I've been talking for a few years about this CD called Gone Gone Gone. I worked on the thing for two years... then I threw it away and started over and two months later a new record had been born, one with grace and beautiful imperfection and personality... my personality. I almost gave up, but I didn't. I kept going possibly primarily out of stubborness and pride, but also out of respect for the songs and for myself... and the sacredness of art and creation. I also kept going because of the letters and emails I received encourageing me...
I was reading Tape-op, a geek project-recording magazine recently and I saw a phrase which caught my attention: "perfect is the enemy of good." I think what I hate about most new recordings is that they are perfect, and perfect is absolutely the most boring thing in the world that I can think of. I think I've always been in a struggle to make imperfect but good recordings. My favorite artists do this: Dan Bern, Ani DiFranco, even the Beatles (Woody Guthrie was moving too fast to be too interested in recording, so he's an exception...) There is a Tom Waits song called "Frank's Wild Years" where Tom coughs during a pause in the lyrics. I have a great memory of riding in a car with my friend Frank Marotta Jr. and both of us literally holding our breath waiting for that cough which we'd both heard thousands of times before...Radiohead's Thom York's voice seems to crack just when I, as a listener, needs to connect with his vulnerability... This sort of thing just MAKES these recordings... I had Abbie Gardner in to record "I Ain't Got No Home" and there is this "ooh ooh" part. Towards the end she's getting into it and she kind of takes off, like a soul-singer (which she is really...) It's a beautiful moment of human emotion... My voice breaks in one of the choruses of "Salutations California Style," a song about trying desperately to find a home, to find a family, to find a place to belong. In the song "Free," drummer Andy Ladue and I were jamming away and he thought the planned fade-out was probably over and was playing really loosely. He just out of the blue cuts the time in half to this reggae thing and by some telepathy I am hanging right with him, and then he turns it back around... it is a magical moment. It is after the fade was supposed to end so it makes the song a minute longer, but to me it is the reason for that recording of the song... It is just a magical moment between 2 musicians who respect each other and are hopelessy in love with the groove.
I hope you'll buy this CD and give it a bunch of listens. I wrote many of these songs in the 2 years or so leading up to my divorce, but I also wrote 3 of them in the face of a nervous breakdown celebrating the freedom which came from hitting bottom in my life. The freedom which comes from going to hell and knowing that you have nothing to fear because you've already been to hell. Many of you have been to that place... you know what I'm talking about. And then there's the Woody Guthrie song, sixty years old and more relevant then ever... This CD is a celebration of transcendence, survival, pain, and joy... A celebration of the human experience. Elliott Smith says what he wanted to do in his songs was "show what it is to be human..." I hope you'll listen to my new CD and get something from it... Thank you for your support.
I also want to thank musicians who played on the scrapped version: Andy LaDue, Pat Wictor, Kathleen Pemble, Ali Chambliss, Marc Jacoby, Scott Hull, and Steve Kirkman, who all respected the songs and played their hearts out. I also want to thank the producer of the first scrapped version who reminded me that "perfect is the enemy of good." And who also reminded me that I am an artist and am supposed to make my art and get it out into the world, not hoard it like a squirrel with his nuts for winter. The next time someone tries to force me to hold back my work I will probably kick his ass first and ask questions later... or since it is against my nature to fight, I'll at least get the hell out of there.
Art is a human thing. It is fragile, fickle, stubborn, strong, vulnerable... it can only thrive when it is treated as a living thing. I re-made the record and took it out of its cage, let it take some risks and cross some boundaries. I hope you like it...

Friday, March 24th 2006