It wasn’t the musical influences, but the political ones that brought Gary Green back to a studio…
On June 17, 2015 a crazed lunatic in South Carolina, only 80 miles from where Gary had operated his circus for three years, gunned down nine worshipers in an African-American church. Beyond the deranged perversity of the murders, the vile act finally spurred the South Carolina legislature to take down the Confederate battle flag that had flown over the state capitol for 54 years as  “a states’-rights rebuff to desegregation” (as Time Magazine described it).Outraged that it took a mass murder to spark moral legislative action, Gary recalled a song from his third album, Snakebite Poison, that he had written in 1979 about racial hatred in his beloved southern homeland. He modified the lyrics to address the 2015 Charleston tragedy.

In July of that year, Gary and his brother, Ron, flew to Santa Rosa California to the home studio of Gary’s close friend Tony Cohen.  Tony, a skilled improvisational lead guitar player, had recently been  certified in “Music Technology and Recording Engineering” at high-end state of the art  Wolford Studio. With Tony at the board just after July 4th 2015, Gary and Ron recorded the redux of Snakebite Poison. They, then, produced this video (above). Click on the arrow to see the video and hear that recording.

True to Gary’s musical roots, the song is presented acoustically (with Gary playing his 2005 Taylor 814 L10 limited edition with cocobolo back (rather than the standard rosewood back) and distinctive tail wood maple banding, ebony tuners, maple banding on fret board, with abalone inlays. Ron plays Tony’s vintage Gretch . More details of the recording session can be viewed in the raw footage of the session posted on Gary’s YouTube page.

Snakebite Poison

Celebrity, producer, legendary Folkways (Smithsonian) recording artist, Pulitzer-nominated author, Casino Owner and Executive, Internet pioneer,  Gary Green is represented by CMA of Beverly Hills ─ New York ─ London ─Toronto