something . I think they meant a bit more to him than some of the work that actually did get released .”
Shortly after Healey ’ s death in 2008 , Costa and Cristie discovered the vaulted sessions and had an informal conversation about what could be done with them . “ It started out as more of a ‘ Wouldn ’ t it be great if …’ conversation , where we thought of how wonderful it would be for people to hear these songs and how strong they were ,” Costa shares .
Cristie first met her husband after these sessions had taken place , and so while Costa had gotten a taste of the tunes years earlier , the follow-up to that conversation was the first time she had heard this material .
“ Everyone knows what [ Jeff was ] capable of on the guitar , but his voice is so soulful . It almost brought me to tears . I couldn ’ t believe how soulful he sounds in those songs .” John-Angus MacDonald of The Trews , about Heal My Soul
“ There were songs that I just couldn ’ t listen to ; it was very emotional ,” she tells Canadian Musician . “ Everyone goes to Jeff ’ s amazing abilities as a musician – and that goes without saying – but for me , it was about his voice . Some of those recordings , it was like he was sitting right next to me . To sit down and listen to this music by someone I missed so much …”
She ’ s not the only one that had her emotions get the best of her when discussing this project , or Healey in general . “ He just had this unbelievable honesty and feeling in what he did ,” recalls his friend Walter Trout , a revered blues guitarist who played with John Mayall and Canned Heat in addition to touring and recording with his own eponymous project . “ You looked right into his soul when you heard him play , and it was unbearable at times . It was so deep , man . The guy was deep .” His voice cracks a bit before Trout needlessly apologizes , saying , “ I just can ’ t help but get emotional . I miss that guy so fucking much , man .”
His comment about looking into Healey ’ s soul through his music very much applies to Heal My Soul . “ Jeff was going through a lot of things then , and I wasn ’ t there for it , but it ’ s quite evident in these recordings that , writing and recording these songs , it was exactly what he needed at that time ,” his widow muses .
Costa , Cristie , and some other collaborators close to the project had to go back to the original 2-in . master tapes to begin the work of compiling what would become Heal My Soul . “ There were probably about eight months worth of research , identifying which takes we were looking for and which songs we were looking for before we even started diving into the vaults to extract them ,” Costa reveals .
At the outset , he had a good idea of which songs and , in some cases , even which particular takes he wanted to revisit , though says that as they dove further into the vaults , there were a few pleasant surprises .
“ We didn ’ t even know some of the tracks existed at the time , one of them being ‘ All the Saints ’ and one being ‘ Temptation ,’” he says . “‘ All the Saints ’ in particular is just a gorgeous song ” – and one that Cristie cites as a personal favourite .
The tapes themselves had degraded over the years and needed to be “ baked ” – a literal term that describes the process of heating the tape to temporarily restore it by driving moisture from the binder so that the material can be copied to another reel or a different format .
Costa recalls over 20 reels being used – “ that were very heavy ,” he chuckles . The desired files were stored on a hard drive and then brought to Echosound Studiolab in Toronto . “ They prepped all the tracks and got them ready for mixing and anything else we needed to do with them ,” Costa says .
In addition to engineering work , Echosound ’ s Paul Kehayas performed some of the small instrumental additions where they were deemed necessary . “[ Additional work ] was kept very close ,” Costa notes . “ We didn ’ t want to start bringing in all these different people ; we wanted to keep it as close to the
“ He was just ‘ that guy .’ There ’ s only one of him . It wasn ’ t just a technical thing , either ; it was so far beyond that .” Phillip Sayce , about his friend and mentor
original spirit of what was there as possible .”
For some of the tracks , the team decided they needed to rerecord the drum parts as the existing ones were either unfinished or clearly intended as placeholders to be fixed later on . Toronto-based timekeeper and Humber College professor Dean Glover was tapped , adding his name to a list of performers that looks even more impressive today than it did at the time .
In addition to the Jeff Healey Band ’ s longtime rhythm section of bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen , other players that spent time in the studio with Healey and company during these sessions include guitarist Phillip Sayce , keyboardist and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers founding member Benmont Tench , and keyboardist and decorated composer Lou Pomanti .
Sayce first entered the Jeff Healey Band fold in 1997 , fresh out of high school and making a name for himself in the Toronto scene . He ’ d signed his own deal , but Healey extended an invitation to join the band in the studio and , as Sayce recalls , basically apprentice with him . “ So when the top ninja says , ‘ We ’ ll take you out and show you how it ’ s done on the big stages ,’ I was kind of beside myself ,” Sayce shares . “ I was in awe of this guy all the time . Any time he picked up a guitar or started singing , it took my breath away .”
Sayce spent two months in the studio with Healey , Rockman , Stephen , and their collaborators in 1998 , ending up on a few of Heal My Soul ’ s later cuts . He admittedly wasn ’ t much help in crediting other performers from those sessions when they were being pieced together years later , though . “ I wasn ’ t paying attention to much other than just getting to play next to my hero ,” he says with a chuckle . “ I was just trying to play at a level that would impress him . A lot of the time , I didn ’ t know when the tape was rolling .”
There was talk of having Sayce redo his part on the cover of Albert Collins ’ “ Put the Shoe on the Other Foot ”; however , Costa says they were ultimately able to scrub the
36 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN