Album Notes

My Music:

My first CD "Last Round" is what I call my “greatest hits”! I have spent my entire life writing songs, now I have picked the best of the best to make a CD that has something for everyone. My music at times is very personal; dealing with topics of Death, Life and Love, but at other times just stories that flowed through my mind. Songs like “Show Me The Way” came to me at a very young age and I have yet to actually have a son, but this irony of life and song is unbelievable to me. My songs have now matched where I am in my life. When I was young, I felt I was writing with a very mature lyrical content and the reality was, I really wasn’t that mature, musically and mentally, by the way if you know me, I am not sure if I am “mature” yet! I am proud to say the song “Don’t Walk Away” has been with me since the age of 13 and this song is still by far, the first song everyone comments on as their favorite. I think I have played this song, “Don’t Walk Away” in every original group I have been in and I by far, like this version the best. If you want to sample songs track by track, I recommend starting with “Don’t Walk Away”


About the CD


Last Round:

I kept the first eleven tracks true to my song “Last Round”, it was a project that developed with me stepping away from my original music and then being thrusted back into “going for it”. (This ironically has happened again) Pay attention to the lyrics in the song “Last Round” and I think you will understand, it was the way we (at one time Last Round was my band) performed all the eleven songs live. To stay true to the lyrics of “Last Round” I decided to include my version of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me” on my first CD release. “Bring It on Home to Me”, was a song I covered and rearranged when I was performing with the group Last Round, almost every time I sing this song, people ask about the tune.

The Recording process:

I am very proud to say, almost everything you hear on these tracks is me, vocals, guitars, piano, bass and drums, but I did call on one friend (a reference to Last Round lyrics) Doug Arendas, to play some of the more intense percussion parts. I wanted this to be an honest, very human sounding CD, so I fixed very little. Most vocal and instrumental tracks were one to two takes and very little if any sequencing was used. I also used no cut, copy and pasted during recording and editing. And finally, I am proud to say, not one bit of pitch correction was used on anything during mixing or recording. I think the final result of the CD paid off, it was my attempt to get current music back to a more real sound, like before the invention of digital recording! Not every harmony is exactly the same and the tempo breaths like real player/players would play it live. I recorded all the tracks on my home equipment and enjoyed every moment tremendously. Recording, unlike in years before was a pleasure, because as I said earlier, my musical abilities have grown. When I record now, I don’t need a million takes to get things right, my voice is now a more proficient instrument, thanks to Mary Walkley and also many years of performing and practicing.