"Get Down the Road" was recorded a long time ago, maybe 1990 or 91, shortly after I got my Roland R-5 Human Rythm Composer. It was recorded on a Tascam 234 Syncaset--a fourtrack cassette multitrack. I did most of the "Detour" cuts on the 234. Detour was an album project I started back in the early 90s. My equipment at the time was the 234, a Peavey XR800 board and an ART DRX multi effects unit. The guitar is my '60 Fender Jazzmaster. I believe I used a Peavey Bandit for the guitar amp, run directly into the board. Somehow I managed to shut off the signal to the Peavey's power amp, so I just had the preamp happening. I probably used the Sennheiser 421 for a vocal mic. I don't remember if I had my Fender Bullet bass then or if I was still using that big heavey red Peavey bass. I played all the parts on this recording.

The song was probably written in the mid-80s when I was in Reno.

Detour was going to be my next CD release. I never released the album because I didn't have quite enough songs recorded for an album and I was always needing to make a few adjustments, re-record some vocals or something. But the main reason was I couldn't figure out if Detour should be the name of the "band" or if it should be the name of the album. Detour was, is, the name of my true band. It briefly incarnated in Reno just before we left there in 1988 and reappeared for a while in Bethel in 89 and 90. It probably got too difficult to try to keep 3 people together as a band in Bethel. There were always different personnel. Fritz Craft sometimes played drums and Peter Twitchell played bass. Other times, Reggie Jones played drums or bass depending on which part was needed.

I had been looking for a band name that would suit the sound I had in mind--rock/country/blues/rockabilly/folk/honky-tonk/whatever. There could never be anything "copycat" about my sound because I don't play guitar like anyone else and don't sing like anyone else and couldn't if I tried, so my band would necessarily be off the beaten path--not mainstream, a diversion, something different. I finally encountered the word "Detour" and made it my band name. This also suggested that the repertoire include a lot of road songs. "Get Down the Road" is sort of a Detour theme song and was going to start the album When the album gets made for real, it will still be the first cut.

I envisioned the Detour sound to be somewhere, likely to be anywhere, on a line between Bob Wills and George Thoroughgood. It seems like a rather wide spectrum, but I think a tradition of influence can be traced. I don't see the two as being any further removed from each other than, say, Eddie Arnold and Willie Nelson. I don't think the Detour concept as a band is defunct. But I still have the same dilemma. If I call the CD "Michael Faubion / Detour" Could I still call the band, if it ever materializes again, Detour. And if I did, wouldn't I want the album to be "Detour / Beatin' a Path (or whatever)" so as to maximize promotion of the band as a band rather than me as a single? Well, it's still a conundrum. Until I figure it out, I'll start putting what I'll call the Detour Collection out on the web here and see if anybody takes a listen. Let me know if you like it and want to hear more. --MJF