It has been a near ten year process to organize the recordings of the LLP project, Soul Stingers ~ Celebration. Most of the process has been assembled more simple to represent what we might sound like live, though some of the tunes have been produced more thoroughly. The final sound is an authentic and organic development of an original style and effort of covering tunes, many years first as solo performer, and then with specifically added instrument players. Several original songs written and recorded have been included on the third side LP as well.

The song list came about (after 20 years solo) from a chosen list of 125 cover tunes that Michael Rosen and then Todd Richmond and I first began rehearsing via live gigs in 2021. The end result is less about picking the songs to do, and more about life and how things unraveled by 2025, and what was left on the table. 

I recorded several songs with specific intention, several in one take moments, several with sessions booked, several in live session attempts, and several live on an iphone. The recordings were engineered by several great talents and also self engineered by myself or by the musicians themselves (as we all do now). The reasons for each of these scenarios is different and the results of the LLP collection are purposeful, organic and uniquely not always about the perfect recording, but more about a captured picture of how real life goes.

In addition to Mark David McKinnis vocal, harmonizer, acoustic guitarist & foot thump,current performing musicians on the recordings include; Tendo Gloria ad lib, background and feature vocals, Michael Rosen on harmonica, Martin Young on lead guitar, Bill Flores on dobro, Jeff Gross on percussion, Gary Wicks on upright bass. 

Also in addition to the current live performers, these additional musicians below contributed including; Todd Richmond on fretless bass, Erik Klerks on upright bass,  Austin Beede on brush drums, and Andrew Frye on B3 organ.

Engineers participating in a variety of sessions include; JP Hesser - Castaway 7 Studio Ventura, California, Jason Mariani - Carbonite Studio Ojai, California, Jeff Gross - Tarzana, California, Martin Young - Ojai, California, Warren Ross - Santa Barbara, California, Kenny Lee Barrix - Heath, Texas