OUR JOURNEY
The nascent sounds of THE WAVERIES, a name inspired by Fredric Brown's short story, were first heard on August 12, 2007 during a live concert at the Log Cabin Saloon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I had been writing some songs for a concept album called "MOTHER EARTH", an environmental tale describing the emerging impact of humans on the natural world and how one individual, Max, is called upon to bring a message of change to humanity in hopes of saving the living Earth. At that time it was a work in progress and so 6 songs from the album were added to the set list along with a variety of blues and rock classics. Joe Anckner, Joy Peterson-Anckner and I were among the performers that day and we felt the songs worked well with a full band. Meanwhile, I eventually completed the writing of all 17 songs of "MOTHER EARTH" and my solo acoustic version was performed in its entirety for the first time on Earth Day, 2009 at West Nebraska Community College and at the W.O.W. Coffee House in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Since then, I have performed entire solo-acoustic shows commemorating Earth Day, as well as smaller versions of the rock opera at other venues. This culminated in a recording of a solo-acoustic version of "MOTHER EARTH" in 2011.
During this time, THE WAVERIES were collaborating on the musical arrangement of a full electric version of "MOTHER EARTH" and recording and mixing our individually and meticulously crafted tracks over literally vast distances of space and time. All tracks were recorded on twin Fostex VF160EX Digital Recorders. These free-standing digital audio workstations were able to produce a CD containing all of our personally recorded tracks which could be ping-ponged back and forth to each other where more tracks could be added. Then, when we were generally satisfied with the musical arrangement, I produced a final mix of each song after hundreds of preliminary mixes or "takes" were carefully critiqued by members of the band.
"MOTHER EARTH" was ultimately performed live by THE WAVERIES at the 3rd Annual Florida Earth Festival in Boca Raton on April 23, 2016. The musicians, (all friends for many years, some since childhood) arrived at my home in Florida from various parts of the country. We were determined to perform this rock opera live, and so in 2016 we set aside a week to meet at my house before the Earth Day concert. During this time, we played our parts that we knew by heart and incorporated the magic of us all working together in the same space. The outdoor festival was organized by Dave Van Camp and it turned out to be a great place for the whole band to unveil the electric version of the environmental rock opera, "MOTHER EARTH", for the first time. Encircled by Nature, THE WAVERIES' debut concert at The Florida Earth Festival was a resounding success!
Since the concert, THE WAVERIES have been working on carefully finalizing the details of their studio project including additions, improvements and enhancements of vocals, choruses and multiple instruments. The Master Recording was published and distributed to multiple platforms on October 5, 2020.
- Joe LoPresti
THE WAVERIES (L to R):
Joe LoPresti (Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar, Tambourine, Drums on Studio Recording of Mother Earth)
Joe Anckner (Lead and Rhythm Guitars, Acoustic Guitar, Organ, Backing Vocals)
Joy Peterson-Anckner (Lead Vocals, Flute, Backing Vocals)
Rich Mook (Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals for "Take It Easy On The Trees")
Tom Anckner plays drums during live performance
