Hello, gang!
If you're reading this, you've likely noticed that my website has a new look and feel. Kinda cool, right? Well, I figured with a new record coming out in a few months, it was high time for a facelift. I hope you like it, and that you can find your way around.
I'm really excited about my new album, which is currently slated for release on October 15 (with a pre-release for all you fine folks on my mailing list). I am calling the record "(re)animate" because it is just that--as well as a re-imagining, a re-arrangement, a re-creation...and a lot of other re's. It's also a re-connection...with more than 20 great friends and terrific musicians I've played with--or wanted to play with--over the years. And when I say "over the years," boy, do I mean it.
"(re)animate" gave me an opportunity to record with guys I knew back in high school...pals from the combos I had during and after college down in NC...fellas I jammed with when I lived in Atlanta, San Francisco and DC. It was so wonderful to be back in touch with them all, and to have a chance to create music together. I will soon reveal the identity of this incredible collective of musicians...a star-studded backing band I have dubbed The Powers That Be.
Starting from my super-spare, stripped-down acoustic guitar and vocal arrangements, these guys took my material to whole new universe. Pedal steel, trumpet, grand piano and keyboards, banjo, dobro, ukulele, guitars of every configuration, and more percussion than you can shake a maraca at. Without question, The Powers That Be turned my stuff into something I could not have imagined going in. It's intimate, understated, nuanced...but somehow it still grooves. I think you're really going to like it.
I'll be in touch soon with more info about "(re)animate." And I'll let you know when I'll be playing the stuff live--with a brand new band that's rehearsing now and sounding great.
Catch you on the re-bound?