Ernie Ball Music Man's owner and CEO—along with two longtime friends and band mates, John Ferraro and Jim Cox—will release 'The Mutual Admiration Society' January 19.
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Ernie Ball Music Man's owner and CEO—along with two longtime friends and band mates, John Ferraro and Jim Cox—will release 'The Mutual Admiration Society' January 19.
Ernie Ball Music Man[1] owner and CEO Sterling Ball—along with two longtime friends and band mates, drummer John Ferraro and keyboardist Jim Cox—will release a new album, The Mutual Admiration Society, January 19 via Mascot Label Group in a deal with Steve Vai’s Favored Nations label[2]. The disc features guest appearances by a jaw-dropping crew of guitarists, including John Petrucci, Albert Lee, session legend Jay Graydon and three stellar Steves—Lukather, Morse and Vai.
“The sound and earthiness of this ‘country-fusiony-jazz-esque’ record is phenomenal,” Vai says. “But perhaps the thing for me that’s most surprising about this record is how unique a [bass and guitar] player Sterling is. We express who we are through our instruments, and the way Sterling plays has a warmth in the tone and conscientiousness in the note choice that’s accessible and deeply pleasing.”
The album is essentially an ode to the music Ball grew up listening to and playing—and Vai, Petrucci, Morse and the rest of the pack where giddy to be involved. Lee’s fretwork can be heard on covers of Buck Owens’ “Crying Time” and Hank Williams’ “Hey Good Looking”; Morse plays on “The In Crowd,” the catchy Dobie Gray classic.
"I approached it as if we were playing a show together," Morse says. "When John brings down the band with a certain type of snare hit, I tried to imagine us at a little club somewhere having a blast. This is a fun record, and we all got to hear the whole thing together, laughing and smiling the whole time.”
Lukather graces traditional blues number “Baby, Please