In 2007, I released a self-titled record produced by Reid Scelza that was inspired by albums from the 60s and 70s. Albums where all of the musicians are playing together at the same time in one room, and the songs are given life through the energy and spirit in the room. I love that record. It reminds me so much of that period of my life. I was fairly recently married. My first daughter was born one month before we put out the record. I was working multiple teaching jobs to make ends meet and trying to write and record songs. It was an exciting but very hectic time. I was fortunate that Jacquire King – who has produced some of my favorite records – mixed the record, and we became friends during that process.
Fast-forward several years, I had an honest 9-5 job after working my way through graduate school while trying to raise two daughters with my amazing wife, Kim. The only songs I wrote were about brushing your teeth or what color underpants you were wearing. But after the chaos of the previous few years started to die down, I thought I would try to write some more “serious” songs. After a few failed attempts, I decided to give up on the idea. What would be the point? Who would care? Why did it matter? I thought it would be easier to just draw a hard line, and one day I made the decision not to write songs at all. It was over. I had convinced myself it would just be easier that way. The very... next... day, after not having communicated with Jacquire for more than 7 years, he sent me an email. It said that he had heard one of my songs over the weekend and that the song had always meant a lot to him. It was a wake-up call for me. It didn’t matter why I wrote songs or if anybody cared. What mattered was that I wrote what was inside me because it was there to be written. I sent him a note back thanking him for reaching out. A few days later we spoke on the phone and he asked if I wanted to try to make a record together. It was a crazy turn of events.
I started trying to write every night after my kids went to bed. Sometimes I’d get a melody started. Sometimes a few lyrics would come. Sometimes a whole song would appear. Sometimes nothing happened. Jacquire and I distilled my efforts down to 10 songs, which we recorded in Nashville in 2017 with an amazing band, including Eli Beaird, Ian Fitchuk, and Jedd Hughes. I really wanted Kim to be part of this experience because her love and grace had been such a huge part of all of the moments leading to this, so we put her amazing voice on a bunch of the songs. It was incredible to me that the sessions even happened, much less that it was with these people. I feel deep, deep gratitude for all of it. I am so proud of this record. I love these songs and this music. In it are those years of life where we struggle, and change, and dream, and learn, and love, and fight, and forgive, and love again...
Days go by....