The bay-side town of Somers Point, N.J., about 15 minutes outside of Atlantic City and across the bridge from Ocean City, is where “beach folk” musician Scott Kirby (pictured above) is currently recording his seventh solo record.
Kirby, according to his bio, is “one of the most requested artists” on Sirius XM Radio Margaritaville.
Kirby has played with Jimmy Buffett and is often compared to him; he is also good friends with guitarist Peter Mayer of the Coral Reefer Band. However, these recording sessions are not connected to Buffett’s Margaritaville brand coming to Resorts Atlantic City in 2013.
Kirby, who’s new CD is called Sol Searching, chose to come up from Key West to record at the chARTer-TECH High School for the Performing Arts (on Route 9 in Somers Point) for a few very good reasons.
In a statement released Tuesday evening (Dec. 5), Kirby says:
You may be wondering why I left the sunny, warm climate of Key West to come to New Jersey in December? Good question!
Lew London [pictured below], a long time friend and brilliant singer/songwriter, multiple-instrumentalist, recording engineer and producer lives here on the Jersey Shore and teaches music and recording at Charter Tech High School for the Performing Arts in Somers Point, New Jersey.
Peter Mayer and I spoke to the students there in September and had a chance to check out the great recording studio at the school as well.
Lew and I have been talking about doing a project together for a while, and getting the opportunity to record in such an excellent facility with Lew while giving some of the students access to the project seemed like a win-win for everyone.
Lew has done just about everything in his three decades in the music business. He performed, co-wrote and recorded with the legendary Steve Goodman for years, he was nominated for a Grammy in 2009 for his work on the Utah Phillips tribute CD and was named Guitar Player of the Year by Guitar Player Magazine. Not to mention he plays a mean fiddle!!
With students and local musicians — as well as Nashville guitarist Michael McAdam — Kirby and London have been recording the album over the past week and will wrap up in the next week or two.
Half of the songs have already been recorded.
Visit Kirby’s Web site for more on the artist.
Click here to see video of Lew London playing with the Bubba Mac Blues Band at the 2009 Good Old Days Festival in Somers Point.
