Behind Winding Day...

This CD was my first attempt at making ‘an album’ in the traditional sense of the term. My first release “Movin’ On” ( MO ) was a collection of songs that I’d recorded, and that people liked. As a result I polished it up and packaged it. This CD, however, was a result of the feedback and knowledge I’d gained along the way. Does that make it better? I’m not sure. But I can say that more effort certainly went into the Production and Engineering side of the project. I received a lot of good feedback from MO about the songs so I decided to stick to the same formula for this CD. That is, some of my older songs from my song bank ( One Step For Me, Lonestar, Jealous Guy ), as well as contributing some new material ( So Long Gone, Winding Day, Hourglass ). In the end I wound up recording about 25 songs, but I only seriously polished the 15 that appear on the CD. I left the rest in various states of disrepair, so there is a bit of ‘shrapnel’ lying around.

I also made a conscious effort to try to make this more of a Rock album. “Movin’ On” was labelled an Alt Country effort, and although I was flattered, I really feel that I’m more AAA/Americana than Country. I’d produced some songs on MO ( What About Me, Pick Me Up ) in the Country vein so maybe that was why, but I really wanted to take this Project a little closer to the Rock side of things. Of course I don’t like being pigeon-holed, but the media folks must do what they do.

The CD opens with the Upbeat ‘So Long Gone’. From the outset I was trying to relay the impression that this CD is about Faith, Hope, and Perseverance ( Been turnin’ that corner for sometime….Been leavin’ the past all alone in the dust….Been lucky to find someone we’re able to trust ). Life’s a journey for all of us - It’s just how you deal with it that counts. Ditto for “Time Flyin’ By”, “One Step For Me”, “Hourglass”, and “Hard To Find” - More analytics of the everyday grind.

Once again I tried to centre the project around a song. The title track “Winding Day” tries to summarize the exit of one phase, and the transition to another. As I approached my 10th anniversary of migrating Westward I tried to rationalize my headspace at the time of the move. I tried to splash it against the actual night I took off and drove for what seemed like forever - All the while maintaining the vision of what I was leaving, but not knowing what I was going to. ( Them crazy days we seemed to leave them in the haze…..Began another phase and let it all play…..Leave it back there in that dust and start a winding day ). “On His Way” is a track that is the other side of the coin so to speak. It looks back on the Migration a number of years later. It’s about the most “Countryish” song on the CD.

There are the usual songs about relationships and their cost like “Just Let Me Be” ( from about 15 years ago ), and “Jealous Guy” ( originates from high school ). Not much to comment on here but these came out pretty nice so I decided to include them. An interesting aside in this category however is “Heaven Knows”. It is a skit about lost lovers who are not only separated by space ( a river ), but also by life’s events ( one’s married and one isn’t ). The concept of Heaven being the only one that knows what the solution will be lends credence to my faithful side.

“Nightlight” is a song which tries to portrait a glimmer of hope on a dull day. I think we all have a nightlight somewhere in our life ( be it person, place, or thing ). I tried to produce this recording as me sitting on a stage all alone ( sound check perhaps? ), a little road-weary, and waning for the comforts of home.

"Lonestar" is a song from a journey I had through the state of Texas about 15 years ago. I had also been interested in some of the States' history ( JFK, Stevie Ray ), so I hit areas that were of interest - Namely Dallas and Austin. I wasn't much of a fan of this song until my buddy Damon lent his talents and added the twangy guitars. I then harmonized them and the song took on a life of its own.

“Lost In A Song” is an older track I’ve kept around for a long time. It dialogues a time in my life when I used to drive a whole lot and I always had the music to keep me going. I liked the way the guitar work on this song turned out so I decided to include it.

“I’ll Be Waitin’ For Ya” is a song I stole from my Blues collection. I thought the record needed a little ‘waking up’ at some point so I included this. I’m also a guitarist that’s from the Blues era so I like to include at least one of these on each project.

The CD concludes with a lullaby that I wrote after my son was born. It was a magic time. That’s him saying ‘Bye Bye’ at the end. He was about 15 months then.

I’m happy with the result of this project. I succeeded in doing what I’d set out to do. Overall it’s an improvement on the first CD so I can’t wait for the next one!