THE FRINGE is a four-man folk-rock band whose members are now dispersed around the world. “Never Lose a Dream” is the only recording the band has ever made. Richard Hayes Phillips and John Mark Ramsey II wrote all the songs on the CD, nine of them as a team, and six as individuals. Both wrote lyrics, and both wrote music. The band was born in August 1996 when Richard and John Mark wrote “Bidding Farewell” at the Foote Rest Café in Saranac Lake, New York. The next day John Mark returned to his boyhood home of Antlers, Oklahoma, but the partnership continued. Most of the songs were written during the spring and summer of 1997. In October the two of them rescued a 1977 Dodge van from an overgrown field and traveled to San Diego, where John Katchur had a recording studio. John is a brilliant guitarist and singer/songwriter in his own right. Richard had met him at the Inner Change Coffeehouse in San Diego in February 1995. Two months later Richard recorded at John’s studio ten songs that appear on his solo CD called “Songs from the Sage.” John was the recording engineer for “Never Lose a Dream,” and plays a fretted Rickenbacker bass on the recording. He recruited Jeff Berkley, an experienced session musician, to play percussion. The instrumentation varies from song to song. Some are gentle love songs with one or two guitars and voices; some are full-fledged rock songs with bass and drums. Richard also plays mandolin, kalimba and harmonica. All instruments except the bass are acoustic.
