July 7, 2019 • Cat Barnes’s Birthday • Release of “The Last Summer”

(streaming at jeffstults.com available on iTunes and such with cd’s later in the month, just wanted folks to be able to hear it on her birthday)

Cat Barney was such an immensely talented person, so full of life and ridiculous humor. When she passed in 2017, while we were only partially through working on this record, I wasn’t sure if I would ever pick up a guitar again. We had been best buds since we were 10, we watched each other turn from kids into sort of adults, we played festivals together, did plays, had a funk band, headlined a pride festival and had more adventures than I could possibly list here (mainly for legal reasons).

I’ve spent the last two years trying to finish the record, knowing it was the last thing we would get to work on together. (There are a few unreleased tracks that I’m saving for the Megasonic box set, band stuff). Cat was naturally a beautiful singer from the moment she opened her mouth when we were kids, I felt honored every time she sang to me. I realized when I was putting this together that The Last Summer will be my 20th digital release (with another 50 on cassettes, for millennials, cassettes are those cheap plastic things that you see crackheads try to sell for an ounce, or the casings on those cute retro flash drives, now a flash drive is….you know what? I don’t have enough space to explain cool relics.)

Anyway, for all of her talent, Cat still was happy being my background singer even though I always tried to push her to the front. She was always a little intimidated in the studio, which was kinda sweet since she wasn’t really intimidated by anything. I’m glad that I got her to sing leads on her own songs for this, she is all over most of my other records, a happy phantom that pops up on my iPod shuffle every now and then. I wrote most of my songs after she passed, maybe a few while she was battling cancer. I crawled down the rabbit hole and didn’t want to crawl out for a long time. Anytime I was lighting the candles for the cake at my pity party I could feel her rolling her eyes at me from the ethers, saying “girl bye, get it together.”

Most of the record is new material but a few songs are touchstones from our past, “Your Love” was recorded at Kampo Studios on Bond Street in NYC at 2 in the morning in 1996, still one of my favorites. “Andalusians” was a record about my mom’s passing that Cat sang on, which is now more haunting to me because it’s so interchangeable. Cat only finished a few songs for the project, we thought we had more time I guess, but we were too busy hiking and having fun.

On an ethereal note, Cat was all around in the studio while I was writing and mixing, every now and then there would be a breeze on my neck if she approved, she tends to whisper over my should, names of people she wants me to call or mutual friends who we might both be thinking of I guess. Any time I go to the Rainbow Diner and sit in our old booth “Hotel California” comes on. She Dj’s a lot. My house has been jokingly renamed “Hotel CATifornia” (in honor of her and also named by one of my friends referring to his allergies to my two kitties). I was in Provincetown last year for her birthday, I saw Miss Richfield play her final song of “The Rainbow Connection” (on a hand saw played like a theremin, amazeballs), which was Cat’s favorite and played at her funeral. I was biking down the main drag thinking, “I should go see a psychic.” And then I turned around and there was this alleyway walleyed lady in her booth and she said, “Your friend has been waiting for you”. It was a lovely and weird experience, cat and I has a secret code word in case either of us “kicked the bucket” and we wanted to know if it was legit. The lady got it in the first minute, she also put down her first tarot card that was the death card, with a redheaded Skelton holding a corn husk. That’s my girl. She also said, “You have a very loud potty mouthed guardian angel”. Ummmm hmmm. She was spot on with so many things, but one thing that I thought was interesting is she said, “Your friend wants you to know she’s not underground.” Which is one of the songs on the album, she sings “I won’t go underground”.

So my guess is if you know Cat she may breeze by your head today or while you’re listening to her. Wish her a happy birthday, give her a little applause, she was a spectacular human, she’s a pretty kick ass spirit. I’m constantly putting on her rings or bracelets she made me and saying let’s go on an adventure. Hope you enjoy the record, there’s a second cd of b-sides, but the main record is what we finished together mostly. Thanks for listening. Love ya, Miss Kitty.