Wanderlust, Chris Brashear’s first solo album, came out on Copper Creek Records (CCCD 0171) in 1999, and was produced by Jody Stecher. The basic tracks were recorded in March 1998 at The Cavern Studio in Tucson, Arizona, where Brashear had been living since 1992, with Bill Cashman engineering. The final recording and mixing took place at Bay Records in San Francisco in July and October 1998, engineered by Robert Shumaker, and Paul Stubblebine mastered it in May 1999.
Brashear sings lead on most of the songs and plays guitar and fiddle, on a 1983 Martin D-18 reissue and a 1928 Ernst Heinrich Roth violin among others. Jody Stecher plays mandolin, fiddle and guitar and sings tenor, and takes the lead vocal on “Lost Soldier Son” and “Wanderlust.” Laurie Lewis plays bass throughout, Bob Black banjo, Ed Neff fiddle, John Averill mandolin and Peter McLaughlin guitar. McLaughlin and Averill sing baritone and tenor parts. Brashear wrote “Mason’s Lament,” “Lost Soldier Son,” the title song, “When Day Is Done” and the fiddle tune “Catch the Baker.” The others include Don Reno and Red Smiley’s “Unwanted Love,” Loretta Lynn’s “Today’s the Darkest Day,” A. P. Carter’s “Little Home in Tennessee,” Mike Eisler’s “Newport,” Will L. Thompson’s “The Happiest Days of All,” and the traditional “Put My Little Shoes Away.”
Several of the players went on to form the band Perfect Strangers with Brashear: Stecher, McLaughlin and Bob Black were joined by Forrest Rose. Dog Boy Records reissued Wanderlust in 2012.
Tracklist
- 1 Mason’s Lament alt version 3:35
- 2 Unwanted Love alt version 2:34
- 3 Lost Soldier Son 4:25
- 4 Newport 3:13
- 5 Today's the Darkest Day 3:22
- 6 Little Home In Tennessee 3:18
- 7 When Day Is Done 4:11
- 8 Wanderlust 2:36
- 9 The Happiest Days of All 2:39
- 10 Put My Little Shoes Away 4:18
- 11 Catch the Baker 3:50
- 12 Just Wondering Why 3:09
- 13 Kansas City Rag 2:30
