Start with love then add sweetness

Making a record to celebrate the spontaneous - sometimes silly - but always sweet interactions of long lasting love

Gift Shop

Everybody has a Miles Wilkinson Story: Bonnie Raitt has a Miles Wilkinson Story; Guy Clark, rest his soul, had many; Rodney Crowell, too. 

Here's mine. 

I worked with Miles on a record I made with our band Rusty Tractor. You won't have heard much about Rusty Tractor, because the band broke up, and it was about 4,000 hours of practice and 32 better songs ago. Nevertheless, you know when you're dealing with a maestro, a master of the mystical musical arts..

I went to see Miles at a local jam session he was mixing and asked him about making a record. He said come back next week. I came back next week. 

We went to a quiet part of the bar and he pulled out a big book of recording history. There he was in a picture with Quincy Jones and 10 other people you would instantly recognize. 

"Dave, these are the kind of people I'm used to working with. If you want me to make a record with you, you'll have to trust me."

I trusted him. Miles makes great records. I'm proud of the work we did here. 

I feel so fortunate with the talented musicians that we got to play on this record. Drums and percussion throughout were steady Stephen Hoy, so creative and just a machine. Rob Shapiro from Hey Romeo plays piano and organ on Can You Feel My Heartbeat and Just You On My Mind. The badass Brennan Cameron sat in on keys for all other song. Industry legend Jeff Bradshaw (Ian Tyson)  came in for steel guitar and gave us just sublime cuts to work with. 

Featured soloists were jaw-dropping Jack Semple, solo guitar on Heartbeat and Mi Corazon, blazing Brayden Treble lead guitar on Darlin, wailing' Wayne Gadbois tenor saxophone on Darlin and the etherial Jeremiah McDade, soprano sax on Slow Dance. 

Harmony vocals are Mark Puffer and Ian Oscar, joined by Dan Sinasic on Darlin and of course, the lovely Andrea Lastiwka on Mi Corazon and Slow Dance. 

This record was made using microphones (real nice ones) at DanLyn Studios, Sherwood Park (Edmonton). 

Sound engineering by Miles Wilkinson, assisted by Dan Sinasic. 

Mixed and masted at DanLyn Studios by Miles Wilkinson.

Produced by DKGray and Miles Wilkinson. 

Words and music by DKGray (Please, call me Dave.)