After I had left, Jeff exclaimed to Al, no mandolins. To make it clear that no mandolins would be allowed in the band. 

However, this episode is all about the mandolin as it is the unifying theme that ties these tunes together. 

Like so much of the pre 21 century music on the tonycornejo.com podcasts this was recorded  at Bob Krohn's basement. The songs Shape I'm In, It's Raining and Catfish Done Swallowed My Friend was recorded around the late 80's early 90's on different occasions. I had just started playing mandolin. This would be a period of time where I was listening to roots music, such as old time acoustic folk blues, bluegrass and old time country. 

Shape I'm In was a song with roots in new wave. It was first played in the mid 80's in the band the Reverbs. The version on the podcast is a reworking of this song imbued with my fascination of my new appreciation of roots music. 

It's Raining, is somewhat reminiscent of the mandolin style that Jimmy Page might have employed. That is using acoustic instrumentation with a pychodelic song. 

Catfish Done Swallowed My Friend, was inspired by my father's frequent telling of the tales of the man sized catfish that lived below the dam at Alton Illiinois. 

The quality of the productions Bob was able to accomplish with his 8 track reel to reel was continuing to improve. Again these podcast are derived from old cassettes and will have glitches.