I never expected any of these legends to say yes, but I figured it was worth a shot, says PAT MCGEE about his star-studded new self-titled album. If nothing else, I wanted them to know that I felt they would have been the perfect band for these songs. I have never been a guy that asked for favors or perks in this business, but on this project I definitely swung for the fences and thought to myself, Why not? The worst they can say is no . Fortunately, the iconic players he had hoped to work with gave him a resounding, Yes! The dream team McGee assembled includes musical legends Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, Waddy Wachtel, Danny Kortchmar, and Jeff Pevar (nicknamed The Section ). Other notable musicians such as Little Feat s Paul Barrere, Blues Traveler s John Popper, Train s Pat Monahan, Punchbrother s Gabe Witcher as well as Pat McGee s own band contributed to the album's sound. Recorded in Los Angeles in 2014, Pat McGee was influenced by the classic albums of the 1970s that were spun in his childhood home. I was inspired to write a record that was not based on a single but on the wholeness of the complete album, Pat explains. I was at a friend s house, listening to what I thought was someone s playlist on an iPod. When I realized they were spinning full albums on vinyl, I was blown away. The very next day, I decided to buy a record player and picked up the ten records that lit the fire in me to start playing music, including seminal records by James Taylor, Jackson Browne, and Crosby, Stills, and Nash. Channeling the vintage warmth of those recordings, he began writing an album that would have the same timeless quality of singer/songwriter rock from the Laurel Canyon scene of the early 70s. Once McGee had written enough material for an album, he began to wonder what would happen if he reached out to the musicians who helped to shape his ear. An impossible task, he thought, but he decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it. One by one, the pieces started to fit together and each of them accepted his offer. As though the universe had always intended for this record to be made. You could tell when we got to the studio that all these guys just loved playing with each other, McGee recalls. From the moment that we played the opening warm-up casual jam, I knew that this was going to blow away anything that I could have ever dreamed. From the guitar intro of opening track Bad Idea, the natural connection between the players was obvious, sounding much more like a band who had been playing together for decades instead of being assembled for just one record. In lieu of the modern process of painstakingly tracking each individual instrument, the band jammed. I would show them my song idea and they would ask to hear the meaning of the lyric, and 10 minutes later, we had a take on tape, he says, still in awe of that process. We never tracked more than two or three takes before moving onto the next song. In all of these moments, I felt like I was witnessing the creation of an iconic classic rock guitar moment, drum part or bass line-- it was happening right before my very eyes. And the fact that these guys were making it happen on songs that I wrote is just still so unbelievable to me.