From The Vaults : 2012 With Jonathan Jetter – SPOTLIGHT

in 2012 i and some friends were doing our best to advance social and economic justice by protesting almost weekly. one night in particular we were being kettled by police and i found myself pressed up against a stranger. my friend stacey called across a few bodies and said “hey barb meet jon. you two both make music. you should know each other”.

this wasnt the first time i had been set up on a blind date for music. but as we waited for the police buses to come gather us, me and jon got to talking. we had so many of the same influences from hip hop to rock to prog and singer songwriter stuff.

well the cops ended up letting the group of us go. me and jon met up a few days later at my recording studio in brooklyn. it was love at first chord. we instantaneously clicked and wrote what was the first of hundreds of songs together. jon was so creative and collaborative. his guitar playing was totally commanding. his ear for sounds and his engineering skills were exactly what i had been looking for. nine years later we are still making music, working together in recording sessions and discovering new ways to create together. if you dont know jonathan jetter  you will soon because he has become one of the most sought after mixers in the music industry. its my pleasure to pull this song from the vault so you can all enjoy it.

“Spotlight” was my first time working with Barb- I was coming in cold, we’d just recently been introduced by mutual friends, and I had no idea what that first session would look like. But after the first hour or two it was like we’d worked together for years. The vibe was immediately comfortable. They had the main riff, I found the lead guitar line over it, and we were off to the races. They’re truly gifted at framing the right mood for a studio session: Everyone’s ideas are valued, everyone’s contributions are incorporated, while Barb’s simultaneously still leading, still directing the session with a strong vision. After that session, I think we both knew that we could do a lot of work together. Even the technical problems (It was my first time at that studio!) got sorted calmly and quickly. That first session has now led to many years of work, on dozens of projects. It’s been great for me, I’ve learned a ton from Barb, and hope it continues for a long time to come.” – Jonathan Jetter