Never Be The Same

I was late to the studio yesterday, on account of a) squeezing in a 12-mile run with my brother and b) failing to find a cab. That’s the bad news. The good news is, by the time I got there, Tony and Kevin had already wrapped a killer lead guitar line — on the first take.

‘Never Be The Same’ started some three years ago as yet another GEmCD acoustic pop song about time passing, ‘making it,’ and Audience Appreciation 101. It’s evolved and devolved since then, from Oasis-style distor-o-pop, to solo acoustic simplicity, to where it is now: somewhere between The Police’s ‘Every Breath You Take,’ REM’s ‘Electrolite,’ and, well, one of mine. Tony’s lead line sealed it’s fate: it’s the perfect track two for the new CD. Uptempo, optomistic, and just plain beautiful. And all I had to do is show up late.

The making of this record has been that sort of process from the outset. It’s taken shape almost effortlessly. As H pointed out, the ten years and 6+ albums of agonizing, painstaking work and seemingly fruitless labor that has proceeded it has helped me appreciate the joy, simplicity, and ease with which this one’s come together. All I had to do is relish the process, and let go of the outcome. (That’s all!) And grow up a little. Strike that: grow up a lot.

So I remain excited. Thrilled even. I can’t wait to get into Control-One next. Just ask Kevin: I pepper his inbox daily with schedules, plans, ideas, and notes of sheer enthusiasm. Or just ask Erin, whose inbox was clogged today with cover art ideas.

What will Almost Home sound like, you ask? What will it look like? I’m dying to share the songs in progress with you, to show you the cover art and liner notes. But nay, I won’t fritter your enthusiasm (please… tell me you’re half as enthusiastic as I am!) by trickling out the new stuff. Just take my word for it: this is something completely different. The next step. The Next Big Thing.

The schedule’s shifted a bit. Kev and I will be adding final instrumentation Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday. Next week, Julia will drop in her cello, and Jason will re-track his guitar, and add vocals. Then all I have to do is track my final vocals.

But then comes the real work: cover art, duplication, liner notes. And worse: lining up the living room tour. Figuring out how to get to Boston, Philadelphia, D.C., Richmond, Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Athens, Nashville, Cleveland, Indianapolis and back again without pissing off The Man.

“All you wanna’ do is something good,” Amiee Mann sings on “It’s Not Safe.” Indeed. All I want to do i something good. Just once. Just… every day. Just every waking, breathing moment.