“DustUp!”
Dust off the years, turn on the box and give this a listen. In the mid 1970s, Jeff and Hank met at school where they were college roommates. Press the Fast Forward and there they were a year later, still trying to get through college, but life finding both married to the loves of their lives, working on families, and having fun playing music.
But as is wont when wandering through your 20s, life can create distance and separate paths. Skip a few tracks, and there’s Jeff in the storied arroyos of the Central California Coast, while Hank is nearly 1,500 miles away in the granite spires of the central Black Hills of South Dakota. It’s 40+ years since Jeff and Hank have swapped licks and stories, but as we all know, the dust of miles and years is easily crossed digitally, and the two find each other on the internet. Come to find out, though their paths had not crossed for decades, they still shared a love of playing music and each had small recording studios in their homes. One thing lead to another and the next thing you know they are busy collaborating on songwriting and recording. Fast forward two years and you’ll find yourself with this CD dust jacket in your hands, with ten original songs produced by DustUp!
The project shows that miles and time may separate but experiences and interests can run parallel; that the internet may have its bad actors, fake news and scams, but it can also give us tools and access that was unheard of just a few short years ago; and that friendship will take you places you could never go alone.
- Crazy Horse: Jeff’s tour of the Crazy Horse Monument in the Black Hills inspire this tune, and was the first of our collaborations.
- Leave It in the Ground: We really need to work on cleaning up the CO2 emissions–the consequences of inaction threaten us all.
- It Ain’t Like Being Free: This tune was inspired by the feral dogs Hank would see out on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
- Loved By You: Jeff said we needed a love song. Just love Lily and Marianne Fridell’s vocals!
- Driverless Car: Seeks to answer the question of how technology can solve the problem of drunks getting safely home from the bar.
- Nothing Has Changed: The mass shootings in schools is so troubling, and after the protests at student and staff killings at Parkland we knew we had to write this song. Special vocals provided by the Won’t Raise the Dead Gang.
- News From the Swamp: This instrumental was inspired by the chaos we see every day coming from our nation’s capitol.
- I’m American: It’s who we are.
- Wireless World: It’s where we live.
- Witness: Both the Sweets and the Fridells traveled to see the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse, but about 1,500 miles apart, and we were inspired to write this tune.
Thanks to Kevin Huston, Marianne Fridell and Lily Fridell for their help!
The DustUp! artwork was done for us by THE AMAZING Cait Irwin. We love her work and how she can make it happen!