A Guitar Player’s Second Act, at 86

One year, ago, when The Star wrote about Glenn Feit’s “Fingerpicking Second Act,” the semiretired attorney was five years into a resumed study of the guitar after a false start four decades earlier. His renewed interest, he said, had coincided with his 80th birthday, and after honing his chops on stages across the South Fork he felt ready to take that second act into the studio. 

The result has arrived in the form of “Act II, Scene I,” Mr. Feit’s first CD. A collection of 12 songs from the past and present, “Act II” brings together several of the South Fork’s finest musicians, many of whom have shared a stage with the relative newcomer, who is 86. 

“It was wonderful,” Mr. Feit, who lives in Bridgehampton, said of the recording sessions at MonkMusic Studios in East Hampton, “and also very educational to see what these people know about music that I still have to learn.” With the album complete, “I am suffering from terrible withdrawal,” he joked. “As much as it was work and you have to practice, I think the adrenaline flow is what keeps me younger. It’s a funny thing to say, but I walked out of there like I’d gotten a shot of something.” 

Sessions typically featured the musicians performing together live, as opposed to overdubbing tracks piecemeal. “I think you get the energy of that,” Mr. Feit said of the group setting. “That’s really how I perform, not by myself.” 

The songs, including U2’s “One,” Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight,” Rodgers and Hart’s “Where or When” from the musical “Babes in Arms,” and Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind,” were rehearsed, “but a lot of it was spontaneous,” Mr. Feit said. “I have to tell you, that’s enjoyable.” 

“If You Could Read My Mind,” for example, features Mr. Feit and Cynthia Daniels, the owner of MonkMusic Studios who recorded and produced “Act II, Scene I,” in a kind of accidental duet. “I had trouble as we were starting the song,  because it started with strings,” he said. “I asked Cynthia to pick a spot where I’m supposed to come in. She started to sing it, and I said, ‘I like your voice, let’s do a duet.’ I think it came out beautifully.” 

“We approached this project as comprehensively and correctly as any I have ever done,” said Ms. Daniels, who is also among several backing vocalists — dubbed the Glenntones — on the album. “I was happy that Glenn wanted to know the best way to be as prepared as possible and relied heavily on my experience, which made us both comfortable. It established such trust and made everything easier and quite joyful. It’s a leap of faith for any musician to make a record, and trusting the producer and the musicians around you is paramount.” 

“So many members of our East End musical family were hired to add their own strong voices in percussion, accordion, steel guitar, voice, mandolin, and even the pennywhistle,” Ms. Daniels said. But the centerpiece, she added, “is Glenn himself, the artist and star of this CD. His enthusiasm for music of all kinds has inspired us toward our own creations and performances as well to embracing his.” Mr. Feit, she said, “is simply the most beloved performer out here.”

The musicians who contributed to “Act II, Scene I” overwhelmingly confirm that sentiment. “I was very happy to learn that he was going forward with his plan to make a record of songs that he has pruned from his wide repertoire,” said Michael Weiskopf, who plays harmonica on “Chelsea Hotel #2” and recently released his own album, “Love & Entropy,” also recorded at MonkMusic. “I am honored to have been invited to contribute to it.”

“Within minutes of meeting Glenn, his intellect and passion is obvious, engaging, and contagious,” said Randolph Hudson III, who plays electric guitar on most of the album. “His musical aesthetic is astoundingly vast, and while Glenn certainly has his love of three-chord cowboy and folk tunes, he jumps at sophisticated standards which require both harmonic understanding and fretboard knowledge.” 

“Watching Glenn grow as a guitar player, singer, and performer has been so wonderful and inspiring,” said Klyph Black, who plays bass on most of “Act II, Scene I.” “And his journey into the studio was a real treat. His musical palette grows all the time and he just keeps getting better and better. Looking forward to ‘Act II, Scene II’!”

“Being in the music world is a joy,” said Joe Delia, who plays piano on “Someone Like You,” a song co-written by Adele. “Playing with local artists at MonkMusic Studios is a pleasure. Working with Glenn on his first album was unalloyed happiness.”

“This,” Mr. Feit said of those who play and sing on the album, “was the most wonderful bunch of people you could spend time with.” 

Already, he said, “I’ve gotten feedback from half the people on the East End, and lot of people in New York,” where he and his wife, Barberi, also keep an apartment. “I’m still officially a partner in my firm, so you have a number of these people who are kind of stunned I’m doing this! But I am getting kudos from all over, and family — who, I might add, are the toughest critics.” 

“Act II, Scene I” is available at CDBaby.com, Apple’s iTunes Store, Amazon.com, and other online retailers. A release party is planned for the early spring.