Jahn/Siefkas - The Broken Prairie Sessions (1981)

1. To Talk To (Jahn)
2. Taking Away (Jahn)
3. Mexican Vacation (Siefkas)
4. New York, New York (Siefkas)
5. Real Emotions (Jahn)


On March 26, 1981, Jahn/Siefkas went into the studio to record some of their original material. The sessions lasted three days. As their studio time ran out, they had only completed two songs, To Talk To and Taking Away, both penned by Jahn. Three other songs were never completed, only the rhythm tracks were recorded. When they left Broken Prairie Studios, in the heartland of Illinois, just outside of Champaign-Urbana, all they had were a couple cassette tapes, with some rough mixes. The plan was to return to the studio and complete all the songs, and end up with a finished EP. That was not to happen. Unfortunately, all that survived those three days of music the cassettes.

Recently, Siefkas, using Pro Tools, digitized the tapes. We are now able to bring you the lost tapes from The Broken Prairie Sessions.

Musicians:
Alfredo Jahn - Vocals, Bass Guitar
Kirk Siefkas - Guitars
Jeff Dear - Drums


Digitized at 24bit, 96KHz from a first generation cassette tape

Encoded at 320K. Includes artwork and track listing.

Download: Jahn/Siefkas - The Broken Prairie Sessions

Willow - The White House Sessions (1974)

1. After All, Woman
2. Get in Front of It
3. Going Downtown
4. Raise Your Glass
5. Train Song


Russ Otis - Gutar, keyborads and lead vocals
John Holt - Lead guitar
Ed Jahn - Bass and vocals
Kevin McGuckin - Drums and vocals


The songs in this collection were recorded sometime in March 1974, in Park Ridge, Illinois, in a large 6 bed room Victorian house, affectionately called the "White House". At the time, several musicians were living there. A Teac 3340 4-track real to real tape recorder was setup in the basement to record Russ, John, Kevin and Ed. The band was named "Willow". There was little or no over dubbing done. The songs were pretty much recorded live. All five songs were written by Russ Otis. Russ also sang lead on all of the songs, except for the second part of After All, Woman, where Kevin McGuckin, the drummer, sang. It is possible that Kevin wrote Woman, but it is not known for sure.

Back Cover w/Russ

Sadly, Russ Otis passed away on July 5th, 2007. Kevin passed a few years later. Although these recordings are demo quality, and not the best mix in the world, Russ' compositions are worth preserving and sharing. I hope you enjoy these songs.

Encoded at 320K (mp3) from original 4-track tape. Includes artwork and track listing.

Download: Willow - The White House Sessions

Christopher Bradley - Demo Tape (1972)

1. Don't Trade Your Heart
2. Locked Doors
3. You Replied the Same



In the summer of 1972, Christopher Bradley went into the recording studio in Chicago, Illinois, to record a demo tape of 6 original songs. Three songs were written by Bradley, and three were written by Christopher. Christopher Bradley started playing in High School, performing at local clubs, coffee houses, etc. They were a regular act at Pendragon on Sheraton Road in Chicago. This was a very popular "Coffee House" back in the 70's. They even opened for R.E.O. Speedwagon at their local high school, Maine Township South.

The three songs in this archive are the three that Christopher wrote and sang. Keep in mind, these are dated to the time, but have been placed here for posterity. They were in high school when these songs were written and performed. But just the same, for anyone that was around at that time, and got a chance to listen to them, this might be a real flash from the past. Hope you enjoy listening to them.

Encoded at 320K (mp3) from original 1/4" demo tape. Includes artwork and pictures.

Download: Christoper Bradley - Demo Tape

Shawn Colvin Band - The Carbondale Sessions (1975)

01. All Along the Watchtower
02. Cactus Tree
03. Can't find My Way Home
04. Miracle Mail
05. So Begins The Task
06. The Hostage
07. Something Fine
08. Whenever
09. You Back to Me



Carbondale, Illinois, is a small college town about 350 miles south of Chicago. I lived there and attended Southern Illinois University until 1981. As a singer/song writer, I was lucky to personally know Shawn Colvin and her band mates Jimmy Bruno and Dennis Conroy. I think Shawn was 17 years old when I first met her. She was the "home town" darling to all her fans in Carbondale. We all played the coffee houses (Gatsby's, The American Tap, etc.). When I or Shawn had a gig, the other would show up and usually be asked up on the stage to sing harmonies. We all knew back then that Shawn was special. She was a damn good guitar player and boy could she sing. At the time, I was lucky enough to own some decent recording equipment (Teac 3340 4-track tape deck). I invited Shawn and the band over to my house (I was living at a place called Wides Village at the time, with two room mates). We set up in the living room. With 4 separate tracks, I was able to isolate Shawn's guitar, her vocals, Jimmy's bass, and Dennis Conroy's tablas. Everything was recorded live. No EQ was done, this is pretty much how they sounded. Obviously, these tapes are very old and spent a lot of years in my Texas-hot attic. A few years ago my brother loaned me a Teac, like the one I used to own. At that time I was able to digitize the tapes to my Mac.

At this point in Shawn's career, to my knowledge, she hadn't started writing her own material yet. She did have a great song writer in the band. Jimmy Bruno, who was also her boyfriend at the time, was an excellent song writer. Two of the songs in this collection are written by him, Whenever, which is sung by Jimmy, and You Back to Me, sung by Shawn. Shawn sang a lot of Bruno originals. Jimmy was an accomplished solo musician as well. But most of the songs she performed were cover songs. And with that great voice and stage presence, it didn't matter if they were all originals or not, everyone loved all the songs she performed.

I am making these songs available to all of her fans. Please use these for your own personal listening pleasure. Find out more about Shawn at her website ShawnColvin.com. Jim Bruno has recently released a new CD that sounds great. Please support him by purchasing his CD from his website at Jim Bruno Music, or from the iTunes music store

Included in the archive are 12 photographs taken at an outdoor concert in Carbondale (Giant City) in April 1975.

All songs are encoded at 320K from the original 4-track tape recorded at 15 ips.

Download: The Shawn Colvin Band