Some time ago I was lucky enough to have done an album with members of Neil’s band at their studio in West Hollywood, California. At that time I thought it would fun for my band to cover some of his classic hits. Now with bluegrass and country music being as popular as it is, CMH Records and I have produced “Forever In Bluegrass: A Tribute To Neil Diamond” (since my best friend Richard Bennett co-wrote the song, “Forever In Blue Jeans” with Neil, the title was preordained). I was fortunate in getting not just my guys, but some of the legendary bluegrassers I’d wanted to pick with for a long time to play on the album.
The thing about a great melody is that it can be transposed to a variety of styles and interpretations and still retain the essence of the writer’s original intent. I never hesitated, realizing that whatever I did, and no matter what you may think of it, I certainly could not corrupt these great songs that will live on long after our guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin licks have faded from memory. Then again, maybe our versions will set you off on a musical adventure precipitating the search for volume two.
So for now I can only say that we had a ball doing this record, and to give ya’ll some idea of how much fun it was we invite you to visit our site-thetributeto.com/neildiamond-and sample a few tracks. Keeping with the spirit of the album you may download, free of charge, one of my favorite cuts, “Beautiful Noise”.
Jim Silvers - Producer
Posted on Feb 5, 2002, 11:58 AM from IP address 64.163.54.42