The Muscle Shoals Sessions [l-r]: Justin Holder (drums and percussion), Samuel Pasternack (lead guitars and vocals), Angela Ford (bass guitar and vocals), Todd Pasternack (guitar and vocals), Glenn Rosenstein (producer and mastering engineer), Brad Kuhn (piano, wurlitzer, and B3)
Todd Pasternack and Angela Ford are both passionate musicians, playing in various groups (together and separately) over their careers, including Ominous Seapods, Bump, Marlow and the Lo Faber Band. It comes as no surprise, then, that their son Sam, now in his early teens, developed a zeal for music. Over the last few years, the three have been performing together as the Ford Family Band. Before COVID-19 plunged the nation into an indefinite quarantine, the three musicians traveled to the legendary FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Ala. They shacked up with producer and friend Glenn Rosenstein and recorded two tracks, titled “You and Me” and “Letter.” The songs have since been released as ‘Cuts from Fame’ (listen here). Below, the three discuss their musical influences, how it feels to play together as a family, their experience at the hallowed studio and more.
How did you guys have the idea to put together the Ford Family Band?
Todd: So Angela and I, we had played in a bunch of bands together and separately we’ve both had careers in music, and after we got off the road full time and we started a family--there was just sort of no escape for Sam to get the music bug, I think, and when he picked up the guitar-- how old were you?
Sam: I was ten.
Todd: Ten. Yeah, I think I gave him his first guitar at ten. He was good. [Laughs]
Yeah, you can tell on the record!
Todd: Yeah, he really picked it up so quickly, and we were like, “Wow, we’ve gotta go do something here,” and we just started jamming together.
Sam: I actually remember the first time we all played live. It was at the Fall Fest event at school, and I remember it was like two days before you two were supposed to play and I was like, “Can I join?” and you guys were like, “Sure!” That was back when I just started to get into guitar solos. I had just learned the pentatonic scale and all that, and I got through it.
So Sam, obviously playing music can be very freeing and very expressive, and sometimes those things don’t always go with doing things with your parents. Nonetheless, you guys have been able to do such great work together with the Family Band. I’m curious: when you’re in the studio with your parents, how much are you looking to them for direction, and how much are they giving it. How much is it your own ideas and your own voice coming out?
Sam: Well, on the track “You and Me,” my Dad wrote that one a long time ago--he even performed it before we recorded it. So I kind of just improvised what I wanted to do on the song. I knew what I wanted to do, and when we added that second guitar solo at the end, I just went for it.
What kind of gear are you guys using on the recordings? I see in the album photo, I think you got what looks to be a Fender Jazzmaster-looking guitar there, but I’m curious for what kind of stuff you all use?
Todd: Yeah, so that’s actually the ‘64 Jaguar. That’s like our baby, we love that guitar very much.
Angela: I played a Fender Jazz bass and the engineer put me through a really cool Ampeg 70s tube amp and got me a really nice bass tone that I really loved. [To Todd] What did you play?
Todd: I just used one of the teles that was there through this old Fender Champ. Oh my gosh, and then on the song “Letter,” I got to use Rick Hall’s [the late founder of FAME studios] guitar, his acoustic guitar. He had this Gibson Jumbo and it was played by like, Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding and like these legends. [Laughs] So there was definitely some magic for sure, both in the room and in the instruments that were there.
I was just about to mention FAME studios. Todd and Angela, have you guys recorded there before?
Angela: No that was our first time recording there. It was magical. Muscle Shoals is just an incredible place, and the studio that they have there--their studio A and B--Glenn has helped open up studio B, that’s his place.
Todd: Yeah, so he and Rodney Hall, who’s Rick’s son, invested in pretty much just renovating Studio B so that the actual studio room is pretty much identical. It’s like the room where Duane Allman played--it’s amazing. The sound of the room is great. But they renovated the control room--they bought an old board that was used by Stevie Ray Vaughn and some really great gear. And the way we got that opportunity was: Glenn and I have known each other, it’s crazy to say, for over twenty years now. And he worked- we worked together on an Ominous Seapods album and that’s how we met and became really great friends. So when Glenn invested in the studio and had FAME, he said “Todd, you’ve gotta figure out a way to get down here, it’s magic. Let’s just make some music together and have some fun.” So I was like, “Great! I’ve been playing with my family, we’ve got some songs, we’ll be there!”
Speaking of names like Allman and Vaughn, who are some of each of your biggest musical influences?
Sam: Oh, wow. Well, a lot of musicians have influenced me, over time as well. Right now I’d probably say the Allman Brothers of course, Stevie Ray Vaughn… a while ago it was definitely Tom Petty and Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I definitely like that style of music and Mike Campbell’s style of playing.
Angela: That’s a tough one. I was an opera singer before I switched over to rock, and I had a jazz project too. Vocally, I love Ella Fitzgerald and Joni Mitchell. On the bass, recently I’ve been delving into The Beatles--the complete scores--and I’ve been listening to a lot of Paul McCartney. But y’know, I love Zeppelin, I love the Dead. There’s a lot of bassists I listen to that I like.
Funnily enough, considering Paul McCartney’s standing as perhaps the most famous musician around, I think he’s somehow an underrated bassist.
Angela: Yeah, absolutely. He writes some great basslines, very melodic.
Todd, what about you?
Todd: When I first started, it was Eddie Van Halen, which--rest in peace, that was heartbreaking. Jimmy Page, David Gilmour, and then the Allman Brothers, too. So it’s interesting how some of those influences I think carried over to Sam, for sure.
Sam: Definitely.
Sam, what kind of stuff have you discovered on your own
Angela: Well, he listens to everything, so… [Laughs]
Sam: I play in a little thing with some kids from school, and they’ve opened me up into a whole new realm of music that I never really checked out. It’s kinda like the indie-grunge thing. I started to listen to Pearl Jam some more, [to Todd] and I know you’ve definitely listened to that.
Todd: Yup. But I don’t think I introduced you to Pearl Jam, I think you discovered that one on your own.
Sam: I did. Rage Against the Machine, that one for sure, that one’s a big one. Yeah, but mostly that era is what my friends have kinda opened up to me.
During this long quarantine, have you all been using music as a calming mechanism or has it been something that’s kept you moving in a more… not “professional” per se, but in a more intentional sense?
Todd: I think it’s a little bit of both. I think we’ve been sort of using it as a coping [mechanism]--in a way to just stay connected as a family. You know, we’ll sort of just spontaneously jam. Like Ange might sit down at the piano, and Sam will pick up a guitar, I’ll pick up a guitar or a bass or something--we have lots of instruments in the house, so we’ll just start jamming and we’ll start playing and see what happens. It’s really just for fun, and then occasionally we’ll sit down with something more intentional, maybe we’re trying to figure out a song together. I think it’s been a bit of both. I think it has been just a way to get us through this pandemic, but at times we could be intentional as well about what we’re trying to do musically.
Sam, have you been doing any of your own writing aside from the stuff you’ve done with your parents?
Sam: So in this project, my dad is the main songwriter. He does most of the songwriting for us. I usually just play what he writes, play around with what he writes, and that’s pretty much it. Songwriting wise, I do write songs for the little thing I’m doing with my friends, and I’m always coming up with new parts, new songs and new lyrics all the time.
That’s awesome! Todd and Angela, you have come a long way from playing in bands together to now creating your own family group. How has your musical relationship progressed over your career?
Todd: Yeah so, Ang and I met back in 2001 working on an album [with Lo Faber] and then we toured on that album for a couple of years. From there, we started this other project called Marlow and we made some albums, we kept touring--
Angela: I was actually a keyboardist and singer in the other project and when Todd wanted to go out on the road as a duo he said, “Why don’t you learn bass?” And he kinda threw the bass at me and in two months I learned enough that we could go out and play some gigs together, and we did that for a year or so. And then we got married and had kids and that pretty much… [both laugh] We just--we had our hands full. We have two kids and they’re two years apart, so we sort of put playing on the backburner. We’d play for them, we’d sing lullabies and we’d still jam around the house but it wasn’t until--how many years ago was it?
Todd: I think six. Six years ago we started up Bump, which was the next project and we were able to dedicate much more time for that.
Angela: Kids were older, they could be with a babysitter.
Todd: Yeah we could actually do some gigs. We could so some weekend warrior kind of stuff and just play some shows. Then, when we moved out to California from the east coast, I think we went a little bit deeper into the idea of having the Ford Family Band. But as Sam was getting just really great as a guitar player and musician--and also as a vocalist--it was just nice to do these three part harmonies and to just start playing together so that we would start gigging around the Bay Area where we are now.
Angela: And Sam’s got a good ear for harmony, that’s him singing the backing vocals on the song “Letter.”
Speaking of those songs, what was each of your favorite moment during the recording session?
Angela: For me it was being in the control room and hearing Sam go out there and just improvise and play solos. They were really good! As a Mom, that feels really good. To see your kid enjoy something so much and do it well.
Sam: I really enjoyed just being there. Everyone there was great, they were incredible musicians and people. Being in the control room was just amazing-- it was just so much cool vintage equipment, and it was just so cool to play in a place that so many legends have played in.
Todd: I mean one, as a parent, to share an experience like that with your child is something I don’t think I expected to really feel. When [Sam] was first born, I never could have imagined that moment. So that was really special. Also, just reconnecting with Glenn, who’s just such a great friend and producer and has great ears. And to share that with Ange and Sam hadn’t had the opportunity yet to work with Glenn and to see what it’s like to really work with someone of that caliber of a producer--someone with ears like that who just knows how to get the best out of a song.
