Freedom

Haymaker

This song the first one that set the wheels in motion to make this album a reality. Haymaker broke up a short time before I got involved in the Portland scene, but their legacy was strong. In another nod to <mp3 dot com> I found their song “Freedom” there. There was something about that song that stuck with me long after that website changed and the song disappeared. It didn’t make it on any of their albums. For years I couldn’t figure out a way to listen to it. I eventually gave up, but did not forget. Then a bit of serendipity came together on September 12, 2025.

I had booked another Portland band, Steve Wilkinson & The Lunar Samples, to play a pair of shows up north in Arlington and Seattle. The first of those was at the Mirkwood Public House on September 12. I learned that evening that Steve had brought a fill-in bass player for the shows and that fill-in was none other than Jeff Farnand who is also the bassist for Haymaker. I started talking to Jeff and eventually thought to ask him about this one song I loved, that isn’t available anywhere. He said he would send me an MP3 of it, and indeed he did. Listening to it again for the first time in well over a decade I felt a rush of motivation to move forward with this compilation idea I had been kicking around for a while. I wanted to bring this song into the streaming world, not just for myself, but for everyone to remember and enjoy or perhaps discover for the first time. I got in touch with singer/songwriter Steve Lockwood and everybody agreed. Now with “Freedom” on board I started the process of identifying and securing the other songs. But were it not for that show, the need for a fill-in bassist, that bassist being from Haymaker and Steve Wilkinson mentioning that to me that night, this project might never have happened!