Heirloom by Jake Eddy

Teran & Judith, I love you.- Jake

"Somewhere between the homestay student’s visits, the solo shows, and the preparations that must be made for the baby on the way, Jake Eddy got the feeling that he should record a new solo album. But different this time.
The startling technical prowess and creativity displayed on Jake’s 2024 album Something Done Right loom large in the flatpicking guitar landscape. The album was self recorded and produced in a few weeks without overdubs or guest artists in his West Virginia home, which gave him a chance to pursue clinical perfection in every moment. The cover tells that story; a solitary man, framed imposingly by hard right angles and cold colors against a wintery Appalachian backdrop. The title, too, reflects his solitary mindset. But this tone and approach is but one side of Jake’s musical genome.

“I believe solo flatpicking still has room to grow. I intend to find how far.”

On Heirloom we see a different side of the artist. When Jake and his wife Teran arrived in Marin County in January they were greeted with temperatures at least 30° warmer than back home. Jake had a new guitar in tow - a 1938 Martin D-18 (no cracks!), and a head full of tunes he’d been shedding on the stage and off in the preceding months. Phrases like “palm muted crosspicking backup”, “ham bone”, and “the thinnest guitar pick ever made” swirled around in the studio. Big ideas that paid off beautifully before our eyes and ears.
Jake chose to employ Korey Kassir as engineer/producer for Heirloom. Korey has been recording and producing acoustic music in his home studio for over a decade, and is also an accomplished multi-instrumentalist and songwriter in his own right. Jake was in good hands.
Unsurprisingly, the sessions went as smooth as I’ve ever seen. Us three dudes piled into the small guest bedroom that Korey had converted into a modular studio, while our wives made crafts and watched movies on mute in the next room (the cross stitch on the cover of this record was made by Teran during these sessions, as a matter of fact. A piece of visual art inexorably tied to the music found herein).
Bluegrass giant Mark Shatz is the project’s lone sideman, appearing on the tune Long Tongued Woman. It was exciting and inspiring to spend time with Mark in a relaxed studio environment. After he’d cut his parts we told funny bluegrass tales and picked a few tunes with him just for fun. Alan, from Guitar Finds in Benicia, CA, was kind enough to bring by the lively 12 string mahogany dreadnought heard on Short Rib - the lone original track on the album.
It was fascinating to watch Jake work. The backup parts - all recorded after the lead track was laid down - were done on paper before he tested them in the studio. No stabbing around for chords on the guitar, for it seems the music is all upstairs. When he went in to overdub it became clear that he knew exactly what he’d played previously, and the strange supplementary comping we heard in the room was an exciting glimpse into Jake’s harmonic approach; always rooted in tradition, always pushing its boundaries, and always keenly aware of the fully fleshed out harmony - whether he voiced it or not.
I see Heirloom as a companion piece to Something Done Right. Where one is aggressive and precise, the other is friendly and relaxed. Where one is all hard edges and cold colors, the other is round and warm. Jake’s true musical conception encompasses all these things. The duality is in fact part of what makes his playing so interesting and mind boggling. Here’s another slice, enjoy." - Joe Readel


THANK YOU TERAN EDDY, JOE AND ASHLEY READEL, KOREY AND AMY KASSIR, CARTER EDDY, MARK SCHATZ, PAT AND OWEN, BRIAN AND SARAH HAMLIN, COSMO AND SPIKE, THOMAS CASSELL, CAMREN AND TABS, ALEX AND GILLIAN, MOM AND DAD, BOB MINNER, SCOTT AT YAMAHA