Hear the album on a platform of your choosing: https://synesthesia.ffm.to/songsforyou
Listen on Disco: https://s.disco.ac/csiopdhddysk
Over the years I’ve recorded my own versions of performances that I love. Some, more “sound a like” than others, but all bare bones and specific, just one mic to my guitar and vocal, in effort to practice and study these pieces of music as they are, as they live in me. “Songs for You” is a compilation of covers of some of these recordings, an album dedicated to these artists and songwriters’ works that I greatly respect and have learned from.
TRACK INSPIRATIONS
All Along The Watchtower, a song that has been covered by many amazing artists. I have done a few iterations of this song, and will likely continue to allow it to change as I change and evolve as an artist. In this arrangement, I am simply conveying what I understand Dylan to be saying, trying to pull focus by adding a more common song structure – verse, chorus, verse chorus, bridge chorus. Sometimes just hearing a new version of the songs gives us a whole new understanding of the words.
It seems like no singer in Nashville can’t get away from doing a version of Tennessee Whiskey. I recorded this song a few times, trying different things every time. The version I ended up with is a bit slower than the others, as a way to expose the truly elaborate vocal emphasis on certain lyrics that Stapleton originated. I also added a 3rd chord that you can almost hear in the original, that no one actually plays, but if you know classic R&B – anyone can imagine.
Sam Cooke is one of my absolute favorite songwriters and music professionals. This is recording of Bring It On Home To Me is simply a tip of the hat to a hero that will always be on my mind.
I love Stevie Wonder. His were my favorite songs to sing when I was finding my own voice as a kid, teenager and young adult. I’ve been on many Stevie tangents in my life, but Songs In The Key Of Life will always be a staple recording. With this version of Superstition, I tried to recreate this song in as bare a form as I could, leaving only blood, sweat and meaning on the floor. If you ever heard the drums on that record isolated, you can hear Stevie’s fingerprint in every stroke, sometimes clashing with the microphone. Even if all I’m doing is singing it as a tribute, Stevie’s simple words sting, and trap the listener in a way few know how to do.
I’ll be forever grateful for this song, A Song For You. Leon Russell has always been a favorite of mine, and it only becomes more clear the more things I learn he arranged or wrote, or had some part of, that I’ve always loved. This song proves to me that one must be ready when he wants to pursue this craft. This industry is an invite only feast. If you want to earn a place at the table, you have to contribute, or you’ll never be invited back. This recording, this single song is probably the reason I decided to release this album. It took me over 20 years playing to feel I was even close to a place to attempt a cover of this on guitar.
I once got to meet Bill Withers. Playing shows around Hollywood in my 20s led me to a series of shows playing with Kori Withers, BIll’s daughter, and he would frequent her shows from time to time. We got to sit and chat with my band, and like every great musician I’ve ever met, it was natural, like we all came through the same fraternity or something. It’s hard to describe that ease and understanding. I love this tune, Just The Two Of Us, as a collaboration between writers, and performers is a perfect example of how a simple, even basic song can come together to be made both unique and lasting.
Let’s Straighten It Out by Gwen McCrae via Latimore… I simply think this song is one of the sexiest songs I’ve ever heard. It’s both honest and wrenching, and I think something most can relate to that have every been in a long term thing.
This song, Mama You’ve Been On My Mind, was recorded specifically for a Jeff Buckley tribute I did in Chicago in 2021 as a practice recording. My goal was to blend Buckley’s version with the original Dylan recording, and my own interpretation of the lyric. As I worked this arrangement, I also found myself wanting to hear some specific changes that may have been choices in the time period of the song as sung by others. In my imagination this is one of those Dylan tunes it sounds like could’ve been written for someone else, another pop artist of the 60s, so I found myself wandering down that sonic path as the song travels along.
Ugh, Curtis Mayfield. If there’s a man I wish I could’ve known, good Lord, send me Curtis. People Get Ready… I just love how simple this song is. Of course I had to go and rearrange it a bit, treating a verse like a hook – just to make it my own. I first brought this betty out when on a short weekend tour with my good friend, Lamar Williams, Jr. I was only trying to keep up with his keen ability make anything sound timeless, and it was also around the time I began accompanying myself with solos and more instrumental breaks. This recording was done shortly after that tour, and around the same time as these Buckley covers.
I was once given advice from one my living, real-life heroes, Deron Johnson, on various ways to stand out from the crowd as an artist. We used to do various versions of Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah”, and once he recommended we do a version of this song, So Real, for a tribute we did together in LA. Though we didn’t do it at the time, as time passed and I was asked to do the tribute in Chicago in 2021, I decided on this song as an alternative. It’s lived in my mind ever since, and I’m glad to have finally given Deron’s advice a chance. The man was right.
