SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING NEWER

Another new CD?? Yes!!

A friend of mine encouraged me to create a listing of every piece of music I’ve ever written. It starts with my 1959 opus “The Robin’s Song” which I wrote in the back seat of the family car, on a piece of notebook paper. That list is now over 355 compositions, ranging from 1 minute in length to a whole symphony!

My real writing career started just as I was going into college for music, 1969. At that time, I remember watching and listening to my Dad working through the writing process of his choral song “The Lamb” which is a setting of the William Blake poem. This piece took him over 2 years to complete. What any good composer or writer will tell you is that a piece of music, or a book or a poem, isn’t so much written as it is re-written.

As I developed as a guitarist, I began writing instrumental “songs”. The pure definition of a song is a piece of music with lyrics, because a Song implies a Singer. That was easy to accommodate since the guitar had become my musical Voice.

In 1988, my partnership with Scott B. Adams began, and so did my real maturation process as a player and a writer. In 1993, we released an album on cassette called “In the Window” that featured 7 new songs by me, 2 new songs by Scott, 2 songs co-written by me and (bass player) Dan Lovett, and one traditional hymn. This album was never released in CD format, although a few of the tunes were used on compilation CDs later on.

This year, I conceived the idea of re-creating (re-writing) that project. I decided to record my 7 songs in fresh new arrangements, and added one older tune, plus 5 more new ones, and re-named the album “Back in the Window” as a nod to our past efforts. 13 songs that you can make up your own words to, if you like.

The front cover features a photo of a window that stands on a small hill in our back yard: a sort of “Gateway to another world.” You can’t see them, but there really are green fence posts that support the sides of the window; in this photo I managed (accidentally) to lose them in the background; so it looks photo-shopped, but it isn’t.

This CD was recently posted at CDBaby. There you can sample individual cuts, or download the entire album.

It will soon be available through Apple iTunes, Amazon, Napster, Rhapsody and a lot of other internet outlets. Enjoy the music!