History

And In the Beginning…

Back in 1999, a meteoric event happened which changed the face of the Earth and the history of music forever.  Jon “Lemmon” Bartle gave his father, Ringo (David back then) a book for Christmas.

This was no ordinary book.  It wasn’t The Bible, but it was a bible of sorts.  No, it wasn’t a dictionary either, which we believe is a very useful book that everyone should own.  And no, it wasn’t the Guide to the Star Wars Universe, but that too would’ve been awesome and world-changing.

No, the book was The Beatles Complete Scores—a book that contains full transcriptions of every song written and performed by The Beatles.

All Together Now

Earlier in 1999, Grandaddy Elliott (Yo-Yo No-No’s father) bought his first bass guitar.  He was always a fan of the bass guitar and the rich smooth sound that emanated from his hi-fi as he listened to his favorite country albums. For whatever reason (most likely to show off his new toy), Grandaddy brought his bass guitar to Christmas.

After opening gifts on Christmas morning, Grandaddy busted out the bass guitar.  It’s a bit fuzzy which Bartle suggested that we record a song, but everyone thought it was a great idea and would be a lot of fun.  We perused the book to find a song that mated well with Grandaddy’s novice bass playing skills.  We knew we also needed a song that had multiple parts or a choir so the rest of the family could be involved.

We landed on “All Together Now”, a song The Beatles wrote for the Yellow Submarine movie.  It’s a simple 3-chord kid’s song with an acoustic guitar, hopping bass line and a fun chorus.

We went into the studio and with Jon on acoustic guitar and Matt on drums, laid down the first tracks of what would become a new family tradition.

The Best Family Tradition…Ever.

Every family has a Christmas tradition.  Whether it’s gathering at Grandma’s to open gifts and stuff your face or whether it’s heading to the family cabin in the mountains to freeze your butt off, your family’s traditions are kind of cool.  But let’s be real.  It’s nothing compared to our tradition.

Since 1999, our family tradition is to record a Beatles tune on Christmas Day, replicating the Beatles’ instrumentation, sounds and performance as closely as our collective talents allow us.

This Christmas, The Bartles will head into the studio to lay down their twelfth song.