Closer Now is my flock of black sheep -- those songs that writers probably all have in their catalog somewhere that don't have hit single appeal to those able to recognize that sort of thing, whatever that is. Now if you're Dianne Warren, you get paid as much for your black sheep as your prize stock. If you're John Hiatt, a phonecall to Jeff Healy, Bonnie Raitt or Ry Cooder gets you cut. Then there's me -- who has to make do with what he's got. That being said, those I've been working with on the songs thought it might be wise to give you some background, so that's what I'm doing here.

There are those in the songwriting community who preach the gospel of clarity, and insist that if a writer has to explain a song, then they haven't written that song well enough. That always struck me as a little over the top, frankly. When I think of a lot of my favorite songs, I couldn't sit down and say to you something like, "Okay, this one's about a dysfunctional family redeemed through the simple devotion of their pet Siamese cat, who in the song is rendered as a metaphor of still waters in sunlight." So while the songs on the album are, I think, fairly self-explanatory, please feel free to read between the lines as you see fit. The struggles I've gone through writing, and re-writing these songs has already revealed plenty of interesting layers of meaning -- whether I intended them to be there or not.

In answer to your questions -- Ray Bouche was a real person and Rosie's is a real place -- while on the other hand, the lady in Look Away is a work of fiction based loosely on living people who shall remain anonymous. Might As Well Just Fade Away is a look at that resigned comfort that comes with age, as in large part, are the musings you'll find in Uncharted. Since you can take the boy out of the English Department, but not the English Department out of the boy -- you'll find several interesting lines borrowed from famous plays and poems ... most noticeably The Glass Menagerie, but I won't tell you where. That way, if you find the line, I'll know you listened to the entire album at least once.

For the technically curious, the album was recorded on a Tascam 424MKII multitrack recorder, mixed down to Sony MiniDisc (MJ302C recorder) and mastered using SoundForge 4.5 ... the album was not recorded using the Aphex Aural Exciter, but if I'd had access to one for the sessions, it probably would have been. Instruments used are Yamaha PSR520, Kawai K1II and Moog Opus 3 keyboards, Fender Bullet electric guitar, Zoom RT123 Rhythm Composer and Alesis MMT8 MIDI Recorder (who cheerfully told me one day "Bummer dude! Memory full!" ... who the hell programs these things?). Post processing is courtesy of ART FX1 studio multiverbs.

Lastly, you've probably figured out I'm not going to win on Star Search anytime soon, and that my real talents as a singer lie in the fact that I show up for sessions on time, sober and know all the words. Nonetheless, I hope the songs come across, and that you actually enjoy some or all of them.