Do It Now

This CD was kind of like a gust of creativity that blew in this past summer: In August of 2009, it was 105 degrees outside here in Tucson, and my car broke down in the garage of my house; it was one of those things where everything broke at the same time, and there was no way I could get it fixed up any time soon. So I found myself in a situation where I could possibly be bored silly and feel trapped - instead, and it wasn't much of a conscious choice, I started to pick up my guitar and noodle around. I've never really been disciplined or focused when it comes to writing songs, but I started getting up early (!) and picking up my guitar every morning, and lo and behold, the songs started coming - one, two, sometimes three a week! There was just this energy to them, I felt like I had somehow tapped into this wise, beautiful and fathomless creative source, and out they flew. All I had to do was catch them.

I recorded the songs as I went along, and most of the tracks are live takes with the guitar and vocal. To me it feels like there's some kind of wisdom, beauty and hope embodied in a lot of these songs - this was a really welcome change for me, since my last CD was born out of a very difficult year. When it's difficult, it feels to me like life moves so slowly, and it's so hard to imagine that if you stick around long enough that you will actually find yourself happy again. And that's kind of the spirit of this record - not a superficial, false, mary poppins kind of happiness, but more like - when something is taken away from you, and you get it back, you're so grateful. You appreciate it in a way you couldn't if you hadn't lost it.

I guess mostly, writing these songs was documenting some kind of subconscious transition from giving up to finding hope again. And that might sound like a cliche, but I think when you hear the songs, you'll know it's not a gimmick or an angle. You know when you're hearing something real, honest and true - your ears and your gut and your heart tell you. This music is as real, honest and true as I can be, and I hope you find beauty and meaning and comfort in it.