Back in 1998, I lived in a one bedroom studio apartment near the intersection of Damen & Chicago Avenues on Superior, in the heart of Chicago, a stone's throw from the United Center.It was amidst sporadic gunfire and numerous nights spent down the street at Tuman's Alcohol Abuse Center that I penned most of the songs on "Chicago Folksongs" (except for 2-Bit Bride, which dates back years before.) Having no band at the time, I enlisted the help of The Great Plains Gypsies, then living directly across the street from me. Over the course of a few months we went from recording in their tiny upstairs rehearsal space to much more spacious arrangements on Fulton St., where they later moved. The whole album was cut live to a Teac 2-track reel to reel and later mixed down to DAT by Alex DeForest. We went from there into Dan's computer and burned the master, of which only 300 copies were pressed. The record release was at Magoo's Underground Lounge, in Chicago sometime in March of that year. The quality of the recording is less than avaerage but being there were no overdubs, the album has a live feel that captures that period of my life and music quite honestly.

Members (left to right):
Jay Harris - acoustic guitar, vocals, harmonica
Dan Whitaker - acoustic/electric guitars, piano, banjo, harmonica, bkup vocals
Scott Schenke (standing) - acoustic/electric guitars, mandolin, electric bass, bkup vocals
Buddy - barks
Tim Anderson - acoustic/electric bass
John Roche - drums, percussion
not shown…
Steve Doyle - lap steel, dobro, bkup vocals
(this shot was taken outside the then Gypsy residence on Fulton St., in Chicago)