The Arkie DeLeons are: ED NICHOLSON: electric guitar, 12-string electric guitar, baritone guitar, acoustic guitar, electric bass, harmonica, background vocals; GARY BOLDING: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, 12-string electric guitar; DARREN NOVOTNY: drums, percussion; ANDY GRIEBEL: Hammond organ on In The Beginning, Just As I Am, and That Holy Ghost; saxophone on My Name is David Harley and Time is Money. JEFF WOODWARD: trombone on My Name Is David Harley, Time Is Money, and Enough Ain’t Never Enough. CHARLIE CHALMERS: tenor saxophone on Enough Ain’t Never Enough.

JOHN DAVIES: bass on Tiffany Ann Loved Cocaine. S. HERBERT: mandolin on Drowning In The Blood and Small Change. RACHEL FIELDS and TARA NORWOOD: background vocals on Just As I Am. BARBARA RANEY and MATT DICKSON: background vocals on Drowning In The Blood, Matches And Dynamite, Enough Ain’t Never Enough, and Small Change. MATT DICKSON: baritone saxophone on Enough Ain’t Never Enough. DOGHOUSE RILEY recorded Barbara and Matt at The Works in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Vaselina Springs and The Arkie DeLeons would literally not have existed had it not been for Ed Nicholson. He encouraged, influenced, and facilitated the development of my twisted little stories about some people in a fictional south-central Arkansas oil town. Our collaboration has been the deepest and most enjoyable experience of my creative life. The project benefited greatly from the fact that Ed is everyone’s favorite person to play with. To all the extraordinary musicians that Ed, as bandleader (and Darren as Mr. Connected), brought into the project, I can’t thank you enough for taking me more or less seriously. Darren, Andy, Jeff, Barbara, Matt, S., Charlie, John, Rachel, and Tara, you all sound stinkin’ fabulous!

I especially want to thank Will Nicholson and Darren Novotny. I have known Will since he was a pint-sized Al Franken impersonator. Over the years, he has developed dog-like hearing and an advanced understanding of frequencies. Will is his daddy’s boy—his stunning mixes are musical to the bone. I met Darren when Ed arranged for him to record some drum tracks. Darren lives in a magic castle drum-recording studio perched over a mysterious mountain lake hidden in the deepest Ozarks. There, Darren brilliantly recorded all the drum and percussion parts on I-X. After Will finished doing his mixes, Darren generously volunteered to master them. Together they produced crystal clear sounds ranging from primal sludge to bubbly effervescence–yum, headphone heaven. Incidentally, Will Nicholson looks nothing like Al Franken now.

Thanks to Jane, Ashley, and Michael for being my rocks. Thanks to Ginger Nicholson, Deborah Ahring and Kris Katrosh, making me love being in Fed-Ville. Thanks to Employee of the Month In Perpetuity, Stephanie D’Ercole, for playing Tiffany Ann Foster. Thanks to Mark Clark for being my Man on the Ground in Vaselina Springs. Thanks to Nancy Barber for providing wise counsel. Thanks to Nick Leibee, Bill Nylen, John Jett, Chico Converse, Julia Nicholson, Thomas Nicholson, Doghouse Riley, Jack Pate, and Chuck Scofield. Thanks to Dr. Nathan Wolek, Dean Karen Ryan, and Assoc. Dean Diane Everett. Thanks to Gene Huskey (Lester Harley), Elizabeth Frates (Susannah Foster), and Erin McCollum (Amanda Harley). Thanks to Eddie Cobb and all the other ElDo Boys, standing and fallen (David Schonert, Frank Stamper, and Lyndon Strickland). Thanks to my family, known and unknown. Thanks to the ghosts who inhabit a town that smells like money, another man’s money.

Ed and I dedicate this record with all our respective love and devotion to Jane, Ashley, and Michael and to Ginger, Will, Julia, and Thomas.

Remember, in the long run art isn’t about money.

All songs written by GARY BOLDING Arranged, recorded and engineered by ED NICHOLSON Mixed by WILL NICHOLSON

Mastered by DARREN NOVOTNY Cover design by GARY BOLDING Produced by ED NICHOLSON and GARY BOLDING

Photography: Nick Leibee, Stetson University. This project was partially funded by Stetson University’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Vaselina Springs I-X was recorded in Prairie Grove, Fayetteville, and Little Rock, Arkansas; Austin, Texas; and DeLand, Florida.

Manufactured by Disc Makers, 7905 N. Crescent Blvd., Pennsauken, N.J.

This first edition consists of 300 copies. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.