June 2014

I've finished tracking a record, which I'll release next month, and need your help to make that happen.

In 2006 I reluctantly signed up for the American Song Academy in connection with the Sisters Folk Festival in Sisters, Oregon. I had played and written songs off and on for years, but had never really worked on songwriting as a craft. I was apprehensive about sharing my songs and opening myself up to criticism, however constructive it might be. On the evening of the first day, I heard Keith Greeninger, at headliner at the Festival who had just released an epic CD, and my life took a new direction.

Keith is among the most soulful songwriters out there, and he just blew my heart wide open. That fall I got involved with creating a venue for kirtan and community music gatherings at an old church, and I invited Keith to play there, and over time we became friends.

In 2009 I found myself working near San Francisco for weeks at a time, going home to family in Bend roughly once a month. After a year or so of this, I ventured out to an open mic in North Beach to play some of my songs. Keith and I had talked about recording at that time, but I wasn't ready. Finally in January 2013 I made it into Keith's studio in the Santa Cruz mountains and started tracking this record.

The album has come together very organically. We did most of the tracking live, with minimal overdubs. Between engineer Tim Prince and Keith, top end pro mics and gear, and the natural atmosphere among the redwoods in the mountains, all the elements came together for a very warm and rich production. I was very fortunate to work with a phenomenal lineup of session talent, including Keith Greeninger (production and vocals), John R. Burr (Alison Brown, Maria Muldaur - piano and organ), Ronny Crawford (Lisa Loeb, drums and percussion), Dan Robbins (upright bass), Barry Phillips (Ravi Shankar and George Harrison - cello), Rory Cloud (Quiles and Cloud - vocals and acoustic guitar), Maria Quiles (Quiles and Cloud - vocals), James DePrato (Chuck Prophet and Megan Slankard - electric and acoustic guitar) and Gianni Staiano (Hammond B3). Engineered by Tim mF. Prince.

It's a really good album, hopefully one of the rare ones that takes the listener to a thoughtful, meditative place after a journey through bit of grit and vinegar. It just needs a little financial bump to go out into the world.

The music is cool, but the the album is also the commercial art debut of my daughter, Sabrina. She is a really gifted visual artist, and her paintings will be used in the cover art.

The project is mostly done. All tracking is done, most of the mixing is done. The items outstanding are some final fixes, the mastering, the cover design (artwork is done), printing and duplication.