13th Jan 2010 - Recording in Nashville TN

Hi there folks! Well, we've been in Nashville just over a week now and have been having a brilliant time, as usual, we love this town! Despite our initial nervousness, Ben Surratt our engineer was really welcoming and we settled right into his studio, which is a really great place in Inglewood called The Rec Room (see www.therecroom.com). We tracked the whole of our album (13 songs) in five and a half days. Phew! Now that our parts are done, we thought we'd let you know how it has been going…

Some fantastic things happened in the process of making this record. Firstly we have to mention David 'Beardy' Mayfield, our producer, whom has now been completely adopted into the honorary Johnson Family! He has kept us all smiling throughout and is a great source of inspiration to us - there is no one else we'd rather have producing our record and we know it is more than safe in your capable hands. David, you rock, its Official!

Getting to play with Missy Raines was also a fantastic experience for all three of us, she is not only a really lovely person, but boy she can really lay it down on the bass! We'd also very much like to thank Jesse Cobb of the Infamous Stringdusters for coming and putting mandolin on 7 tracks, and Bryan Simpson of Cadillac Sky for doing guest vocals on a track. The final big recording session will be tonight when Ross Holmes from Cadillac Sky is finishing the fiddle parts. Then its all up to David's magic and wizardry! We feel so honoured and privileged to be working with such incredible musicians - never in our wildest dreams did we think this would happen! This is a really exciting time for us, although there is still a lot of work to do yet, the record is really taking shape, and we feel sure this will be a big step forward for The Toy Hearts.

For fans and friends wanting to know what to expect: there are 12 original compositions including one instrumental, and several completely new songs, plus one cover - our version of Kate McKenzie's song: "Carolina", that we've been playing in our live show for a long time. So now we just have to think of a name for it… any ideas any one?

As usual we seem to have brought a little of the British weather with us here, and similarly to how it rained all the time we were in Texas in the fall, Nashville has been freezing cold and we've even had snow, which we are told is quite unusual. In fact this cold and dry has been so severe we all keep getting and giving each other static shocks. Not only that but, it seems I should have been paying a little more attention to my guitar, it got so cold and dry that a crack has developed in the top. After an initial panic melt down, it seems its going to be okay. I have taken it to 'guitar hospital', and the surgeon came very highly recommended!

We must finally mention the fact that we all went to Mitchell's deli and Sip Coffee shop every day for lunch! Totally fantastic sarnies, followed by a great cappuccino = a very productive day for The Toy Hearts