Produced by Don Smith
Recorded by Don Smith and Bruce Barris at Ardent Studios
Mixed by Don Smith with Bruce Barris at The Village Recorder,
Los Angeles and at Rumbo Studios Canoga Park, CA
Assistant Engineers Jeff Demorris, Andy Udoff and Paul Eberson
Master by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Lacquer, Hollywood, CA
Photography by Michael Going
Art Direction by JA
Design by Jeanne Bradshaw
Original Release Date August 1989

Throughout the fall of 1988 we hoped our contract situation would be
resolved and we could get into a studio to record our first full length
album. By the end of the year we were signed and introduced to Don
Smith who had been given some of our pre-production tracks and
was ready and willing to produce. At first we did not know who Don
was but his recent credits impressed us [Tom Petty, Keith Richards,
Roy Orbison and The Travelling Wilburys]. We ended up at Ardent
Studios in Memphis as Don liked Ardent’s facilities and had previously
booked time in January 1989 for a Steve Earl project that was delayed.
Hopefully you realize how cool it was to be recording in Memphis the
home of the Blues, Soul and Rock. Local journalist and musician Rick
Clarke took us under his wing and give us a thorough history of Memphis
music from Stax/Volts days through Big Star.

We’d arrived at Ardent with 14 solid songs. While in Memphis we wrote
38 Years Old and Opiated and a few others that don't appear on UTH.
We had already been playing She Didn’t Know, When the Weight Comes
Down and I’ll Believe In You throughout 1988 so we had a fairly good idea
how we wanted them to sound on record. We had plenty of time to get to
know to know Don, the studio and Memphis. We had five and a half weeks
of studio time booked. Unlike our EP sessions when there was no time to
get the sound just right we had plenty of to time refine the music when
necessary for the songs on Up To Here. Don and Bruce Barris, the old
pros in the studio, with the rookies made invaluable suggestions that made
Up To Here better. Don Smith continues to be a positive influence on our
recording projects. He has also assisted us in various capacities with
Road Apples [1990], Live Between Us [1997], and Phantom Power[1998].

LINKS

Memphis and Beale Street
Music filled the air day and night in turn of the Century Memphis, and Beale
was a Mecca for young musicians. "St. Louis Blues" came out in 1913, and
Handy had created a revolution in music that resulted in the first uniquely
American music style. The Blues is the fore-runner of Soul and Rock & Roll,
two more uniquely American music styles later born here in Memphis. Other
great Blues men followed Handy's steps; Muddy Waters, Furry Lewis, Albert
King, Alberta Hunter, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Memphis Minnie McCoy, and in the
1940's Riley "Blues Boy" King, whose stage name would come to be known
as B.B. King.
For more on Beale Street see http://www.memphisguide.com/Beale/Beale.html

Ardent Studios
Memphis-based Ardent Studio owner John Fry found his way into the recording
business because, as he says, "I was unable to find honest employment."
His modesty is obvious to anyone who has watched, over the past 30-plus years.
The steady steam of blockbuster R&B and rock'n' roll records such as "Soul Man,"
"Knock on Wood" and Led Zeppelin III, emerge from Ardent, one of the most
enduring and technologically advanced studios in the country.
For more see http://www.ardentstudios.com

UTH Promo