Todd Butler
God does not die on the day we cease to believe in a personal deity, but we die on the day when our lives cease to be illuminated by the steady radiance, renewed daily, of a wonder, the source of which is beyond all reason.
Dag Hammarskjöld
Playing the banjo to the Painted Desert, Arizona, 2022
I created this album of guitar instrumentals in my home studio on Bates Road in Courtenay, BC. At first I wanted all the song titles to be about food, but after some thought, decided that was silly. Some titles have retained their food references, however, and it does remain a nice CD to consume with a meal.
I called the CD Hamburger Soup because on the day I was working on that cut my mother-in-law brought over a large jug of the stuff and it was very tasty.
I recorded the songs with Pro Tools and used a Dr Rhythm for the drum programming.
Everything was written and performed by me. Hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed making!
Every time I hear a new Todd Butler CD I find myself wondering: what was it like, down there at the crossroads? Back in The Old Neighborhood we’d have said, “He’s so good, it ain’t even fair.” I mean, the cat can write heroic, hilarious, heart-rending songs, and sing hell out of them....and he doesn’t even need to, because any time he feels like it he can just kick back and play guitar like God when He’s stoned. Apparently, somebody gave Him some BC bud this time. Hamburger soup, my foot—what you got here is minced Kobe beef tartare with collared greens, drenched in Flim-Flam sauce with the oss’n’fay, and shifafa on the side. Dig in, cousins!”
—Spider Robinson, author of THE LIFEHOUSE TRILOGY