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Supreme Electric

by Chris Monti

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1.
Take Your Rest 03:36
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Why don’t you lay down and get some sleep? I can tell by your smile that you’re in it deep You're carrying the weight of the world around It’s all right to put it down for a while Get some sleep my dear Get some sleep my dear You’ll wake up to a brand new day The coffee and the paper and then you’re on your way You’ll be all right, just take it slow You’ll be just fine, I know Get some sleep my dear Get some sleep my dear Get some sleep my dear Take your rest right here
2.
Tumba 04:56
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3.
Not My Culture 04:58
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This is not my culture but I use it anyway These are not my rhythms but I use them anyway This is not my guitar but I use it anyway And the plectrum I have borrowed but I use it anyway My mind is like a sponge, my soul is like a mirror My heart is like a cup, my body is a tool I don’t make a lot of money but I have a lot of luck I have no proper residence but friends take me in I live to hear the music of the wind in the trees And I wonder what that sounds like in your home town Music moves quickly around the world these days and we listen to what we like If you take time to dig you will find something superb When I was a young man I drank a lot of wine It helped me to learn to ask questions, to find out what you’re like I’m a man of many tastes and if I hear something I like I’ll ask you to teach it to me and I’ll learn it best I can When I put pen to paper and pick up my guitar I may use some of your music, I may use some of your culture I may use some of your rhythm, but I will do it with respect If someone asks me where I learned it, I’ll speak well of my teacher If you think I am a thief, my list of victims is long From the river of my teachers, I barter for a cup With lots of training and some luck, I might vanish in the air And let the great wind take me up, and carry me across the sky But though I am alight and though I am aloft I know I am just a small cloud Carrying a little rain This is not my culture but I use it anyway These are not my rhythms but I use them anyway This is not my guitar but I use it anyway And the plectrum I have borrowed but I use it anyway
4.
Dish Rag 02:31
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5.
Los Angeles 05:07
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about

Supreme Electric is a collection of original songs (and one folk song) that are strongly influenced by the West African style music I made with The Double Decker Band, The Supreme Satellite Band, and Reuben and the Big Five. My good friend and musical mentor Joe Pay plays bass on this album, Makengoh Kamara of Sierra Leon’s Refugee All Stars plays drums, and Joe and Makengoh sing those background vocals, both powerful and angelic. Ashade Pearce, the excellent guitar player from SLRA, couldn’t resist joining us in the studio the day we were doing overdubs. He insisted that “Take Your Rest” needed another cowbell track, and, of course, he was correct.

“Take Your Rest” was written years ago as a folky number when I was heavily under the influence of Neil Young’s Silver and Gold record. It finds new life here in a reggae style, but specifically in the way the West Africans I know play reggae: with a little more drive and push, to my ear, than Caribbean reggae.

“Tumba” is a folk song about how when you shake your big butt for other people, a tear runs down my eye. These are the first West African lead guitar lines I ever learned. I play all the guitars here, but I learned these licks from Joe. As he trained me, we sat on his bed for hours and hours playing unplugged electric guitars and smoking tremendous amounts of cheap weed. He’d play a lick and I’d try to repeat it. I would fail, and we would try again. Often Joe would shout something at me like, “No! If you move your thumb you will be LATE!” Would I have learned faster and better without that cloud of smoke in that unventilated bedroom? There’s no way to know, and I wouldn’t give up my unique musical education for a degree from the most prestigious of music schools.

“Not My Culture” is a lyrical tip of the hat to Joe, to Reuben Koroma and all the members of SLRA, and to the other great older musicians I’ve had the luck to play, eat, and drink with: Paul Geremia, Chris Turner, The Providence Wholebellies… Musically this is my attempt to craft something in the highlife and soukous styles that I love so much. This song is a bit of a manifesto: I will be diligent in learning a style, I will be respectful of my mentors… and then I’ll do what I will with that music.

The last two songs, “Dish Rag” and “Los Angeles” feature my good friend and longtime musical companion Matt McLaren on drums. These songs are, in a way, as much influenced by the country-blues playing of Big Bill Broonsy, Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker as they are by West African music. I ride a low note on the guitar with my thumb and play chords and melody notes with my other fingers. I’m a student of music from all over the world, but it is my hope that those influences meld together and find some fresh expression in my songs and in my playing.

Thanks of course to Joe, Matt, Makengoh, Ashade and Seth Manchester (who is a constant delight to work with as a recording, mixing and mastering engineer).

Thanks also to The Double Decker Dance Band who were excellent companions in learning Joe’s music and bringing it to life: Matt McLaren, Scott Reber, Jake Haller, Elvis Ortiz and Michelle Brown.

Thanks to the members of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars with whom I played much music and learned much: Reuben Koroma, Kobina Valcarcel, Makengoh Kamara, Ashade Pearce, Christopher Davies, Dennis Sannoh, Jahson Bull, and Black Nature.

Thanks and Love to Lucy and Josephine

This album is dedicated to Joseph E. Pay

credits

released April 2, 2021

Chris Monti - Guitar and Vocals
Joseph Paye - Bass and Background Vocals (1, 2, and 3)
Makengoh Kamara – Drum Kit, Percussion, and Background Vocals (1, 2, and 3)
Matt McLaren – Drum Kit (4 and 5)

and Ashade Pierce – cowbell on Take Your Rest

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Chris Monti Providence, Rhode Island

Known for his effortless style and musical curiosity, Chris has immersed himself in West African guitar, dug deep into country-blues and old-time music, and moves seamlessly between diverse styles from Egypt, Peru and India. He has toured the East Coast, Canada and points west. He also enjoys his singular role in the community as a strange combination of entertainer, educator, and magician. ... more

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