Album Notes

NOW #11 NATIONALLY ON THE FAR AMERICAN ROOTS CHART!!!

"AGUA NOIR" (dark waters) is a collection of 11 songs performed by PAUL EVANS (vocals/acoustic guitar), JIM HEFFERNAN (steel guitar, Dobro, electric lead and rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, banjo, and drum programs), BILL CORVINO (electric lead and rhythm guitar, gut string acoustic guitar), BRAD RUSSELL (bass guitar), and CHESTER FERGUSON (sax).

The songs were written by PAUL, with JIM composing the music on "WATER ME".

The songs are dark, and come from deep places in the heart, vocally, lyrically, and musically. The songs certainly are NOT your 'standard fare'.

From the complete loneliness and lost desperation of a condemned prisoner looking at a picture of the woman he loves in his cell, realizing he'll never be able to touch her ("As I Cry My Broken Heart To Sleep"), to the constant struggle of trying to keep from falling back into "The Hole" of depression, to the melancholy wonderment of trying to understand the intricate and mysterious life cycles of water and self ("Sweet Water River"), "AGUA NOIR" delivers "out of the box" songwriting and incredibly imaginative musicianship that is immediately embraced by the listener. The influences of Hank, Sr., Merle Haggard, Mark Knopfler, Johnny Cash, John Lennon...and even Leon Redbone thread and intertwine with PAUL'S vocal and writing originality throughout the entire CD.

"AGUA NOIR" contains several surprises, most notably, the spoken story, "WATER ME", (track 8), accompanied only by a beautifully written and performed acoustic guitar piece, about a tea pot that brings death to the woman that "found it" at a yard sale after she followed the instructions on the spout: "Water Me". The story is recited in "Piney Talk", a verbage nearly lost and forgotten to time, that originated in the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey.

Surprising, as well, is the simple, yet intricate lead banjo playing, and "twisted, full-circle" story in "Toodle Loodle Loo".

"AGUA NOIR" is 45+ minutes of music that re-introduces music for music's sake. It explores the deepest places in the human experience and soul, and is just plain fun and refreshing to listen to, albeit somewhat troublingly dark. It was recorded completely without ANY commercial agenda, which is why, perhaps, it is being embraced by multi-genre audiences everywhere.