Jason Weinheimer spends most of his time making other musicians sound great. As an engineer and producer at his Fellowship Hall Sound studios in Little Rock, AR, he’s attracted some of the region’s most lauded songwriters and performers: John Moreland, Hayes Carll, Shinyribs, John Fullbright, Jesse Aycock, Pony Bradshaw, and Jim Mize, among many others.
But Weinheimer has never fully given up writing and performing his own music, sporadically releasing records under the moniker The Libras, hand-picking collaborators from the hundreds of musicians he’s befriended over the years both on the road and in the studio.
The forthcoming Libras release Faded features many of Weinheimer’s frequent session collaborators. “It was an accidental record,” Weinheimer says. “With the onset of the pandemic, all of my musician friends found themselves suddenly without gigs or sessions, so we started sending tracks back and forth just to pass the time and keep ourselves entertained. The next thing I knew, I had 10 songs that felt like they represented this moment.”
The players are some of the best in the business. They consist of Paul Griffith (John Prine, Amanda Shires), Al Gamble (St. Paul and the Broken Bones), Paddy Ryan (John Fullbright, Parker Milsap), Jesse Aycock (Hard Working Americans, Elizabeth Cook), Arnold Kim (Yellow Hope Project), Chris Michaels (Jim Mize), Steve Berlin (Los Lobos), Mark Franklin (Greg Allman, Cyndi Lauper, Booker T and the MG’s), and Kirk Smothers (Bo Keys, Buddy Guy).
Faded will be released in February 26th on Out of the Past Music.
Today Glide is excited to premiere “Giving Up the Ghost,” one of the standout tracks on the new album. Hitting you with a wash of country-soul twang, the song uses shimmering slide guitar and subtle but soulful organ to give it a laid back sound. Weinheimer isn’t shy about showcasing his influences, and you can hear his nods to universally-connecting rockers like Tom Petty, Warren Zevon, Nick Lowe, and Alex Chilton. His ability to craft infectious, Americana and power pop-laced everyman rock and roll music is matched by his straightforward lyrics that focus on life’s simple pursuits. Though Weinheimer may spend much of his musical career behind the scenes, “Giving Up the Ghost” proves he is every bit as worthy of the spotlight.
Weinheimer describes the inspiration and process behind the song:
“Beauty and the truth are all I seek.” It’s a kind of “Simple Man” if Skynyrd had read Keats.
This was the last song written for the record (‘Faded’). While the bulk of the album was made remotely from home studios across the country, we recorded this song live in my studio, Fellowship Hall Sound. After several months of shut-down, I gathered some frequent collaborators for one last session to finish the album.
Jesse and Paddy are central to the “New Tulsa Sound” scene, and we’ve made dozens of records together (including the acclaimed ‘Back to Paradise ~ a Tribute to Oklahoma Music’). I’ve played with Chris for as long as I’ve played music professionally (including in our band the Boondogs), and with Al (St. Paul & the Broken Bones) for almost as long.
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