Just Like a Vacation (live)

When we first started, we (Jim and I) were living in the same house and just sort of hanging out all the time. Neither of us really knew much about songwriting - we hadn't written too many - so we learned through imitation and putting the parts we had come up with together into songs. For the first few years we sat in certain bedrooms and basements just writing and putting these pieces of songs together.

As we got more comfortable with our abilities, we were able to write on our own and then bring songs to each other in rehearsal and start arranging and editing them there.

For some reason, the recorded version of a song is the definitive one, but as you play these songs over a period of time, they go through a lot of changes.

We recorded over 60 shows on our last tour plus two more we did at Stratford, Ont, which were really great because we'd been listening to all the tapes, so, of the 22 songs on this record, 9 are from Stratford and the rest from everywhere else.

You can really hear us playing together with the energy of the audience and really interacting with each other as musicians.... so yeah, I guess the old records might sound a little stiff in comparison... but the energy of a live concert... that's a whole other thing.

Listening to all these songs and looking back over our career, we realized that, despite it all, it's been just like a vacation... I mean, think about it, writing and singing songs... who wouldn't want to do that every day?

Greg Keelor

All songs; © 1999 Blue Rodeo Productions

CREW:

Alex de Cartier / Kevin Douglas: Tour Managers
Mike Oksman: Stage Manager
Richard Steeb: Sound Engineer
Andy Linden: Lighting Designer
Rob Howick: Monitor Engineer

Produced by Blue Rodeo

RECORDING ENGINEER:
Richard Steeb

RECORDING ASSISTANT:
Mike Brownlee

PRODUCTION MANAGER:
Ruth Kearney

MIXING ENGINEER:
Thom Panunzio

MIXING ASSISTANT:
Dave Reed

MIXED AT:
A&M Studios - Los Angeles

MASTERED BY:
Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound

COVER PHOTOGRAPHY:
Denise Grant

DESIGN, LINER NOTES & TRAY CARD PHOTOGRAPHY:
Ralph Alfonso / Artwerks

STRING SECTION:
"Fallen From Grace"
Anne Lindsay - Violin1
Lenny Solomon - Violin2
Wendy Soloman - Cello
Parmela Attariwala - Viola

"It Could Happen To You"
Anne Lindsay - Violin

MANAGEMENT:
Susan de Cartier for Starfish Entertainment / Blue Rodeo Productions

BOOKING AGENTS:
Canada: Kay White at Trick or Treat Agency
(905) 831-9191
US: Ken Fermaglich at The Agency Group
(212) 581-3100

NUMBERS:
Barbara McAdorey

RECORD COMPANY:
Warner Music Canada
www.warnermusic.ca

Thanks to all the venues, promoters, local crews and, of course, the wonderful audiences who helped to make this album possible.

Our love and thanks, as always, to our friends & family.

All songs by Keelor / Cuddy
All songs published by Thunderhawk Music except Disc 1 - 1, 2, 5, 11 / Disc 2 - 3, 10 published by Thunderhawk Music and MCA Publishing.