Posts Tagged ‘Forever Young’

Difficult to tell for sure, but I think today’s the day it clicked for Maggie. “Oh, that sound I keep hearing from the speakers is Daddy.” Maggie’s a handfull. I mean, she’s actually quite fun: short on tears, long on giggles and squeals. But she’s super-curious and uber-wobbly. Maggie’s primary passtime is unloading her bookshelf…

The hardest part about recording “Golden Slumbers” with Casey Shea was asking Casey Shea to record “Golden Slumbers.” I’ve known Mr. Shea pushing ten years now. Still, it didn’t take ten minutes to discover his affinity for The Fab Four. At his own wedding, Casey nailed “All My Loving.” At my wedding (where the purvasive…

I’d been angling to collaborate with Raining Jane’s Mai Bloomfield for nearly three years. It took me that long to find the right song. I first met Mai in 2008. Raining Jane was opening for The Nadas in Des Moines. I was opening for both. The ladies knocked my socks off with their three-part harmony.…

Jeff Jacobson and Patrick Riley have never met, and are separated by a thousand miles of Heartland. Still, they helped me create one of the most-beautiful recordings of my life. For nearly twenty years, I’ve described my brand of singer/songwriter fare as “Less James Taylor, More James Hetfield.” It’s a stretch for those who know…

Funny how things change. Years ago now, I was in a country cover band called The Smith Family. Almost Home producer Kevin Anthony had tired of of his techno outfit, Electroland, so formed the band with a nod to his Galveston, TX, country roots. I eagerly signed on. Kevin and I split front man duties…

It may not be immediately apparent, but the “Forever Young” track list is intended to reflect the arch of the day. From from “Rainbow Connection” through “Moon River,” the lyrics, instrumentation, and production start bigger and brighter, then transition to more somber and sleepy. “Mr. Tambourine Man,” then, is all about the transition to night.…

Growing up, “The Boxer” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water” were in far heavier rotation than “The Only Living Boy In New York.” Sadly (perhaps), it took 2004’s “Garden State” to re-introduce this Simon & Garfunkle classic, the b-side to “Cecilia.” Apparently, Simon wrote the song as a thinly-veiled message to Art Garfunkel when he jetted…

In the summer of 1971, my mother was learning to play acoustic guitar. I was born in September, deep in the heart of the Singer/Songwriter Era: James Taylor, Carol King, Bob Dylan Jackson Brown, John Denver, Crosby, Stills & Nash were all on heavy rotation on The Wagner Family hi-fi. My birth announcement was the…