In 1979, a recording studio in Boston became the setting for a collaboration that would last a lifetime. The song was called “Too Far To Go”, one of the earliest written and recorded by John Finbury, and the voice behind the microphone was Patty Brayden, who had recently become part of John’s life, both personally and musically. Though their paths were still taking shape, this recording turned out to be an early example of their shared experience making music together.
The track came together at Downtown Recording in Boston, where John had arranged for a session with a handful of his musician friends to make demos of his songs, which he hoped to shop around to publishers. These were the days when aspiring songwriters would send cassettes of their demos to publishers in LA, New York, and Nashville with the hope that lightning would strike and their song(s) would be placed. John thought ”Too Far To Go” might be perfect for Bonnie Raitt (it still would be!). John composed the music, and his friend Karen Petersen wrote the lyrics. Patty stepped in as vocalist. David Reiser played bass, and Ted Pickman, just sixteen at the time, handled the alto sax.
Over the years, “Too Far To Go” became a standard song in John and Patty’s playbook. Sometimes John would accompany Patty, and often John would play it as a solo instrumental. Like many musicians who recorded in the analog era, John stored away the original master tapes from those early sessions. For decades, the tape recordings were stored unheard in his attic. In 2014, they resurfaced when Fervor Records, a boutique label with a focus on archival Americana music, reached out after hearing one of the “ Early Days” tracks, and this led to a broader revisit to the early material, including “Too Far To Go.”
While much has changed since 1979, including John’s exploration of Brazilian Bossa Nova and Latin Jazz in five albums, the expressive core of those songs remains consistent, and “Too Far To Go,” in particular, stands as one of the earliest markers of a happy partnership that has extended far beyond the music.
Available on: Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, and all major platforms.