\"The Playful Moog\" NEW CD, by Dana Countryman For Sale

Now that I’m retired now, I have my own personal recording studio, and plenty of time and energy. Since I also have a couple of large analog synthesizers and all the recording gear, and given the fact that I had so much fun doing the previous album, I thought “Why not record another album in the same genre?” Except for the help of a few musicians that I brought in, it’s definitely a one-man band type of operation around here! I’m eternally grateful that I have the gear to do multi-track recording in my own studio. I started out at age 16 with a mono tape recorder, modifying it to make crude multiple recordings. Things have come a long way since then!

When I started this album, I had absolutely no musical ideas for any of the melodies that were to follow, so I was starting with a completely clean slate. I began playing around with ideas for tunes right after Christmas, 2025. Magically, the melodies started popping into my 71-year old mind, and they kept coming regularly. I’m always amazed at the process of how that happens, and I give God all the credit for providing me with this gift.

Of course, my inspiration for creating this kind of wacky, lighthearted synthesizer music is the music of my musical mentor, Jean Jacques Perrey. Until his passing in 2016, were friends for 22 years. I had the great joy of musically collaborating with JJ on two CDs between the years 2005 and 2007. During those years, we also performed concerts across the USA, Canada, and Europe. Jean Jacques was an amazing musician and he used to introduce me onstage as his “best friend.” That meant a lot to me. We just “clicked” in a way that I never have with any other composer-musician.

JJ wrote the liner notes to my solo 2010 electronic album, “Moog-Tastic!“, and in those notes he mentioned that he was “passing the torch along to me.” I took that to heart, as I went through the process of creating this album, and I felt his imaginary hand on my shoulder. In fact, one of the songs (“La Frénésie de Jean Jacques”) is my personal tribute to JJ, and I created some tape loops in his style for the song. (JJ had showed me how he made his tape loops when we worked together in my studio, although I now use a digital toolbox instead of tape. But I didn’t just want to copy JJ’s style for the rest of the album, and I put my own spin on the other tunes.