The Gift (18 page)

Zak told her he was sorry as he wiped the tears from her
face.

 “Maggie, please don’t cry,” he said. “I love you. You
are the most important person in the world to me. I guess sometimes I don’t
know how to be a good husband and father.”

Spencer could hear every word from the living room. He
was embarrassed to witness their distress and felt bad that he had in some way
been the cause of it. Suddenly their conversation stopped and everything was
quiet. This went on for a few minutes until Gabriel started calling for his
mother.

Maggie immediately opened the door and came out to hold
her young son. Zak came out a minute later and apologized to Spencer. He
explained that he had been worried about Maggie and the baby when she didn’t
answer the phone. He said he realized he had been unreasonable, that he should
have known she was o.k. with Spencer there. Spencer told Zak that he
understood, and then he went into the guest bedroom to give Maggie and Zak some
privacy.

When Spencer emerged from the bedroom an hour later,
Maggie seemed happy again. She was playing the tape of the bluegrass group for
Zak.

“This sounds really good, Maggie and Spencer. I
especially like the original songs,” Zak said. “I think they have a lot of
commercial appeal. You should send a tape to Abbie and Jerry.”

 Maggie demurred shyly.

“I’m not really interested in that. I just want to play
for fun now.”

“No, I think that’s a good idea too,” Spencer said. “Zak
is right, I think a lot of people might be interested in hearing your songs.”

Spencer stayed on a few more days, but decided to go
back early to Boston. He felt uncomfortable being around Zak and Maggie after
their fight, and he sensed that Zak didn’t like his close friendship with his
wife. Before he left, he made a few copies of the tape of Maggie’s songs. He
thought he might visit Abbie and Jerry and give them one. Spencer knew that he
would see Maggie again soon because she was planning on bringing Gabriel to
visit her parents as they hadn’t seen him yet. He was looking forward to
spending some time with her under friendlier circumstances.

Maggie missed her friend after he left, but she was busy
taking care of Gabriel and Zak. She continued playing with her new bluegrass
friends, going to the jam in Church Point on Sunday nights and then having them
over to the house to play on Wednesdays. Maggie noticed that her mandolin
playing was improving with all this practice. She also continued to write some
more lyrics, hoping that Spencer would write the music for them the next time
they got together

Zak was busy too. He started his day job at the music
store in Lafayette, and tried to play as many local gigs as he could. Zak had
become a lot more concerned about making money since Gabriel’s birth.  He
wanted to be able to provide a good life for Maggie and the baby.

In September, when Gabriel turned six months old, Zak
and Maggie took him into the hospital for the paternity testing. By this time
they felt pretty confident that Zak was Gabriel’s father, but they were happy
when the paternity tests confirmed that fact. They told Justin and Spencer the
good news. Justin was relieved by this point. His relationship with Bonnie was
going well and he hoped that they would get married and start their own family
soon. Spencer could tell that a weight had been lifted from Maggie’s shoulders
now that there weren’t going to be any further complications in her
relationship with Zak.

Maggie and Zak had other news to tell their friends.
Maggie was pregnant again and expecting their second child in March and the
Bayou Blasters had been offered a recording contract with a major record
company in Nashville. Zak was still considering whether he wanted to accept the
deal because the record company stipulated that they tour extensively to
support the release of the album. On the other hand, he was hoping that the
record might be a hit and he could make some money from it to support his
increasing family.

One week later, Spencer called Maggie with news of his
own. He had been talking to Abbie and Jerry and they were interesting in
signing Maggie’s bluegrass group to a recording contract. They had liked
Maggie’s original songs and thought that their progressive bluegrass sound
would be very commercial. Maggie was excited, but didn’t know whether the other
bluegrass musicians would be interested in this opportunity. She also wasn’t
sure how she was going to be able to record an album up in Boston with a seven
month old baby and another on the way. She told Spencer that she would have to
talk to Zak and the bluegrass musicians and then she would call him back.

Maggie first called the other bluegrass musicians that
had played on the recording. Joan, the bass player, told Maggie that she wasn’t
interested in being part of a real band. She had three young children at home
and didn’t think she could give the band the commitment that it needed. But the
other two musicians were excited about the opportunity.  Carole wasn’t married
and didn’t have any children. Jim, the banjo player, had actually performed in
a touring bluegrass band before and he was enthusiastic about going on the road
again, especially since his children were grown. Maggie thought she would ask
Spencer if he could find another bass player for the band. She was sure that he
would know someone up in Boston.

Maggie put Gabriel to bed early and cooked a nice dinner
for Zak. She wanted him to be in a good mood when she broached the subject of
starting a serious bluegrass band. But just as they were going to sit down to
dinner, the phone rang. Since Maggie was in the middle of cooking, Zak answered
it. She heard him say, “No, she hadn’t told me about it yet”, pause for a while
and say “That’s a very interesting offer, I’ll have to talk to the rest of the
band about it.”  Zak hung up the phone and gave Maggie an inscrutable look.

“So, when were you planning on telling me that Abbie and
Jerry had offered your band a recording contract?” he said.

Maggie looked kind of embarrassed.

“I was going to tell you over dinner when we could have
some time to discuss it.”

Zak looked at her and smiled suddenly.

“Well, they just offered to sign the Bayou Blasters too.
“

 Maggie hugged Zak and then kissed him with enthusiasm.

“What are you going to do?” she said. “Are you going to
sign with Abbie and Jerry or the company in Nashville?”

Zak said he didn’t know yet. He would have to talk to
Justin and Tom about it. He might also have to call a lawyer and have him check
over the contracts.

Zak looked at Maggie happily and said “Wouldn’t it be
funny if we both ended up on the same record label?”

“That might be very convenient for us, but maybe we
should take some time to think about it.”

Later on that evening, Maggie called Spencer to tell him
the news. Spencer said that he wasn’t that surprised. Abbie and Jerry had asked
how the Bayou Blasters were doing when he had dropped off Maggie’s tape. They
told him that they had been considering signing the band because they would fit
in perfectly with their roster of blues and Cajun bands. They also liked
Maggie’s music and thought she would fit in with their progressive bluegrass
artists. In fact, Spencer told her that Abbie and Jerry had already been
thinking about asking some of their artists to contribute to her album. Maggie
was interested in that idea. Some of her favorite bluegrass musicians recorded
for Abbie and Jerry. She would love to have an opportunity to play with them.

Maggie called Abbie and Jerry the following day and they
discussed the details of recording the album. Abbie and Jerry wanted her to
bring her band to Boston to record in a studio there. They were hoping that the
record might be finished by January so that they could apply to be in the IBMA
Showcase for emerging talent. If Maggie’s band was selected by the IBMA Talent
Committee, then they would have the opportunity to play in front of 1600 music
industry leaders at the World of Bluegrass convention the following September.
Most of the organizers of the bluegrass festivals went to the convention to
find new bands to feature at their festivals.

After getting off the phone with Abbie and Jerry, Maggie
felt overwhelmed. She realized that it was going to be a lot of work to record
the album and promote the band. She would also be expected to tour heavily to
support the record. Fortunately, the way things were lining up, it looked like
there would be a short lull in March when she could give birth to the new baby.
She couldn’t have planned that better if she had tried, which of course she
hadn’t.

Maggie decided she needed to talk to Zak to find out
what his schedule would be like too. He needed to get into the studio with his
band to record, and then he would probably have to tour during the summer also.
His band usually played blues festivals all over the country. She was starting
to get the feeling that this was going to become a logistical nightmare. It was
just too bad that they weren’t in the same band together, but it hadn’t worked
out like that.

.

Chapter 22

Maggie’s band was the first to go into the
recording studio. They all flew up to Boston and Zak and Gabriel came along
too. Maggie was glad to have Zak’s support, he had been in the studio before
and would be able to give her advice. Maggie had also decided to ask Justin to
play bass on the record. Many of the progressive bluegrass bands had electric
bass players, so Maggie thought that would work out well. She wasn’t sure if he
would be able to tour with her band, but if he couldn’t she could always find
another bass player to fill in.

Justin was looking forward to playing with Maggie and
Spencer again. They all got along, personally as well as musically. He thought
that playing bluegrass would be an interesting change from playing blues and
rock. He didn’t think he would have any problems with it since the bass lines
were usually a little simpler.

Maggie, Zak, Gabriel and Justin all stayed at Maggie’s
parent’s house. It was a little crowded, but Maggie’s parents said they enjoyed
all the activity. Carole and Jim stayed at an inexpensive motel that wasn’t too
far from Spencer’s apartment and the recording studio which was in Boston. They were all hoping to record the album as quickly as possible so everyone could
get back home to their families. Zak had told Maggie that frequently, it was
the mixing of the album that took the most time not the recording. Also, studio
time was expensive, and Abbie and Jerry were encouraging them to keep the costs
down.

Zak suggested that the band rehearse at Maggie’s house
for a couple of days before going into the studio, that way they could work out
the harmonies and breaks beforehand. The band was planning on recording several
of Maggie’s original songs including the song “Light in the Darkness” that she
and Zak had written for their wedding. Maggie wanted Zak to sing harmony on
that because she considered it to be their song.

Maggie had also written a song with Spencer called “Candle
in the Night”. She had written the lyrics and Spencer had composed the music.
Maggie had written it the night after she and Zak had the fight when Spencer
was visiting them in Louisiana. The song began:

 “Your love glowed like a candle in the night

Sometimes flared, sometimes sputtered

Sometimes dim, sometimes bright

And sometimes it seemed

That flame it did burn

And pushed away the night

So it never returned.”

Maggie had written another song that Zak and Spencer
thought was probably her best one. She wrote it after she heard that a college
friend had been killed in a car accident. Her friend had been handsome, smart
and happy and Maggie thought that he seemed like the least likely person to die
tragically early.

The song began with the chorus which went:

“No one would have known, just to look at him

His eyes so alive, his laugh full of sin 

No one would have known just to think of him

His smile so bright, it will never dim.”

Then the song went into the first verse:

“Sweet boy from Kentucky

You just love the girls

Kick up snakeskin boots

And give them all a whirl.

Then you lay them down

On your grandmother’s quilt

You break all of their hearts

Without any guilt.”

Her friend had been a dandy, and actually had worn
pointy-toed snakeskin boots. He also had a quilt on his bed that his
grandmother had made for him. Maggie found out about that one night when he
tried unsuccessfully to get her to sleep with him. Her friend’s death had shocked
Maggie deeply and she found that writing about it helped her deal with her
sorrow. Spencer had written some beautiful music to go with the lyrics and
everyone thought that this song would be the most powerful ballad on the album.
Maggie wanted to play a mandolin break after the first verse and had asked Zak
if he could play a break on the Dobro after the second verse. She always
thought that the Dobro had a mournful sound.

Maggie’s parents took Gabriel out for the afternoon so
that the band could rehearse these two songs undisturbed. By the time they got
back, the band felt satisfied that they had perfected these songs as much as
they could.

The next day, Maggie asked the band if they could work
on a cover of a song by the progressive bluegrass band The Seldom Scene. It was
a song called “Wait a Minute” and Maggie felt drawn to the song because it
expressed how she felt whenever Zak left her to go play a gig.