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Extended Liner Notes to Tricia and

Dana Countryman’s “In Harmony”:

This is the album that almost never was!

Although Tricia and I have been in two bands together, and I’d been the

music director for three of her stage musicals, we had never done much

actual recording together. We first met in 1989, when I was the leader of a

popular Seattle-area comedy cabaret act called The Amazing Pink Things.

The often-told story is that when Tricia came to audition, upon first sight

of her, I privately said to my music partner, “Well, she’d better not get

into this group, or I might fall in love with her!” Wouldn’t you know that

Tricia did get into the group, and I DID fall in love with her. We married in

May of 1991, shortly after The Amazing Pink Things disbanded, after a

fruitful 6-year career.

A few years later, Tricia and I started a new band called Moonlight

Express - a jazz vocal group patterned along the lines of the Manhattan

Transfer. I was the leader, arranger, bass player and tenor vocalist, and

Tricia was our alto, and choreographer. The band played a fair amount of

gigs, parties and conventions, but its popularity never really caught fire

the way I had hoped it would. Moonlight Express was a lot of fun, but

when key members moved away, Tricia and I let it end. Besides, we had

a baby by then, Matthew, born in 1996, who occupied much of our time.

After a 7-year hiatus into print publishing, and not playing music at all,

I fell into an amazing

musical partnership with legendary French electronic

music composer Jean-Jacques Perrey in 2005.

We recorded two CDs of original, playful melodic

electronic music, and did many concerts, both in Europe

and in America. I followed that with a solo CD of my own

similar electronic music in 2009, and I immediately

followed that by writing a book on Jean-Jacques’ life

during 2010. Jean-Jacques Perrey and me, performing in Berlin.

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It was also in 2010, that one of Jean-Jacques’ and my songs

was used on the Comedy Central TV show, “South Park”.

With the money from that, I was able to purchase all new

recording studio gear, which we ultimately used on this

project. While our son was growing up, Tricia was also busy

being involved in several theatrical productions as a singer,

actress and dancer. She conceived, wrote and starred in a

musical based on the life of Mary Martin: “I’m Flying!,”

which premiered as part of the Burien Little Theater New

Works Festival. In 2009, she revived and co-starred in a little-

known Canadian musical, “Jubalay!,” which was performed to

full-house audiences in the Seattle-Everett area.

During the years that I was doing instrumental music with Jean-Jacques, I had occasionally brought Tricia

into the studio to sing a few background vocals for our electronic pop albums, but other than that Tricia and

I had only recorded a couple of full songs, and a couple of radio station jingles, in all our years together.

The idea for this album came about when I posted onto my Facebook page the two old songs that Tricia and

I had recorded so many years before. With just our two voices, Tricia and I had recorded a multi-track choir,

with us layering eight to twenty-five different vocal harmonies on each song. The response to these two

songs on Facebook was great. People really seemed to enjoy them. One of my friends, Yvonne Hendrickson

heard the songs, and sent me a note saying, “You guys really need to record an album together. I know I’d

buy a copy!” That really started me thinking. I remember walking upstairs and asking Tricia if she’d consider

recording a whole CD of vocal music with me. She responded with an instant “Yes!”

We began working on this album in April of 2011, shortly

after celebrating our 20-year anniversary, and having just

returned from a romantic two-week vacation in Italy.

We finished work on the album in March of 2012, after

almost a year of very intense musical work.

I have to say that this has been a very rewarding project.

Working so closely, musically, with my wife has been a great

experience. I think it’s really enriched our relationship, as

we both share a deep love for music, and for singing.

She’s also amazed me with her expressive vocals for this new

album. Little did I know that I’d been living in the same house with a virtual Karen Carpenter!

Dana and Tricia with Matthew in 2003

Tricia and Dana in Venice, Italy, 2011

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I’m also amazed and delighted how well our two voices blend together, as we actually sing quite differently

separately. But when we harmonize, and double the vocals, there’s this SOUND that is really rich and

rewarding. Well, at least I like it!

I also really liked working with all the musicians and recording engineers involved with this album. Everyone

was so cheerful and fun to work with. Tricia and I drafted quite a few of our musical friends to contribute

either their voices or their instruments, and we made

some new friends when we hired some of Seattle’s top

jazz musicians for this album project. In fact, this album

should really be credited to “Tricia and Dana Countryman,

and FRIENDS”!

The music on this album will never be any big threat to

Justin Bieber, or whoever the current popular singers of

the day are. Nevertheless, Tricia and I had a ball working

on this project, and we hope that you have as much fun it

listening to it, as we had making it.

Dana Countryman

March, 2012

Thanks to our “cheering and enthusiasm” team: Vinnie Bell, Bonnie Loan, Dick Hyman, Dorothy Buller,

Leila Realiza, Jean-Jacques Perrey, Dr. Bob Agnew, Ike Reeves, Kurt Uhlig, Darrell and Marion Countryman,

Rev. Steven C. Hill, Chelsea and Rob Johnson, Melissa and Jeff Thirloway, and Frank M. Young.

Special thanks to Michael Andrew, Robert Kechley, and Nick Moore for their musical advice.

Album produced by Dana Countryman.

Adding vocals at David Lange Studios

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Notes on the songs of “In Harmony”:

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

Dana: I first heard this song a long time ago when Tricia and I were once driving in her car, and we heard it

on an old Nat King Cole album. I had never heard the song before, and I loved it immediately. I knew I had

to do a vocal group arrangement of it! Tricia and I had our vocal jazz group

Moonlight Express at the time, and once we learned this song, we began all

of our shows with it.

Our pianist Steve Rice blew everyone away with his amazing piano solos on

this tune, so we had to bring him back all these years later to recreate one

of his smokin’ solos for this recording. Mark Ivester played drums, and Jon

Goforth and Brad Allison played the overdub equivalent of four saxes and

four trumpets. I played electric bass, and “Wild” Bill Johnson played guitar.

This is the one tune that uses the most musicians. Super-Fun!

Tricia: This is the last song that we recorded for the album, and

interestingly enough, it’s the first track that starts the album!

One year after starting this project, “swing” is still a challenge for me, but not

as much as it was in the beginning. Also, a year later, Dana and I are very much in sync, concerning what is a

good vocal take or not. My famous comment (when I don’t like a vocal I’ve just done) is “EE-er!”, or simply:

“Let’s try it again!” Dana’s response is always “It’s getting there!” I love that! How sweet is that guy!

THE THREE BEARS

Dana: I’d never heard this song, until some friends of my

parents gave me a box of old records, back in 1980.

“The Three Bears” was one of the dusty old 78 records in

that box, and I was charmed by The Page Cavanaugh Trio’s

recording of it. I like the jivy-ness of it, and its references to

bebop. I wrote the “Goldilocks Baby” section in the

shower. (I write some of my best stuff in the shower!)

This is another Moonlight Express song. Unfortunately,

we never recorded it with the band back then, so this was

Tricia and my chance to do it right.

We can’t say enough good things about the jazz trio that

backed us up on this: Chuck Deardorf on bass, Nick Moore

on piano and Mark Ivester on drums. What a thrill it was to record with them!

Tricia: I’ve always loved this song, and Dana’s amazing addition of the “Goldilocks” section sends it through

the roof! As Dana said, that jazz trio is amazing! How fortunate we were to have them play on this album.

Nick Moore

Steve Rice

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PRETTY WORLD

Tricia: This was one of the first songs we recorded for this

album. Dana gave me a Brazil ’66 recording of this song to

listen to, and to learn it from. I was really nervous about

singing this one, because Brazilian music was a genre of

music that I had never attempted before. However, after

we started working on it, I loved the style. Now it’s one of

my favorite tracks.

Dana: I remembered hearing the original on the radio,

when I was still in high school. Over the years, I’d always

thought that “Pretty World” was a rather obscure song, but

since recording it, everyone has come forward to tell me that

they know it! O-KAY! It was fun to do the Latin percussion

with Mark Ivester, and I really enjoyed working with our flute player, Dane Anderson, and flugelhorn player

Brad Allison. I re-tooled the original arrangement to make this a girl-boy duet, along with adding

“Carpenter-esque” background vocals.

LOVE OF MY LIFE

Tricia: One evening after we had started this album project, Dana came up from the studio with a recording

of the original version of this song by Queen. He played it for me, and

asked me if I would be interested in singing it. After one listen, I

immediately said a resounding “Yes!” I love the lyrics to this song, and

the meaning behind those words. My interpretation of the lyrics was

that in the first verse, her initial reaction of being jilted was almost one

of disbelief. Therefore, I took a gentler and a more “hurt” approach.

However, in the second verse, she has had time to grieve, and has now

moved on to the emotion of “How could you have done this?” By the

final verse, it's her final plea for her lover to change his mind, and then

she realizes that he is gone forever. Dana’s idea to do it with just piano

and cello was brilliant, but don’t tell him I said that, or it will go to his

head…

Dana: I’d always loved the original version by Queen, from the same

album of theirs that brought the world “Bohemian Rhapsody.” I think

Freddy Mercury was a true musical genius, not only as a songwriter, but also as a vocal arranger. But I really

didn’t want to record it the same way that Queen did. Instead, I heard a stripped-down version of it in my

head, as Tricia and I rehearsed it. We found cellist Traci Hoveskeland by recommendation of our pianist

friend Steve Rice. She was a joy to work with, and her playing here adds true elegance to this recording.

Mark Ivester, drums and percussion

Traci Hoveskeland, cello

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Of all the great vocals that Tricia sang on this album, this is my favorite. When we first rehearsed it with me

accompanying her on piano, I thought her vocal was “okay.” But when she got on the microphone, she

really pulled out the magic, and literally brought tears to my eyes with this amazing vocal. I think she sang it

with an amazing combination of love, wistfulness, sadness and vulnerability.

GREEN HILLS OF EARTH

Dana: I first heard this Dave Frishberg song, back in the late‘80s. At the time,

I was subletting an apartment from an actor, while I was living in San

Francisco. He had an amazing record collection, which he invited me to play

during his absence. I discovered this song there, and I was mesmerized by

Frishberg’s concept of a destroyed past civilization, longingly remembered by

its lone survivor. I just found the song very haunting, and I always thought it

would be great to someday re-arrange it for a vocal group. The original

version was just Frishberg’s voice and piano, but I wanted to work up an

arrangement on a grander scale.

Our friend Mike McFadden had the perfect voice to start the song, and

remarkably, Tricia and I both had the same idea to ask him to sing the verse

on this. The backwards piano, added at the end is kind of a ‘wink’ to my

lifelong fascination with the Beatles’ music.

Tricia: Originally, this song was going to be a duet for us, with us both singing

different solo lines. As soon as we started recording the song, it was clear that the backing track was not in

the right key for me. Dana ended up doing a fabulous job on the solo lead vocal, and my buddy Mike’s vocal

contribution was a great addition to start it all off.

FIX YOU

Tricia: This song (and actually, this entire album) is dedicated

to our late, dear friend, Dale Yarger, who had a heart of gold.

He bravely battled cancer for over two years, and always

remained positive through all of the pain. When I recorded the

vocals for this song, he was my inspiration. We dearly miss him,

and he will remain in our hearts forever.

Dana: Tricia and I weren’t familiar with this Coldplay song,

until we watched a film documentary called “Young @ Heart”,

in which a group of senior citizens perform contemporary rock

songs in concert. In the film, an elderly gentleman named Fred

Knittle is so ill that he can barely walk on to the stage, but he sings a heartbreaking version of “Fix You”.

When Tricia and I watched the film for the second time, we both decided that we had to record our own

Michael Gene McFadden

Dale Yarger and Tricia

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version of the song. Making it truly a family affair, our teenage son Matt (15 at the time), played the

acoustic and electric rhythm guitars here. The tasty guitar solo was played by Ryan Hoffman. We lost our

precious friend Dale in March, 2012, and we will always think of him when we play this in years to come.

COME TO BABY DO

Dana: Tricia and I had been looking for a song to record with our

talented singer-friend, Kelly Harland. When I heard an old recording of

this song, originally done by Tommy Dorsey’s Pied Pipers, I knew I’d

found the perfect song. I played it for Kelly, and she loved it. Kelly, Tricia

and I had never sung together before, but we had a ball pretending to be

the Pied Pipers, with saxophonist Jon Goforth, trumpeter Brad Allison,

and drummer Mark Ivester joining in the fun!

Tricia: Okay, as many people already know, Kelly is one of my most

favorite people in the world. To have her perform on this album is

awesome! Shortly after Dana and I were married, he introduced me to

her. I asked Kelly if I could study voice with her, and she took me on as a

student. My background is musical theatre, and hers is jazz/rock.

I spent many lessons laughing with her, and learning from Kelly. I adore

her!

Dana: By the way, Kelly’s husband Chuck Deardorf played stand-up bass

on two songs on this album!

WHEN I FALL IN LOVE

Dana: When my sister Sharene was planning her wedding, she asked me to provide the music for it.

I immediately thought of this classic love song, which is regarded

by many as the “most beautiful love song ever written.” (What

makes it so universal, is that the lyric is not directed to any one

person, but rather, it’s a wistful song about WANTING to be in

love.) I arranged “When I Fall in Love” for four voices, and with

the help of a couple of other wonderful singers, Tricia and I sang

it a capella at Sharene and Scott’s wedding.

For this album, I re-tooled my original arrangement, and asked

our friend Ike Reeves to play a piano introduction for the song.

Tricia and I had been fans of Ike’s solo piano CD for some time,

so it’s a big thrill to have him play for us here. I love what he did with his piano part. Anyway, this song

always makes me think of my sister Sharene, whom I love dearly.

Tricia: This is one of my favorite Dana vocals…he sounds so...should I say, sexy? I love his deep baritone

Kelly Harland

Ike Reeves

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voice on this track. I’m sure there will be many girls swooning. Back off girls! Ike Reeves—whom we’re big

fans of—did an AMAZING piano solo at the beginning! Again, how lucky are we to have such talented

friends!

SLAPPIN’ THE CAKES ON ME

Dana: Another Dave Frishberg song. He writes some very hip songs,

and this one particularly grabbed me. Tricia and I invited former

Moonlight Express baritone Aaron Douglas to sing with us on it.

Bless his heart, Aaron drove almost 200 miles to be at our recording

session! The song really needed Aaron’s vocal sassiness!! Thanks,

Aaron! (The jazz trio heard here is the same one we used on “The

Three Bears.”)

Tricia: How fun are Dave Frishberg’s songs? He actually came to one

of the Pink Things’ shows in Portland, OR, back in 1990. We had just

been listening to his music, while we had been performing up in

Alaska. A month later, while we were performing in Portland, Oregon,

by sheer coincidence, Dave came up to us after our show, and

introduced himself to us!

Dana: Then, just recently, we ran into him again, 22 years later, at a

Dick Hyman concert. When I told him that we had just recorded two

of his songs on our album, he looked shocked! We sent him an

advance copy of this CD, and he recently sent a very nice note to us.

Thanks, Dave!

SWINGIN’ ON A STAR

Dana: I’ve been a fan of Michael Andrew’s singing for many years, and we struck

up a pen-pal friendship over the internet. When I got the idea to re-arrange the

old Bing Crosby song “Swingin’ on a Star”, to be done mostly a capella, I asked

Michael to sing lead on it, and he cheerfully agreed. However, it took over a year

for me to actually create the vocal arrangement for it. Mike did a wonderful job,

as you’ll hear.

On various parts on this recording, Tricia and I sang as many as 25 vocal parts at

one time. Mean producer that I am, I frequently dragged Tricia down to our

studio, and forced her to sing for sometimes four hours at a time – until her eyes

started crossing! It was the first time that Tricia had sung “swing”, and it wasn’t

easy for her. But she got the hang of it, and she sounds great on it.

Aaron Kirk Douglas

Michael Andrew

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At the last minute, I decided that the song needed a single instrument: a swingin’ guitar. Ryan Hoffman

came in and provided that.

This song makes me think of our son Matt. When he was a newborn, and he would cry, I used to carry him

around the house singing this song to him! Now at 16, he outweighs me and is taller than me. He could

probably carry ME around the house now!

Tricia: As Dana stated, this song was difficult for me. I secretly think that Dana took a little pleasure in

torturing me. However, I am very pleased with the outcome. And what about that Michael Andrew

vocal???? Crazy good!

SOMEDAY

Tricia: I first heard this song when I was performing in a Christmas concert at our church some years ago.

Lyrically, the song is about Mary singing to baby Jesus on the night he was born…I think it is very moving.

I’ve always wanted to record it, and it took only a minimal amount of coercion to get Dana to agree.

The pianist on this recording is our very talented friend, Gayle Sells, with

whom I have performed with many times. I really love this song in so

many ways...the music, the lyrics, just the thought of Mary singing to baby

Jesus on the night he was born. As I recorded the vocal, my feelings were

so emotional...imagining singing to baby Jesus intertwined with thinking of

my feelings about my own son Matt, when he was born.

Dana: I was also enchanted by this song, and I used to sneak into the back

of the audience to hear it sung at our own concert each night! Gayle Sells

played the piano so elegantly on this, that it inspired me to orchestrate the

song for a fuller orchestra. It was a delight to arrange, and to conduct the

musicians on this. Most of all, Tricia’s vocal completely took my breath

away. My favorite memory of working on this album with Tricia, was

watching her step back from the microphone, after she sang this

wonderful vocal. As I turned off the recording equipment, I simply said to her: “Wow.”

WALK SOFTLY

Dana: The only time I’ve heard this poignant and sad song about the end of a love affair was on a live album

by the Four Freshmen. Unfortunately, their vocal performance of the song wasn’t very good, but I grew to

like the song and their arrangement. I pulled the vocal parts off that record by ear, and shortly after, taught

it to The Amazing Pink Things, my vocal group at the time. We normally did a comedy show, but singing this

“straight” number was much more of a challenge. Some of the harmonies are VERY tough, so singing this

song “a capella”, live on stage every night was a bit like walking on a tightrope. For this recording, we

reunited the Pink Things, with Tamara Marston joining us on soprano, Bob Overman singing baritone,

Tricia on alto, and myself on tenor.

Gayle Sells

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Tricia: This is probably the most difficult song I’ve ever sung onstage.

When I was cast into the Pink Things, they couldn’t wait to have me

learn it. I had always felt like close harmonies had been somewhat a

forte’ of mine, but ooh! This one was a challenge. There was one

note in particular toward the end of the song that always plagued

me. I would ask Bob almost every night, after performing, if I had

nailed it. The nice thing about doing a recording is that once you sing

it right, you can always “nail it”!

I LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO

Tricia: When my mom and dad were nearing their 50th wedding

anniversary, quite a few years ago, I asked Dana if he would do a

vocal arrangement of this song, being

that it was “their” song. So, shortly

before we were married, we recorded an earlier version of this for them,

and we surprised them with the recording of it on their anniversary.

Dana: For this album, I re-tooled that original vocal arrangement, and wrote

new orchestral parts. A few years back, I made friends with 84-year old

musician, Robert Drasnin. He is a well-known composer in Hollywood,

having contributed music to the classic TV series, “The Twilight Zone”,

“The Wild, Wild West”, and “The Man from U.N.C.L.E”, to name but a few.

When I mentioned to Bob that Tricia and I were going to record a CD

together, he immediately volunteered to play sax for us. We jumped at the

chance, and you’ll hear his wonderful playing here. This is the first song that

Tricia and I worked on, for this album.

MY DAD

Dana: I met songwriter Dale Gonyea (who wrote this song), while I was in Hollywood, on tour with The

Amazing Pink Things, back in the ‘80s. Dale gave me a cassette of some of his original songs, and this one

always stuck with me. When Tricia was looking for material for a one-woman show that she once starred in,

I remembered the song and played it for her. She loved it right away. I brought in my old bandmate Bob

Kechley (from another old band of mine: The Swingaires,) to play oboe on this (and also on “Someday.”)

Tricia: This is “MY” Dad’s song! I’ve performed it many times over the years, and every time I’ve performed

it live in front of him, it’s always brought tears to my Dad’s eyes. I also think it’s really cool that my brother

Gary played the horn parts that you’ll hear on this recording—making it a tribute to “OUR Dad”!

EVOLUTION

The Amazing Pink Things (1990)

(clockwise from top left:

Bob Overman,

Tami Marston, Dana Countryman

and Tricia Countryman

Bob Drasnin

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Dana: I heard the Manhattan Transfer perform this song in concert in the early ‘90s. I fell in love with it

instantly, and I later reconstructed the vocal harmonies from what I’d heard that night, by ear.

They mentioned in concert that the song had been arranged by the legendary vocal arranger Gene Puerling.

As far as I know, this vocal arrangement has never been recorded until now. By the way, the lyrics actually

have nothing to do with the theory of evolution, but are more about “How far have we really come?”

I think it’s a very thought-provoking, and beautiful song. This is probably my big favorite on this album.

Tricia: I was at that concert with Dana. (Hey Dana, did you forget?) Anyway, I remember us turning to each

other and saying: “Wow!” I’m so glad that I have a husband/ musical partner that can do the

arrangements—musical mastermind that he is! God is good to me!

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC?

Dana: Back in the late ‘80s I met arranger-singer-performer Billy

Stritch when he was performing in San Francisco. (Since then, Billy has

been Liza Minelli’s musical director for many years.) For a time, we

shared the same manager in New York. When Tricia and I started this

CD project, I asked Billy for permission to do his arrangement for our

album, and he readily agreed. He also agreed to sing on the “intro-

duction” verse, which he did at a New York City studio. Thank you,

Billy!

Tricia: I echo Dana’s thanks to Billy! My only funny bit to add, is that

my first solo line, “You were meant for love” was too low for me and

too high for Dana, so we thought, let’s try it with Tricia’s “morning

voice.” I leapt out of bed (well, maybe not quite “leapt”) on a Sunday

morning before church, and I recorded just those 5 words…

Hey! Whatever works, right?

KMUZ RADIO JINGLE

Dana: This jingle was recorded by Tricia and me in 1992, shortly after we were married. I was asked to write

some ID jingles for a Portland, OR radio station, and for fun, we’re including the actual recording that Tricia

and I multi-tracked exactly 20 years ago! Amazingly, I think we sound pretty much the same, 20 years later!

Tricia: How fun is that!?

~ ~ ~

Billy Stritch