KEEP Recordings | Carl Johns

Carl Johns got his start as the songwriter and singer with the post-modern hillbilly group Noahjohn. From 1999-2004 Noahjohn toured regularly in the US and England, and released four albums spanning the genres of country, rock, folk, and psychedelic, including a protest album as Eugene Chadbourne's backing band.

As of late Johns has released two more pop-oriented albums under the moniker Charlemagne. The self-titled solo debut came out in 2004 (Winterlander/Killdeer) and a full-band album, "Detour Allure" (SideCho), was released last October. Carl is currently touring in support of "Detour Allure" with various musicians accompanying.

"Exhile on Schley Pass" is a collection of Carl Johns 4-track demos ranging from 1999-2004. These include some Noahjohn songs, some Charlemagne songs, and some unreleased tracks. All are quite lo-fi basement recordings. This will be a limited edition of 250 signed copies with screen printed packaging.

Greetings Dear Listeners,

At many endeavors I’ve been guilty of plunging in before I actually knew what I was doing. Such was the case with four-tracking. Admittedly, these recordings are pretty bad, namely in regards to fidelity and performance, even by lo-fi standards. All of them were recorded on a very basic four-track with crappy microphones.

Despite their shortcomings, hopefully other aspects end up making them worthwhile. In my mind, their value is in their immediacy and representation of the songwriting process. These are perhaps the most personal recordings I’ve ever made, that is with the least sense of audience. The spirit in making them was just to go for it. No second takes. Some songs made it on to albums, some died. The same goes for arrangements, key signatures, lyrics, and instrumentation. Exile on Schley Pass is an album of song sketches, if you will.

Most of these songs were recorded on winter evenings while intoxicated, depressed, and/or exhausted from working all day. I recorded all of them alone. The “studio” for most of the “sessions” was my house, also Charlemagne’s rehearsal space, on Schley Pass on Madison’s East Side, hence the name, but a few were done at Studio Friendly (aka The Man House), also Noahjohn’s rehearsal space, a few blocks away.

I never expected any of these tracks to be released. The main reason I made them was to give to my bandmates to learn the songs. I also wanted to document what I was working on for myself. For some reason when I record a song, even if it’s only a demo, I feel a sense of resolution and inspired to move on to new songs.

The cassettes sat loose in various boxes in my basement until Spring 2005 when I started going through them. Many were unlabled and there were multiple versions of a lot of songs, so it took a while to figure out what was what.

Out of about 60 cassettes, 28 were at least mildly worthy of including on Exile. I’m not exactly sure why I chose the 12 below. They just seemed to jump out when I was listening back through all of them.

~ Carl Johns, 2006

A few notes about the songs:

1. Ima Clam (1999)
A friend gave me an orange chord organ he found at a yard sale. I used it on this recording a couple of days later. Ima Clam eventually became the lead track of Noahjohn’s second album, Had a Burning.

2. My Time (2000)
This song became a regular in the Noahjohn live set. We never released it though. A full-band recording was made during the Water Hymns sessions, but it just didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the album. I like this version best.

3. Surefire Woman (1999)
The guitar cutting out at the end of this one was an accident. I like it though.

4. Palm Springs (2001)
This was also a frequent Noahjohn live number. I wrote it shortly after my first trip to Texas. The phrase “Palm Springs” became a Noahjohn euphamism for masturbation.

5. You'll Look for Me (2002)
When I heard Waylon died I listened to The Taker/Tulsa and then recorded this cover.6. Bombay in a Bottle (1999) A good friend of mine jumped off of a building in New York. I wrote this song a couple of months later. In some ways I feel like it’s not finished, but have no desire to finish it.

7. One Friend (2002)
A song from Noahjohn Tadpoles. Not sure why I re-recorded it. I like this take though. The session was the same night as “You’ll Look for Me”. The keyboard was borrowed from Noahjohn violist, Eena Ballard.

8. Black Mirrors (2002)
Noahjohn got an offer to do a high-fi recording on spec at Minnesota’s Pachyderm Studio. I gave them some demos and they chose this one. The Pachyderm version is still unreleased.

9. Two Steps Ahead (2003)
I like the disjointedness of the clapping part in the middle.

10. Your Scars (2004)
When I put together the first incarnation of the Charlemagne live band, this was the first new song that I gave them.

11. Two Members Strong (2000)
Another song about hanging out at a bar with a platonic ladyfriend. It became “Two Members” on Noahjohn’s third album, Water Hymns.

12. Pink and Silver (2003)
This one was written about a series of dreams I had. A number people have complainted about my rhyming of “cherries,” “berries,” and “scary”. Those people are stupid.

I would like to give sincere thanks to Ricky Riemer at Science of Sound and Wendy Schneider at Coney Island for helping me transfer these moldy cassettes to digital. And praise Jeff Bell from Keep for asking me to do this project and then having the patience and dedication to see it through. It’s been nearly two years since he first contacted me about it. These folks made this release possible. I hope you enjoy it for what it’s worth.

Exile on Schley Pass (1999-2004)
CDR | KR23 | Edition of 250

1. Ima Clam
2. My Time
3. Surefire Woman
4. Palm Springs
5. You'll Look For Me
6. Bombay In A Bottle
7. One Friend
8. Black Mirrors
9. Two Steps Ahead
10. Your Scars
11. Two Members
12. Pink And Silver