
Just to feel the wind blow on my face
She's a mile away at most
Downhill so she can coast
And everybody knows
That's the way it always goes
 
They'll be wiping eyes and telling jokes
Blowing kisses and blowing smoke
Outside in golden rings
If I'm a judge of anything
You will find a happy man riding on that train
But it won't be me
 
Won't be me waving from the window
Me stepping to your arms
Me handing over to you
All the pretty things
All the things I brought you
From everywhere I've roamed
 
I can feel it coming
Before I can see it coming
Then it's screaming by
Inches from my face
She's flying straight to you
Guess I'll do some flying too
And climb up in that boxcar
Don't need a ticket on a
 
Freight train heading far from here
The price is right and the distance might
Just take away the sting
If I'm a judge of anything
You will find a happy man
Riding on that train
But it won't be me
 
Won't be me waving from the window
Me stepping to your arms
Me handing over to you
All the pretty things
You will find a happy man
Riding on that train
But it won't be me
4. Missoula Tonight
Lyrics

(by Eric Brace & Peter Cooper) ---- When Eric saw a Montana forest fire up close, it stuck in his head. Fire. Wind. Water. Powerful stuff, especially for those in the way.

Fire on the mountain, smoke in my eyes
Look up and see the red flames in the black night
We prayed for a hard rain
What else can we do?
The fire breaks are cut and the fighters home
 
Come closer darling there's ash in your hair
A tear in your eye
This time tomorrow we could be anywhere
Missoula tonight if we tried
 
We watched them fly over
In modified planes
Dumping the water again and again
Time now for leaving
What will you take

We won't need very much, we shouldn't wait



Come closer darling there's ash in your hair
Tears in your eyes
This time tomorrow we could be anywhere
Missoula tonight if we tried
 
Your brother's a brave one
Flying like that
There's a man with no fear
I think that I saw him waving his hat
Pointing to get out of here
 
Come closer darling there's ash in your hair
Come closer don't cry
This time tomorrow we could be anywhere
Missoula tonight if we tried

Missoula tonight if we tried

5. Big Steve
Lyrics

(by Peter Cooper & Don Schlitz) ---- Music belongs to the ones who love it most. In Nashville, that's Big Steve, Music City’s favorite doorman. You can likely find him at Douglas Corner next time you're in town.

6. Circus
Lyrics

(by Eric Brace & Peter Cooper) ---- It’s hard to be a clown, and harder not to be one. Good thing kids love ‘em. Lyrics aside, here’s a simple, finger-picked pattern that Lloyd and Mike weave into something far beyond what Eric and Peter could have imagined. Come to think of it, that applies to this whole record.

Here comes the circus back to town
I've got a kid he loves a clown
When I was his age I did too
Now I don't, what can you do
 
He doesn't worry 'bout the lions
Tigers and bears they are his friends
I'm stuck with fearful agitation
And disbelief I can't suspend
 
We won't be going to the circus
I can't imagine why we would
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