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Cracker Jack with Matt and Andy

by Tim Stuart / Matt Mayes

Deerwoode Songs from 1986

Matt and Andy Mayes (Bill and Liz’s sons) began playing guitars as campers and became part of the entertainment at some of the campfires. Later, Andy entered the Marine Corps and Matt continued with his music, becoming a founding member of Jupiter Coyote and The Raptor Trail. In 1986, Matt and Andy collaborated on some Deerwoode songs — a few of the old standards and some newly penned for this cassette. Sprinkled among the songs are some of the inspirational and motivational messages that were posted around the Deerwoode campus.

Matt Mayes elaborated on the genesis of this project:

[I] remember we did it in the basement of the house, I just hung a mic from the ceiling and recorded us playing in the room. Andy played and sang, his then wife Ralphine sang on it, and Noel Felty, JC [Jupiter Coyote] drummer, played drums on the PC Rock. We were just kind of goofing around with sound equipment recording for fun and and it turned into a Deerwoode Song project. I think dad heard us making all the racket in the basement and gave us the idea to do all the camp songs. It was the Deerwoode campfires when I was a counselor that gave rise to Jupiter Coyote. We had that band, Matt Trevitt on drums, John Felty on Bass, Lee Dominque on vocals, and me on guitar. We were called Cruise Control, and we played the campfires and a few dances. We were awful but the kids loved it. It was just so much fun playing live as a band that I never really stopped doing it, plus I was starting to write my own songs. It was Trevitt’s idea to move to Ga after college and start a real band. I had no intention at that time of making a career in music, it just kind of evolved. We have had an incredible 30 year run.

www.jupitercoyote.com

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