Everything good takes a while, and this has taken a generation and a lifetime: 1980 was the year that Don Grantham and I formed our first group, which someone charitably named the Wedgwood Garage Band.
Seven years later we took a different direction. I took over primary responsibility as producer; we hired Tim Kimsey (Paula Abdul, Steve Perry, Pantera, and Rod Stewart, among many others) as our engineer and moved the studio out of the garage and over to the Dallas Sound Lab. After we hired studio musicians including David Crockett (Dwight Yoakam’s drummer on tour), Bill Ham (formerly Sonny and Cher’s guitarist), Steve Howard (who played trumpet in a British group called Wings
with some guy named McCartney), the result was The National Grantham album in 1988. Click here for a free download from that album.
Fifteen years later in 2003, it seemed like it might be fun to go back into the studio and record a few songs for the “Backside of American History” segments on the Wheels with Ed Wallace show. At first it was fairly simple stuff like “Sweet Betsy from Pike.” And the next thing you know we were up to 10 musicians, then 20 — and suddenly I was producing a 32-piece light orchestra doing more classical work, from Strauss’ The Emperor’s Waltz to the “Largo” from Dvořák’s New World Symphony and Pachelbel’s Canon.
Many of those songs have been used for the music beds on the Backside of American History.
At some point I decided to record an album featuring the classical music themes that had been the basis for many of our rock and roll songs — in fact, I would combine the two versions into one for each piece. This was the foundation for our upcoming album, Classical Rock. But then I wondered: what would happen if we recreated the original tracks to some of our favorite rock and roll songs, using the orchestra for all the vocal work and background harmonies? That sense of grown-up wonder and play and sheer delight in the result would form the basis for a second album, Classical Rock 1965.
Owing to copyright restrictions and because I have to pay publishing royalties, I will provide one download of “Mr. Tambourine Man” on request from Classical Rock 1965.Click here to request your copy.
I’d like to thank the members of what we have named the DFW Power & Light Orchestra for their exceptional work on these projects: Rick Stitzel arranged many of the pieces and conducted the orchestra for the first album and the horn sections on both. Dan Smith was the conductor for the second album; Tim Kimsey engineered the work and Tom Demer came to solo on both violin and viola and also acted as concertmaster in the studio. Aaron Kelley doubled as guitarist and arranger for the second album, and Debbie Brooks, our cellist, also helped hand pick the orchestra.
Ed Wallace with the DFW Power & Light Orchestra
In Dallas Fort Worth
Producer
Ed Wallace
Engineer
Tim Kimsey
Arrangers
John Read, Rick Stitzel, Aaron Kelley, Tom Demer
Violins
Tonda Sykes, Adriana DeCosta, Kurt Sprenger, Swang Lin, Xiaowei Shi, Michelle Finamore, Diane Kitzman, Bing Wang, Delmar Pettys, Tom Demer, Susie Ager, Kim Torgul, Izumi Lund, Kristin Van Cleve, Amy Faires, Michael Shih, Ertan Torgul
Violas
Susan Dubois, Kristi Swanson, Tom Demer, Scott Jessup
Cello
Debbie Brooks
Contrabass
Jeff Bradetich
Guitars
Aaron Kelley, Bill Ham
Harmonica
Gary Grammer
French Horns
Brian Brown, Jason Eklund, Mike Houghton
Trombone
Brad Herring, Keith Adkins, John Osborne, Eric Swanson
Trumpet
Steve Howard, Jay Sanders, Keith Jourdan, Jack Evans
Saxophone
Jeff Robbins
Drums
Steve Rokks, Rich Stitzel
Percussion
Steve Rokks, Gene Glover
Piano, Organ, Harp, Bass, Tympani programmed by Ed Wallace
Seven years later we took a different direction. I took over primary responsibility as producer; we hired Tim Kimsey (Paula Abdul, Steve Perry, Pantera, and Rod Stewart, among many others) as our engineer and moved the studio out of the garage and over to the Dallas Sound Lab. After we hired studio musicians including David Crockett (Dwight Yoakam’s drummer on tour), Bill Ham (formerly Sonny and Cher’s guitarist), Steve Howard (who played trumpet in a British group called Wings
with some guy named McCartney), the result was The National Grantham album in 1988. 
Owing to copyright restrictions and because I have to pay publishing royalties, I will provide one download of “Mr. Tambourine Man” on request from Classical Rock 1965. 