Kelly Finnigan: “His Love Ain’t Real”

Session anecdotes: One cut that stood out for me from the four days of sessions recording Kelly Finnigan’s A Lover Was Born LP was “His Love Ain’t Real”. We hit this 11PM at the end of day two and we’d been in there 13 hours, but figured we’d get one more in before the night was up. It took a lot longer to get down than the other songs. I managed to get an acceptable take each time until about the 14th take, when we all played the PERFECT money take and I rim clicked that drum fill you hear a few seconds in. Kelly gave me the Mutombo finger wag and I nearly put my stick through a drum head.

I’ll never hear that fill again without recalling how mad I was that I blew it . We decided to quit for the day and try again next morning, but Jimmy James was on his way from the airport and time was short. We got it on the first try. Sleep cures all (unless you’re Joe Crispiano, who rarely slept ). Cutting this song alone made me a better musician. Hat tip to Kelly and everyone on those sessions for a great experience!