It’s impossibly cute… Real life bluegrass husband-and-wife, Jana and Stephen Mougin, who together operate the Dark Shadow Recording studio and label, and who met as bluegrass performers some years ago, have released a spousal duet version of Tim O’Brien’s Like I Just To Do, as Jana’s latest single.
The two of them grew up loving bluegrass music, and playing it where they lived; Jana in Slovakia, and Stephen in the States. They even met through the music, while Jana was playing bass and singing with Czech group, Fragment.
Now living in Nashville, Jana hasn’t been signing actively for some time, devoting her time to raising their son, Sammy, now also an avid grasser, and helping run the family business. With Sammy well into his teens, she has been spending more time in the studio, with a new project in the works for Dark Shadow.
Jana says that Like I Used To Do won her heart when she first heard it, and was convinced to record this charming love song by something of a freak coincidence.
“When Tim O’Brien’s album, Odd Man In, came out in the early ’90s, I listened to it over and over, and always loved this song. I decided to learn it last year, and I told Stephen it would be a great song for us to sing as a duet.
Around the same time we bought a car that used to belong to our dear friend Joyce, who lost her long battle with cancer. Joyce was a huge bluegrass fan who had been in Stephen’s life since his early childhood, and was one of his biggest fans. I met her when I started touring with Fragment and she would come to our shows in different states. She loved to travel and she was a very important guest at our small wedding.
When we got her car, there were still a few of her personal things in there… including a couple of CDs. The Seldom Scene Like We Used To Be was one of them. I knew that album (we recorded Some Morning Soon with Fragment), but I totally forgot that Like I Used To Do was a part of it too!
When I put that disc in the CD player and heard this song, it was a sign for me. We had to record it!”
The song was written by Patrick Alger and Tim O’Brien, and the Mougins brought in an A Team to assist in the studio. Jana sings, while Stephen plays guitar and sings, with Darol Anger on fiddle, Sharon Gilchrist on mandolin, Dennis Crouch on bass, and Jana’s former bandmate from Slovakia, Henrich Novak, on reso-guitar.
If this one doesn’t make you misty, you’ve never been in love. Check it out…
Like I Used To Do is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
