my life as a singer/songwriter

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Tequila Lips was my first CD.  Recorded live in studio in 2001 & 2002, it is a stripped down CD featuring just me on vocals & guitar; Steve Piper, a good friend of mine, on lead acoustic & electric guitar; and various musicians on electric bass. That the way I wanted it--simple and live.  The 13 tracks on Tequila Lips consist of some of my favorite early songs that I still play in live performance. Here are some examples. 

"Grampa Was a Miner" is a true story about my grandfather and the black lung disease he contracted from years in the coal mines. 

"Everybody Called Him Harlan" is about the man who taught me how to play guitar and gave me a gift that has filled my life.  As I say in the song, "Harlan was my hero, Harlan was my friend."  

"Into My Past She Strays" is more or less about a truly free-spirited young woman I knew in my late teens. She was an older woman--one whole year older.  But what a difference that year made.  As I say in the song, "She was no stranger to the ways of the word.  I was a boy too long lost in the woods." 

Lastly, “After All These Years" is a song I wrote for my wife around the time of our fifteenth wedding anniversary. What I said then is still true today, she's "always been the better part of me." 

You can listen to the full Tequila Lips CD on your favorite music streaming platform including YouTube or Spotify.

Released in 2006, No Apology is my second CD.  It consists of 16 tracks. Unlike Tequila Lips, this CD has fuller instrumentation, pretty much what you might expect from an album cover picturing a guy in a cowboy hat and studded western leather jacket--drums, harmonica, fiddle, electric guitar, some horns to get a "Ring of Fire" effect on one song. But alas there is no pedal steel guitar. 

One of my favorite tracks on the CD is "50 Years Old and Still Playing for Tips." It's autobiographical, and yes, I wrote it when I was 50 on a guitar I bought to celebrate that milestone. The song captures why so many of us singer/songwriters keep at it: "But it's not for the money, but to fill the hole in your soul. It's a curse and a blessing made of wood and 6 strings.  It's fiction and fact in the same melody." 

Another favorite is "Lady Tattoo" which was inspired by a tattoo of beautiful woman's face that my hair stylist at the time had on her shoulder. I had heard songs written about tattoos but never one written to the tattoo, so I wrote it. 

One last song I want to note is "Should Have Loved You Better." It is my effort to figure out the loss my father felt when his wife of 50 years and my mother died. At least from what I saw, it was far from being a great marriage. But her passing was the only time I ever saw him cry, and that included the time a two ton piece of steel that he was welding slipped and nearly severed his hand from his wrist.  Being of the WWII generation he never could put his emotions or pain into words, so I tried to do it for him.  I don't know if he ever listened to the song.  If he did he never told me.

You can listen to No Apology on your favorite music streaming platform including YouTube or Spotify.

Seeking Calm Waters was released in 2013.  It's my overall favorite because it has the most of me in it. I wrote the songs, did the "arrangements," and  mixed every note on every track (along with my co-producer and partner in crime, Steve Piper). 

Seeking Calm Waters is my most musically creative CD. From pedal steel guitar to slide guitar to a ukulele to Conga drums, Shekere, & triangles, to the saxophone, trumpet, & flugelhorn,  Seeking Calm Waters is richly textured. One of the smartest moves I made was to bring in a second vocalist, Diana Palotas. Dianna is a true songbird. I invited her in to sing on one track and kept her around for 7 more. Like the instrumentation for the CD, I used Diana's voice to augment the emotions of the songs.

I'm still enamored with all the songs on Seeking Calm Waters. Here are some of my favorites from it. 

"Like a Shadow on the Breeze" is possibly the most mystic and philosophical song I have ever written. In it is a mixture of loneliness, isolation, hope, and even salvation. But I'd be damn if I can really say what the song actually is about. 

The Whiskey, Me, and You"  is a straightaway country song.  It's a drinking song, a love song, and a love song to drinking.

 "White Linen" may be my favorite song I ever wrote. It reflects both a life crisis and a love story of sorts. Bill Tiberio plays tenor sax on the songs. The only instruction I gave Bill was to play the sax as if he was singing a duet with me. He nailed on the first take, and the result is a warm jazz feel. 

Lastly, "Take Your Bad Love Back Uptown" is just a fun old time rock 'n' roll song. 

You can listen to Seeking Calm Waters on your favorite music streaming platform including YouTube or Spotify