Music CD, cookbook features local talent
By Larry Cheek, Valley Scene

A combination music CD by local artists and cookbook will go on sale in Eureka in time for the Rendezvous, said Rita Collins, who is helping coordinate the effort. The CD will include music by Sarah Henderson, Ray and Shirley Jacobs, Jessica Kilroy, Dave Fritts, Al McCurry, Mike Atherton, and Jesse Phillips.

The music was recorded by Lincoln County High School music teacher Mike Atherton in his home studio. Atherton took a year off from teaching last year to attend the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences (CRAS) in Tempe, Arizona. While there he learned the art of both digital and analog recording. He recorded and mixed the music in his home studio, Dancing Mountain Records, and then sent it to Arizona for mastering.

"Mastering takes out all the extraneous sounds and noise," Atherton said. "It eliminated all the mistakes I made." Most of the songs on the CD are original, written but the artists who perform them. A few of the songs are standards.

Many of the artists he recorded are established musicians, but three of them Atherton said are up and coming talents. Jesse Phillips, Sarah Henderson and Jessica Kilroy are fairly recent graduates of Lincoln County High School. Phillips attended Tulane University in New Orleans, where he recently graduated with a Music Education degree. He has completed his student teaching and is currently substitute teaching, writing and arranging music and playing in a band in New Orleans.

Sarah Henderson is attending the Berklee School of Music in Boston. "It is on of the most famous music schools in the world," Atherton said.

Jessica Kilroy doesn't have the formal music training of the others. "Jessica is just a great, natural talent," he said.

All three write their own songs.

Atherton said his home studio will not be a studio for hire. He is more interested in being a producer.

The new CD will be included in a package with a book of about 100 recipes provided by local residents. Collins, Carol Blake and Sally Steward began collecting recipes for the book at last year's Lincoln County Fair. The book will also include some stories from locals about how they ended up in Tobacco Valley. "With this being Eureka's centennial year, it is a good year to get the CD out," says Collins. She added that the CD and cookbook will probably sell for $18.

The CD ad cookbook project is being used as a fundraiser for the Sunburst Foundations Performing Arts Series. "Next year we would like to bring more performers to the area," Collins said. Four acts a year have come to perform in the past ears. "Next year we hope to get more performers for the series.

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