In April 1997, I travelled from Dallas, Texas to England for my third recording session for my first album (The Volares - The Night We Taught Ourselves To Sing). My producer and bandmate Dare Mason had arranged for us to spend a weekend recording at the home of our mutual friend Marty Wilson-Piper in Somerset.

For starters I was amazed by the beauty of this area of England. Quite unlike anything in Texas. As we neared Somerset, Dare said, "There's something I haven't told you. Julianne Regan's gonna be at Marty's while we're there, so try not to do anything stupid." I immediately began planning all the stupid things I could think of doing.

We arrived at Marty's, a beautiful 3-story structure located on Church Rd. After a sarcastic greeting, Marty presented Julianne. I was immediately struck by her presence; a glowing bundle of grace, beauty and charm. We spent the afternoon goofing off, drinking too much tea and eating too much chocolate. Finally, Marty declared that it was time to get to work. He, Dare and I holed up in his studio. Dare played a song called "Open Book" and Marty plugged his Rickenbacker into one of several Vox amps, and began playing to the song.

As a long-time Church fan I found it a bit surreal to hear Marty playing to one of my songs. He was extremely open and even invited suggestions. Right away he began sculpting the perfect guitar solo for the song. We worked on the song for a couple of hours and his guitar parts were finished. We all agreed to get an early start the next day; Marty wanted to play on as many songs as possible. About 10AM the next day, Marty collapsed with severe illness brought on by a migraine attack. It was soon obvious that the session would have to be cancelled. I was absolutely crushed. As soon as Marty recovered, I would have to kill him. I was sitting alone in his studio all glum, and Julianne walked in. She very politely asked if she could help somehow. She reasoned that as I had come all the way from Texas, I should be able to continue work over the weekend, and since Marty was down for the count..."Could I try singing on a song or two ?" I quickly accepted her offer and informed Dare. We spent the next two days recording with Julianne and caring for the unconscious Martin Piper. Julianne played organ on "Open Book ," and sang lead vocal on "Asleep In Egypt." I had been looking forward to singing "Egypt" myself, but as soon as I heard her voice on it, I knew it was her song to sing, not mine.

She also sang lead vocal on two more songs, which were left off the album, "The Sending" and "Barleyhenge." It was a shame to leave them off because she did so well on them, but in the end they didn't really fit with the bigger picture. Maybe someday we'll put them out.

I would say my impression of Julianne was vastly positive. Here was an esteemed professional musician going out of her way to help a complete unknown suddenly down on his luck. She really saved the day that weekend. We had many nice chats and I found her to be a kind-hearted person of much grace and depth. Saying goodbye to her at the end of that strange enchanted weekend put a lump in my throat. I would say that even without her talent, Julianne Regan is one of the finest humans you could ever hope to know, truly one of God's greatest hits. In my perfect world, she would be Queen Of England but still play the odd gig from time to time.