I was pleasantly surprised when I first opened the door leading into the rehearsal studio. I was the first to arrive and could take in the quiet and bask in the heady smell of the polished wood floor. Delious and Jeff soon arrived with Jerimy Koeltzow and Doug Urie from Oklahoma. I was noodling around on the piano while they got settled in.

We sort of spontaneously struck up a Vince Gill song, “Go Rest High on that Mountain.” A beautifully haunting melody with traditional bluegrass-style harmonies. As we hit the chorus, Stephen Parker entered and joined in with his high tenor part. Matthew Hayes arrived adding a perfect third below my lead. Jerimy rounded out the bass, and Doug struggled to find his way in before stopping altogether, foretelling some issues we would have later in the studio. Doug was absolutely unable to find a harmony part. He could sing lead, he had a decent voice, but when it came to singing a different part, he was lost.

When the song was over, we realized that Delious and Jeff were staring openly at us. There was a moment of awkward silence before Delious spoke up and said, “Magic.”