Oakland Press "Upbeat" Meet: Mystery Train

By Gary Graff

The title of Mystery Train’s new album "Love Lost", is more than just a catchy moniker. Like all good blues is supposed to do, it reflects real life. "In the past year and a half, three of the guys in the band all lost their old ladies, so it’s not hard to figure out what the CD is all about," says Jim McCarty, the former Detroit Wheels/Cactus/Rockets guitarist who put Mystery Train together nearly four years ago as the house band for Memphis Smoke in Royal Oak.

McCarty – who broke up with his girlfriend during that time – says songs such as "I’m All Alone." "Your Loss Now," "Where Were You Baby," and "Love is Rough Business" "Evolved over a period of about a year or so, when everyone in the band was in the process of breaking up with the person they lived with. Why it all happened simultaneously, don’t know. It was tough times, though – hard to even write about, really."

The quartet’s pain is its listeners’ gain, however. Like Mystery Train’s two previous live recordings – one of its own, the other backing Willie D. Warren – "Love Lost" is and electrifying work from one of the area’s finest electric blues outfits. McCarty’s soloing and raw, emotive singing stand out, of course, but they don’t eclipse the contributions of guitarist-keyboardist-singer Ron Stel, bassist Marvin Conrad and drummer Will Leonard.

The studio – in particular co-producer Gary Spaniola’s Seller Sound in Troy – presented an entirely new challenge, however. "It’s a whole different approach to what you’re trying to do", McCarty explains. "You kind of lack the energy you would have in front of a good responsive crowd, but you can make up for that with the things you can do in the studio."
In "Love Lost’s" case, that involved computers, technology and the ability to make things sound as perfect as any musician could want. And despite his years of playing live, McCarty admits he was wholeheartedly seduced by the new tools Spaniola made available.

"You can literally lose your mind," the guitarist says with a laugh. "We spent about a month and a half finishing a mix on one song. I remember on ‘I Need You’, I’d call (Spaniola) and say, ‘I need the high hat on the second bridge to come out ¾ of a decibel more.’ Then two weeks later, I could come back and say, ‘I changed my mind; I’d like the high hat back the way it was.’

"I’ve never had that kind of control before. But a point has to be reached where you have to stop. Eventually I called him and said, ‘I can’t find anything else to fix,’ and there was a long pause. I said ‘Hello? Are you there?’ and he said, ‘Yep, I’m just savoring the moment,’ "

Though its only been released locally, McCarty hopes that "Love Lost" will find interest from a small regional label that will allow Mystery Train to play some shows outside the Detroit area. But he also knows that the group’s eclecticism presents as many challenges as it does benefits.

"It’s not really a blues record, but it’s not really rock ‘n’ roll either," he says. "You worry about this thing falling in the cracks between those two worlds; for the hard-core bluesers, it may come up short ‘cause it’s not really blues, but its not hard enough for the rock ‘n’ rollers.

"But if someone listens to it with an open mind, I think it works for both sides of the fence."