Ghost-Note released the psychedelic-soul tinged “Grandma’s Curtains (ft. Eric Gales)” from their upcoming third album Mustard n’Onions (out April 19th). Led by Snarky Puppy’s multi-GRAMMY®-winning duo of drummer-keyboardist Robert Sput Searight and percussionist Nate Werth, Mustard n’Onions will be the group’s first new LP in six years, and their debut for Mack Avenue Music Group/Artistry Music.
The vinyl format will be released as a Record Store Day exclusive 2-LP set on limited edition orange/yellow eco mix (100% recycled) vinyl. Written by Sput in the image of his ‘70s soul favorites – Tower of Power, Sly and the Family Stone, and Parliament-Funkadelic – the single features explosive guitar work from Eric Gales. “When this music was being created in the ’70s,” Sput explains, “I was pulling at my grandma’s curtains when she was babysitting me, ’cause I wanted to look out the window.”
Also along for the funky ride of Mustard n’Onions is a who’s who of groove greats. Most moving is the presence of R&B/jazz hero Bernard Wright (1963-2022), whose performances on three tracks would be some of his final recorded appearances. Other guests on Mustard n’Onions include Karl Denson, founding Robert Glasper Experiment member Casey Benjamin, Snarky Puppy standouts Mark Lettieri and Jay Jennings, pedal-steel luminary Travis Toy, electric-bass GOAT Marcus Miller, and the group’s visionary bass player MonoNeon, who co-wrote the first single “Bad Knees.”
Well over a decade ago, Sput and Werth found themselves gigging together in the Texas-rooted fusion powerhouse Snarky Puppy — Werth on his creatively, globally curated percussion setup, and Sput on keys and, later, drums. What developed was a great mutual respect and a musical kinship between the two that bordered on telepathy. At a certain point during their ceaseless tour schedule, Sput’s nightly improvised solo began to signify a new pathway. “I got bored taking drum solos,” Sput says, “so I asked Nate to join me. It was like we were finishing each other’s sentences. We did it so well to where fans started coming up and asking, ‘What was the name of that song you and the percussion player were quoting?’”
An idea for a beat CD was hatched, which quickly flowered into Ghost-Note — a group that would function less as a “collective” à la Snarky Puppy and more as a dedicated squad. Mustard n’Onions presents a story of the ensemble maturing and solidifying and finding their identity. On the band’s freewheeling 2018 release, Swagism, the lineup was still developing and, as Sput explains, “We didn’t have a sound; we didn’t know what we were gonna sound like.”
The music on Mustard n’Onions, he says, reflects the firmed-up character of a unit whose “camaraderie and chemistry” have accrued over countless gigs, and nearly every band member has at least one writing credit. Sput remains Ghost-Note’s primary writer and de facto musical director, but he’s now shaping his music for and with his bandmates.
