Eight Pound Test

Song story & origins

Introduction

I devote a fair share of my work to purely instrumental music—roughly a third of my catalog—and I’ve been fortunate to score several documentary films alongside making a number of all-instrumental albums. This chapter gathers three such pieces, each with its own path: the opening theme from a 2011 Crazy Horse documentary, an early multi-track guitar exploration titled “Eight Pound Test” from 2001, and a field-recorded acoustic improvisation, “Almost Lost,” from 2017. Together they trace how instruments alone can carry story and feeling—no lyrics required.

The second piece, “Eight Pound Test,” comes from my second album (Topo: Acoustic Landscapes, 2001), which was entirely instrumental. That record began as a box of riffs, chord cycles, and sketches—some seeds of future songs, some simply ideas I liked playing with. At a friend’s urging I gathered them, layered parts, and learned as I went. It was early in my album-making life: up to then it had mostly been me, a guitar, and a cassette recorder. Moving into multi-track work let me build repeating acoustic figures and then circle back to embellish with complementary lines.

The title landed after the music. Living in Spearfish then, I was doing a lot of fly-fishing in the Black Hills creeks. When I closed my eyes and listened, I saw a bright day on the water—the line arcing, the current’s steady motion, sunlight glinting off the surface. The piece isn’t about catching; it’s about being there. Hence “Eight Pound Test”—a nod to fishing line and the gentle tension that holds the moment together. The track is primarily acoustic guitar, layered and flowing, like the creeks themselves.

Why these three stay with me

Each of these instrumentals taught me something craft can’t teach alone. The opening theme reminded me to play with integrity and respect inside someone else’s story. “Eight Pound Test” taught me how layering and patience can turn small figures into a living landscape. “Almost Lost” taught me to listen again before I let something go. No lyrics, and still the instruments say exactly what needed saying.

Source: New Music Memoir (1).docx