Album Notes

The title track was the first song I wrote for this collection and it set the tone for the rest of the material which, in general, concerns itself with the average Joes and plain Janes that I have sometimes had the great pleasure of running into in my life. Along with this are songs about delivering clowns to New Yorkers, narcotics crazed bar flies, and a debutante's fling with the wild side of life. The music itself is a bit more grounded than that of "Western Skies" since the subject matter tends to be about all-too common day to day occurrences. Ideally, I wanted the music to have an off-hand easy flow to it and, due to this, many of the tunes have an accessibility which does not always line up with what the words are trying to say - this, perhaps, may be what I like most about this collection. There are a couple of tunes that stick extremely close to song styles of bygone eras. One, in particular, is a tribute to the immortal Boswell Sisters who are on my current must play list. I wrote the material over the course of several months and recorded it in two 4 hour sessions. Most of the tracks on this CD are first takes. All lyrics to Ring Of Smoke @ www.mmattei.com

Maurice Mattei started writing songs in his early teen years. After the release of his first recordings in 1983 and 1988 he abandoned music to pursue photography. His interest lay primarily in documentary photography and this led him into certain social circles (Bikers, Drug Addicts, Debutantes, Wrestlers, Strippers, Socialites, Celebrities, etc.) that he found to be strangely new and oddly exciting. This vast and glorious parade of life re-ignited his desire to write songs.

In 1995 he released his first CD of original material. He has since released 8 CD's, the latest being a live recording entitled "Ring Of Smoke". In addition to CD's, Mr. Mattei has released three cassette tapes, two 7-inch singles, one tape-cassette single, one CD single and a DVD since 1995. To see a complete discography, examples of photographic works, lyrics page, additional mp3's, and miscellaneous writings please go to the Maurice Mattei web site - www.mmattei.com.

Influences include Robert Johnson (Blues Singer), William Burroughs (Writer), Billie Holiday (Jazz Singer), Chuck Berry (Singer/Songwriter), Robert Frank (Photographer), Keith Richard (Singer/Songwriter), Donatien-Alphonse-Francois de Sade (Writer), The Beatles (Rock Band), Leonardo Da Vinci (Artist/Inventor), Elvis Presley (Singer), Marcus Aurelius (Writer/Emperor) and Buffy Davis (Actress).