Eminent Domain

December 2014, February 2020*

 1. Tell The Truth - Lowman Pauling
2. I Wonder Why - Robert Lyons
3. Down At The Old Folks Home - Ed Cunningham
4. As Long As I'm Movin' - Charles Calhoun
5. Money - Ed Cunningham & Katie Laur
6. Bendin' Like A Willow Tree - Lowell Fulson
7. Blue Skies & Sunny - Ed Cunningham
8. I Got The Right Street (But The Wrong Direction) - Ron Stockert
9. Stickin' With You - Duke Robillard

Special Appearances

Blue Skies & Sunny: Jimmy Nolan, Trombone; Steve Hayes, Percussion

Stickin' With You: Britt Krebs, 2nd guitar

Special thanks to the late Dave Shevin for providing, sometime in the mid-1980s, "I Will Not Go To Market Today," by Harry Allard; and Sarah Brown's recording of "As Long As I'm Movin'."

* The Compulsory License law gives musicians like us permission to record songs by other songwriters. However, it does not require permission from the composer of the song. We think this is wrong and that songwriters should have control over their work. So when Michelle Shocked asked us to not to cover her song, If Love Was A Train, we respected her wishes and re-released our album without that track.

So why the title "Eminent Domain"?

Guitarist Jim Lawson owned a house; a duplex in Northside in Cincinnati, Ohio. For 30 years, friends, relatives, and a variety of tenants rented the apartments, often while going through some sort of life transition. Jim lived there himself from time to time. He and Donna formed a version of The Moxie Band there in 1990. Lots of life was lived in the house. Then the State claimed Eminent Domain. The house was demolished. New roads are now traveled where the house used to stand. Things are different now.

Emininent Domain has come to represent for us a spirit of adapting to change that comes against our wishes. We experience losses greater than property as we travel our journey. But after we weep we eventually adapt. Changed, we build new roads and we move forward.

As we move forward we celebrate what is good, appreciate what we have, make merry, make music. While the album title carries some metaphorical meaning, the tracks themselves are light-hearted. They’re all about the groove. It’s just fun. Groovin’ swingin’ head-bobbing fun.

And the sneakers on the cover?

The original package concept was to show the process of the house standing, the house demolished, and the property as it is today. However, acknowledging the realities of design and production, and the house and photograper being gone, well, Mikey’s high tops ended up on the cover instead. And rightly so, as rather than getting weighed down with too much art or too much meaning, it’s lighter and hints at the heart of the music, the toe-tapping groove. After all, the beat goes on.