Bliss McCain (Angie Bliss and Bruce McCain) hail from Tahlequah, Oklahoma and Fayetteville, Arkansas respectively.
The self titled CD was their second. The "enablers", as they affectionaltely called us, included myself, Sean "Juan" Tarter from U.S. 27 and Kiya Heartwood
and Miriam Davidson of
Wishing Chair
Bliss McCain's first collection of quirky, catchy pop-country-punk-twang songs,
Path, was released in 1996 but only as a cassette.
It was also released under the name
Tangled Roots... and they'd have gladly kept the name
had they not discovered someone else was using it! But I digress. Sean Tarter and I made up the rhythm section (of course).
All tracks were
recorded in New Richmond, Ohio at
Neurotica Studios by one very interesting Duane Adams and the biggest cat
known to (wo)man - I believe his name was Norman. It was during the making of
Path that I first met
eventual-to-be-ex-Wishing Chair guitarist
Eric Chapman. It was a good time to be sure.
After several years Ang and Bru "re-released"
Path this time as a CD, sans artwork other than a sheet of printer paper with
the words
Bliss McCain - Path written across it. I like to
think of it as my very exclusive burned-by-Master-Bruce-just-for-me CD gift package.
For many, many years Bliss McCain recorded and toured as an acoustic duo
but after the self-titled CD, their rock-n-roll bones started itching for a full time band. Enter ex-Stealin Horses
bassman Steve Kirkpatrick and drummer Mick Thomas (who, incidentally, filled my shoes for the final SH tour in 1992...And, yes,
you can now sing a round of It's A Small World After All.) This strong foursome produced a couple
of CDs and their last, Another Lonely Night in 2004, was a virtual plethora of material including
Walk The Wire from Path. In addition to myself, Sean Tarter, and Eric Chapman, sessions include
Jeff Parker and Jim Blair.
