Sometimes physical constraints can lead to flourishes of artistic expression. For Peter Davis, an assistant English professor at Ball State University, having a son posed considerable challenges to his life as an artist. Davis, however, took these challenges and turned them into "Good Enough," an album that touches on the joys and challenges of domestication.
"Good Enough" is a collection of rustic folk and blues-influenced songs recorded on a four-track cassette recorder in a closet in Davis' basement. He released it under the moniker Short Hand.
Three years ago, Davis would gig occasionally. He would play a show at a bar, hang out until two in the morning and head home. Things changed when his son arrived.
"It was really fun for a while," he said. "That whole family thing changes things a lot, but I wanted to be reasonably positive."
"I pretty much quit gigging or going out," he said. "The idea of getting together and practicing with a band didn't seem so likely, so I just thought I'd record something on a four-track."
It was then that "Good Enough" was born in the months following his son's birth. With nothing else to do in the nights while his son slept, Davis started recording.
Confined to his house, Davis set up shop in his closet, frequently taking breaks to check on his son upstairs.
The inflexibility and constraints this posed didn't rub off in his art. Rather, it helped him to create an intimate album full of human touch, warmth and love.
"Physically it constrained me a great deal," Davis said. "But, it allowed me to make a certain kind of record."
Davis' songs are positive but not overly so. He sings about the positives - and negatives - of married life like a man who understands that family can bring changes - some welcome and some not.
For instance, one of the virtues having a son might have taught him was patience. This translated in to a more meticulous songwriting style.
"I used to write a lot of songs," Davis said. "But a song would have a great melody, but because I wrote it so fast it has one good line. Because of that it's not a great song; it just has a good initial idea."
The genesis of his album has roots as early as three years ago. Davis said some of the songs on the album were written before his son was born. After recording the album, he found an engineer named Justin Bryant at Prime Time Studios who was interested in helping to finish the product.
The task of taking the four-track recording and putting it into the digital format proved more difficult than Davis anticipated. Part of this was the challenge in finding time to record, but, a more serious problem emerged in a difference of recording philosophy. Davis' music is scratchy and lo-fi. Bryant is a Queen fan. Needless to say, the two ran into problems in articulating Davis' vision
"I figured that the sound quality of the record is so low I might as well not fake it," he said. "But a guy that builds a really nice studio with really nice equipment is going to hear a four-track recording and is going to say 'this is crap.'"
In the end, "Good Enough" was finished and released on Collectible Escalators, a record label from Cleveland.
Davis is working on his next album, this time with an eight-track. He'll flesh some of the arrangements out and plans on recording drum tracks for his next project.
He tells his students that limitations are all in the mind.
"I have students who say to me, 'I want to write a novel.' Well, write," he said. "You don't have to wait. Make time for it. If you can't go out anymore and you don't have any money and all you have is a microphone and four-track, then use that."
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