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Track Listing
Playlist
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Album Notes
Credits
Picture This Cassette Album

Picture This

Track Listing:

  1. Psychic Surgery
  2. Never You Fear
  3. Angels Of Incidence
  4. Jackstraw
  5. Sara’s Song
  6. Brattle
  7. Festival
  8. Side Spin
  9. Tip Of The Brush
  10. The Somnambulist
  11. There Was A Time

Album Premier: November 17, 1989, WVTF Radio, The Jeff Hunt Show, Roanoke, VA.

YouTube Playlist: Picture This

Track Notes

  1. Psychic Surgery

    This tune was built around a Casio CZ-101 riff, in 4ths, going from F- G. The breakdown on the tune features strings from a Yamaha TX-81Z, along with delays synced to the tempo of the track, a trick I learned from engineer Marty Irish. When I played this live, I doubled the primary strings/bells line with a clean Epiphone Sheraton-II guitar. The CZ-101 was also featured on the 'Festival Fillers' filmed for WBRA-TV, and the CZ-101 survived until it was stolen during a break-in at Synthesizer Rental Service in Hollywood, where I was working when I first moved to LA.

  2. Never You Fear

    My feeling was that this is the strongest track on the album, immediately likable and the most memorable of the selections. But I did not want to open the album with a ballad, so Never You Fear was moved to the second position. This tune was conceived on Boxing Day, December 26, 1985, in London, England. My best friend Stu Wamsley and I had been invited by our fellow flat mates Kate and Ken to a posh apartment in the West End of London. This was an extended Christmas vacation, English style, which involved a lot of drinking. I brought along my Ovation acoustic guitar, and came up with the tune, which revolved around the D major chord shape. Later I filled the 'B' section out with strings and piano. I was so pleased with the results that I asked my former piano teacher Elma Swain to have a listen. Elma lived across the street, and was kind enough to visit me the evening I finished the arrangement, and encouraged me to continue with my compositions. I constantly tried Elma's patience while I was her student, but she never gave up on me, and I am so fortunate that she was my teacher. To this day I benefit from her tutelage. Incidentally, this was the only tune not finished at my home studio in Vinton. The track was recorded and mixed at Threshold Recording, engineered by Harold Thompson.

  3. Angels Of Incidence

    This is certainly the most quirky of the selections on the album. The main section of this tune, played on the Casio CZ-101, is book ended by more ambient sections. The title is a play on 'Angle of Incidence', an optical phenomenon regarding the angle of attack and the reflected angle. Mixed in with the music are phone messages; you can hear Dale Kytuna, my band mate from 'The Next of Kin', and the always effervescence voice of Ziad Rabie, my band mate from the Jane Powell Band, as well as messages from my Dad, and from my Dad's patients. I tried replacing the original CZ-101 track with more 'refined' performances, but I stuck with the original, clunky CZ-101 performance. The decidedly low-fi character of the original performance reflected what I was feeling when I wrote the tune in the fallout shelter of my parent's house in Vinton, Virginia.

  4. Jackstraw

    The opening section was recorded on a Tascam 246 at a makeshift studio set up in the family room. The up tempo melody is not mine, this is a traditional folk tune I discovered while working on an assignment for a French class at the University of Virginia. Everyone had to make a presentation in French, so for myself I thought I would learn a song in French. I checked out some French language folk LPs at the UVA Music Library. The Music Library was a listening room full of turntables with head sets. I do not recall the name of the tune, but my presentation went over pretty well, and I kept this melody in the back of my head as something to expand on. In addition to the acoustic guitar, I added in hammered dulcimer as well. One of the most popular local acts in Southwestern Virginia was No Strings Attached, the hammered dulcimer band, which has quite a national following. I actually met band members Wes Chappel and Pete Hastings when I was around 16, as they had a business as chimney sweeps, and cleaned our chimney in Vinton! So inspired by No Strings Attached, I used a digitally sampled hammered dulcimer, generated by a Roland S-550 sampler. In those dark ages I mailed ordered away for these sound/samples from the back of Keyboard Magazine, it seems like the address was in the Philippines. To this day it is still a pretty great sample, even with the memory limitations of the S-550. The same hammered dulcimer is also featured on my tune Dr. Egatnorf.

  5. Sara’s Song

    This tune was written for my friend, fellow poet and UVA English major Sara Dawson Savitt. I came up with the tune pretty quickly while practicing late one night at the UVA music school, in the piano practice booths at old Cabell Hall. In those days the piano booths were pretty much open 24 hours a day, and while priority was given to music students, anyone could practice there. I would often slip in late at night to play a little after finishing my shift working part time at the Shoney's restaurant on Route 29. There was something kind of atmospheric, and cool, about playing a Steinway Grand Piano at 2 am in the morning....so, musically, this tune makes use of lots of minor and major seventh shapes. Much to my surprise, I wrote this in perhaps my least favorite key, C# major, but despite the accidentals, everything seemed to fall fairly easily under my fingers. This is the only re-recording of a track from 'Picture This'. The original was recorded with a Kurzweil MIDIBoard and Kurzweil 1000PX piano module. While this was practically state-of-the-art at the time, I felt that neither the action on the MIDIBoard, or the eight velocity zones in the 1000PX allowed me to get the same range of expression I would get with a real piano. For the 30th anniversary re-release of 'Picture This', I played the tune on a Yamaha P-255 piano, which has a much firmer, more piano like action than the MIDIBoard, and the actual sound comes from the Native Instruments Kontakt Library, the 'Grandeur'.

  6. Brattle

    This tune was written on the occasion of visiting one of my favorite UVA professors, poet Kate Daniels. Kate was on a one-year sabbatical from UVA, and on spring break 1985 I took the train to Boston to visit with Kate, who was living on Brattle Street in Boston. Kate and her then-husband Richard Jones were very encouraging and supportive of me when I attended UVA. I cannot believe how lucky I was to become friends with Kate and Richard; this was a life-changing event that colored the rest of my time at UVA and beyond. My best friend/band mate Stu Wamsley and I ended up recording two 'albums' with Richard as well, who was a bit of a song writer in addition to being a poet! Anyway, on the long train ride back I decided to write a tune inspired by my trip. I used sheet music paper, and a little Casio PT-7 synthesizer. As I had been studying music theory at UVA, I diligently applied the rules of baroque counter point for the opening section. I studied 20th century music at UVA with Judith Shatin who observed that my compositions rarely migrated from the initial key, so in response to this 'Brattle' freely migrates to several key centers. The first version of this was recorded with a Korg drum machine and a Roland G-707 guitar, bouncing from cassette machines with lots of 60 cycle hum. This version from 'Picture This' took advantage of the sequencing tools offer by Voyetra Sequencer Plus, including generating the polyrhythms you hear during the breakdown. I was asked to give a presentation at Hollins College on October 18, 1989, as a part of 'Digital Synthorchestrations: Exploring Music Technology'. My presentation was 'The Impact of Music Technology on Composition: selections from the album "Picture This". My wonderful piano teacher Elma Swain accompanied me to Hollins College, now Hollins University, that evening, which was a real treat. Elma would use Talmadge Hall for her end-of-the-year student recital, so I was so happy to be a part of this program, and to have Elma see her always 'difficult' piano student make something of the skills she taught me.

  7. Festival

    This is pretty much a MIDI arrangement of a solo piano composition. In fact, I did a piano only version of this for WBRA Television in Roanoke Virginia, as part of their 'Festival Fillers'. I wrote this tune one morning on the Baldwin console piano in our living room in Vinton. I wanted to evoke the dreamy quality of French music, inspired both by Erik Satie's Gymnopedies, and the sound track to the movie 'Diva'.

  8. Side Spin

    Writing this tune was a lesson in "You never know where the muse will lead you...." I was working with Voyetra Sequencer Plus and my Roland S-550, auditioning african percussion samples. I had a pretty good beat going when I started to develop a melody. The melody I came up with was decidedly not a match for rhythm track, and seemed to lead in a different, more angular direction. I like the way this tune moves around, though part of it reminds me a bit of Andrew Lloyd Weber. This tune was also recorded as a part of the WBRA Festival Fillers, and I added some of the original WBRA television video as well. I performed in the television studio with the sequencer, so the timing of the recorded track, and the video, is nearly the same, though the video included a piano solo not on the album.

  9. Tip Of The Brush

    I do not have a lot of specific notes on this tune. I was trying to be as smart as possible with the arrangement, keeping the main theme while using the changing bass line to alter the tone of the piece. This was also an effort to orchestrate in the most traditional way possible, with elements like strings and oboe.

  10. The Somnambulist

    This tune is based around a piano riff I developed while on the road with the Jane Powell Band. I remember playing the looping riff while setting up before a gig in Nashville. I felt it was hypnotic, and wanted to fill it out. For the main melody I was looking for a flute sound, but could not find anything I really liked in the Roland S-550 library. I noticed in the corner of our guest room/junk room the wooden recorder I had owned since second grade. This recorder became the sound of this tune. I had not done a lot of sampling, but I worked with the recorder till I got a smooth sound, making use of the cross-fade looping in the S-550. I wanted to do something different for the piano solo, so I employed the excellent stereo Rhodes patch from the Kurzweil 1000PX. The flavor of the solo was inspired by the killer piano solo on Jeff Beck's 'Blow By Blow' track 'Diamond Dust' played by Max Middleton. By the way, one of the toughest parts of putting this album together was coming up with titles for all the tunes. I literally got the title 'Jackstraw' by randomly flipping through a dictionary. As for this tune, I used a title from one of my favorite XTC tunes, 'The Somnambulist'. XTC is one of my favorite bands of all time, and I thought this title fit perfectly with the tune, and was also a way for me to tip my hat to one of my favorite bands.

  11. There Was A Time

    I would jokingly call this tune, 'Theme for a Wine Commercial'. Despite the dismissive tone of this remark, I always liked this composition a lot. I wanted a little something sweet to close the album, but chose not to resolve the final chord to leave the listener hanging...

Watch the Picture This Playlist on YouTube

Album Notes

Picture This Front Album Cover Picture This inner Album Cover

Many, many thanks to all the people who helped me put this album together. While I have album credits listed below, I feel like I should expand a little bit.

The album was mastered by 'A. W. (Skip) Brown' a local musician, recording engineer, and all around audiophile. I was a bit of a 'nervous Nelly' as this was my first album, but Skip was super patient with me as we mastered, edited and assembled the album. I met Skip through my work at Stage Sound. Skip is still in the business, running Final Track Studios in Roanoke, VA.

L-R, Tom Ohmsen, Connie Stevens (Henson), Chris Henson
L-R, Tom Ohmsen, Connie
Stevens (Henson), Chris Henson

Click to enlarge.

The cover design was done by my friend Richard McNeace. I had known Richard since our days in the 'Nelson Bond Society', a science fiction club in Roanoke, Virginia. Richard was also working at Book, Strings, and Things on the downtown mall, and along with Chris Henson helped with sales of 'Picture This.' Chris Henson is an amazing musician, and was kind enough perform with me in 1988 at 'Festival In The Park', where we jammed on Bill Frisell's 'Strange Meeting'.

Richard McNease also put me in touch with Michael Allen, who provided the artwork for my album. We drove over to Michael's house, where he had a number of wonderful paintings, and we had to make the tough choice of selecting which one to use for the album cover.

Dr. William W. Joness and Wayne Joness
Dr. William W. Joness
and Wayne Joness

Click to enlarge.

My father, Dr. William W. Joness, was very supportive of me when I was working through the recording of this album. My mom had passed away on December 12, 1987, and I recall the morning I finishing the mixing of 'Picture This'. I had moved my recording gear in to the family room, the den, and I was pretty sure he could hear the music all night. I apologized to my Dad, asking if I had kept him awake while mixing the album. He said no, and told me he thought my mother would be proud of me for all the work I put into seeing the album completed. I think that was about the best thing he could have said to me.

Buffy Lyon at Stage Sound
Buffy Lyon at Stage Sound
Click to enlarge.

Buffy Lyon was another associate from the circle of audiophiles that hung around Stage Sound. Buffy loaned me his Sony PCM-F1, which was one of the few digital recorders available at the time. This made 'Picture This' was one of the few artist produced projects at the time to be recorded almost entirely in the digital domain. I kept the digital master Beta tapes, and was lucky to work with a technician in the early 90s who also owned a PCM-F1, allowing me to access the original digital masters from 1989.

Marty Irish and Wayne Joness
Marty Irish and Wayne Joness
Click to enlarge.

I do not know where to start with the mighty Marty Irish. We have been good friends since I started working at Stage Sound. Folks warned me that Marty, our lead sound technician and live sound engineer, might be a little 'prickly'. But I had an Ibanez SDR-1000 that needed a new ROM chip installed to update the operating system. When I approached Marty he did seem as disagreeable as I had heard...but when I picked the unit up from him at the repair shop later that day, and asked Marty what I owed him, his response was, 'Well, why don't you buy me a beer and we'll call it even...' Great answer! We have been best friends ever since, and my wife Mie and I always visit Marty and his wife Patrice whenever we are in the Roanoke area. I have been so lucky to have so many great friends in my life, and the always erudite and entertaining Marty Irish is at the top of the list! Marty and I also spent time together on the road traveling with the Jane Powell Band in the late eighties, but I have not the room nor discretion to share the stories of those adventures.

Jane Powell and Wayne Joness
Jane Powell and Wayne Joness
Click to enlarge.

Jane Powell was one of the top performers on the College circuit, and I was so honored when I was invited to join her band. I spent about a year and a half with the band, before leaving to record this album and later move to Los Angeles. I was eclipsed by the awesome talent in the band, everyone was top notch, and I could barely keep up. Working with Jane and her band gave me invaluable experience as a professional musician, and a lifetime of memories. We traveled up and down the east coast, from Florida to Maine, and as far west as Lincoln, Nebraska.

Reid Henion - Owner Stage Sound - Roanoke VA
Reid Henion - Owner Stage Sound
Click to enlarge.

Reid Henion is the president of Stage Sound, the premier sound company in Southwestern Virginia area and beyond. Reid did one of the best things anyone can for someone: he gave me a job! I had talked my way into teaching a class on Recording Arts at Virginia Western Community College. I was not completely confident in my abilities as a teacher, so I contacted some of the local professionals in the Roanoke area, and asked them if they would consider being a 'guest lecturer' at my class. I asked Reid, and he immediately said 'Yes!'. The topic was microphone selection, and he brought along a flight case packed with valuable microphones to share with the class. He was very knowledgeable on the subject, and a huge asset to the curriculum. Anyway, we sat down for lunch to talk about the class, and Reid said, "You seem to know what you are doing...would you like to come work at Stage Sound?" I was still not sure about myself, but I figured this was an offer too good to turn down. I was working as a waiter at Billy's Ritz on the downtown mall at the time, so this was a real step up. I put in my notice, and was working night and day for a while. As an added bonus, my neighbor and childhood friend Jeff Moore also worked at Stage Sound. Stage Sound gave me lots of opportunities to learn on the job, and I am so grateful that Reid believed in me.

Jeff Hunt - WVTF - Public Radio Roanoke VA
Jeff Hunt - WVTF
Click to enlarge.

Jeff Hunt is the man who put my music on the radio! After college my best friend Stu Wamsley and I lived in London, England, trying our best to become rock stars. This did not pan out as we planned, and after nearly a year, I returned home to help care for my mother, who was diagnosed with stage four cancer. While I was at home, I was determined to continue with my music career in any way possible. I almost immediately began writing new music and recording demos. I sent one of these demos to Jeff Hunt of WVTF Radio in Roanoke, Virginia. To my amazement, Jeff not only liked my music, but asked me to appear on his show to play my demos and talk about my music. I later learned that this was not that unusual: Jeff is a big supporter of local musicians, always doing what he can to foster local talent. In all I made three appearances on the Jeff Hunt show, the final being on November 17, 1989, the official premier of 'Picture This'.

Elma Swain - Piano Teacher - American Federation of Music Clubs
Elma Swain
Click to enlarge.

Elma Swain, my piano teacher of ten years, is included in the 'special thanks' list. Elma taught me to play music, and to this day I am grateful for the gift of music she gave me.

Elma did so much more than just teach piano lessons. One of my first public performances ever was in 'Hansel and Gretel', staged and produced by Elma. My older sister Jan had a role, and I ran onstage as the Sandman to sprinkle sleep dust into the eyes of Hansel and Gretel. I think I was maybe four or five years old!

Each year our club produced a scrapbook of music events, themed according to the American Federation of Music Clubs. And every year we won first place in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Elma told me she sometimes wondered if I stayed a music student just to work on the scarpbook!

Elma was kind enough to take me to music performances in and around Roanoke. One of the best nights of my was on October 18, 1989, when I gave a presentation at Talmadge Hall, Hollins College (now University) with Elma in attendance. Every year Elma would secure Talmadge Hall for our annual recital. Beginning and advanced students alike would have the opportunity to perform for friends and family at this wonderful concert hall, playing a beautiful grand piano. This instilled in me a belief that playing music for an audience was special, and I loved those recitals.

Regretably, I did not practice regularly, and would be a much better musician if I only showed more discipline. I truly frustrated her, and she was often not happy to have me as a pupil, but I begged each year to continue with the lessons. I knew that discipline was my weakness, and I needed someone like Elma to crack the whip and to set deadlines.

Poet Kate Daniel
Wayne Joness with Poet Kate Daniels
Click to enlarge.

Kate Daniels. I started at the University of Virginia in the Engineering program, as a Computer Science major, with my 3.5 GPA earning me a spot on the Dean's list for my first semester. While I loved programming, and work now as a full-time programmer, I was not as keen on the rest of the engineering curriculum, especially Chemistry, advanced Mathematics, etc.

After my first year I had enough, and I transferred to the College of Arts and Sciences, but had no idea what I wanted to major in. In the fall of 1981 I took ENWR 230, Introduction to Poetry Writing, taught by Kate Daniels. This class changed my life.

Kate remains an inspiration to me, and I changed my major to English, and was frequently published as a poet during my time at UVA, winning the Martha Richford-Roberts Prize in April of 1983. Kate is a teacher, mentor, and friend, always encouraging me to be the best artist I could be.

Wayne, Betty and Bill Joness
Wayne, Betty and Bill Joness
Click to enlarge.

On December 12, 1987, my mother Elizabeth Joness passed away from metastatic breast cancer.

Mom had been dealing with cancer since I was in the seventh grade, for twelve years, and I always believed that she could fight cancer and make a come back, but in the end cancer took her life way too early.

After I left to study at the Univeristy of Virginia, Mom started taking piano lessons herself, and she became quite a piano player in just a short period of time. I have a video of us playing duets together at Christimas, Mom on piano, and me playing the guitar.

I don't think there is enough room to write about what my mother meant to me, but I know that she instilled in me a confidence and belief in myself that no doubt exceeded my actual talents. When I look over these notes, I see that time and time again I stepped out of my comfort zone to move forward in life, and this is the gift my mother gave me.

Album Credits:

All music written, performed and produced by Wayne Scott Joness.

All tracks recorded at Cinder Block Sound, September 1989, and engineered by Wayne Scott Joness, except "Never You Fear," recorded at Threshold Recording and engineered by Harold Thompson.

Digitally mastered by A W (Skip) Brown at Location Digital Recording, 2234 Sourwood Street, Roanoke, Virginia 24012.

Cover art "Altamira #2" by Michael Allen.

Cover Design by Richard McNeace.

Special thanks to Dr. William Joness, Buffy Lyon, Marty Irish, Jane Powell (and her legendary band), Reid Henion (Stage Sound), Jeff Hunt (WVTF). Elma Swain and Kate Daniels.

For further information or bookings, call or write Wayne Scott Joness.

This album was artist financed. If you would like to share this music with your friends, please do not make copies, but purchase another tape to help make this music possible.

This album is dedicated to Elizabeth Joness.

All music ©1989 Wayne Scott Joness.

Picture This Calendar:

  • November 17: Album premier, 10:00 pm, WVTF, the Jeff Hunt Show
  • November 24: Album release performance, Third Street Coffeehouse, 9:00 pm, corner of 3rd & Mountain Avenue
  • November 29: Wayne Joness with guest "Ed Batizu" at the Barrel House
  • December 5: Wayne Joness with guest Michael Francis at the Iroquois
  • December 21: Wayne Joness, solo piano, at the Transportation Museum, 12:30 to 1:30 pm

Many thanks to my fellow musicians who agreed with open for me for the 'Picture This' shows. Ed Batizu aka Jim Rule, was my opening act at 'The Barrelhouse' in Salem, Virginia, on November 29, 1989. I knew Jim through Jeff Moore, who did sound for Jim and his band. Jim is funny, clever, and super talented.

Michael Francis Kolmstetter, aka Michael Francis, also kindly supported my 'Picture This' tour, opening for me at the Iroquois, on December 5, 1989. I actually knew Michael because his sister, Karen Kolmstetter, was a classmate of mine, living on the same dorm on Alderman Road, Dobie Hall, one of the 'New Dorms' at the University of Virginia in the early eighties!