Let It Go

Artist: David MacNeill
Album: Woman In White
Release: November 2012

Woman In White is my second album of original material. Like its 2008 predecessor Morningtown, this is a showcase of my rather eclectic songwriting, ranging from folk ballads to country pop to straight rock. The album does not have an overarching theme, rather it is simply the best 12 unreleased songs I have written to date. What holds them together sonically is my four-piece band with whom I have performed these songs hundreds of times. We spent a long cold Idaho winter in our private studio, tracking as live as possible until we got the perfect feel for each one.

Small Town Texas Girl is a song for my wife Leslie. A modern country tune that can double as a folk song when performed solo. It’s a kind of followup song to the title track of Morningtown, which is about the time and place I met her in 1988. That’s yours truly on lead guitar.

Woman In White was written while on tour in England after an experience in London that left a enormous impression on me, as described in the song. That feeling of never getting to know a fascinating person seen in passing, a kind of permanent mystery in a crowded world. Lance Taber played the scorching slide solo.

You Don’t Love Me Yet is written from the point of view of a dude who thinks of himself as a consummate lady’s man. It’s my attempt to convey the crazy internal dialog any man can understand. It’s a modern county-rock song in feel, with a mock seriousness to it. That’s me on lead guitar again, channeling Jeff Beck and Mark Knopfler but making a mess of it.

Call In The Marine is a message to my teenage daughter, told from the perspective of a soldier reassuring someone he loves that rescue is always a phone call away. This track is a traditional country ballad featuring gorgeous melodic guitar work by Lance Taber.

Less Of A Mess is a straight-on rock song written from the perspective of a (fictional) recovering addict, again featuring some mighty old-school blistering guitar work by Lance. It’s the kind of song that will help you face the day.

Let It Go is a rock ballad I wrote for a friend who fronts a blues-rock band. He’s a huge Eric Clapton fan so I tried to get that majestic feel EC does so well. It’s about trying to go back to one’s hometown and realizing it isn’t there anymore and one just has to accept that and move on.

Can’t Help Myself is a snappy pub-rocker written from the point of view of an obsessive but ultimately feckless fan stalker. Chris Murray contributed a stadium-size guitar solo for this track.

A Couple Of Years is a bouncy little jam number that has been a consistent crowd pleaser for us live. My family went through several years of serious financial crisis so the lyrics speaks of optimism for a better life that’s just within reach. I was going for a Red Hot Chili Peppers feel but it ended up just sounding like the David MacNeill Band. That’s me playing lead, too long and too loud as usual. It’s my record so I get to do that, right?

Holding On In Idaho is about a man whose wife has left him to work out his problems alone. I wanted it to feel like The Band but I flatter myself to think we achieved that. I’m playing both baritone guitar and electric 12-string on this number.

She Can Never Make Up Her Mind picks up the pace in a snappy little country-pop track about living with a perpetually indecisive lover. Lance came up with the swirling merry-go-round guitar bits, playing off the county fair scene in the bridge. Makes me smile ever time I hear it.

Bike In The Rain is a song co-written with Ken Cooper back in the late 1990’s for an acoustic trio we had at the time. It’s a cautionary tale about the cost of neglectfulness, rendered as a folk ballad in waltz time. The atmospheric pad underneath is my trademark “cloud guitar” technique that I also employ on Woman In White, Let It Go, and Holding On In Idaho. I could tell you how I do it but then...well, you know the drill.

Cool Blue Glass was inspired by a fond memory of a long lost lover. This is what happens when I try to write a bluegrass song and end up somewhere else. Kayleigh Jack plays the fiddle part that really pulls the whole thing together and gets your toes tappin’.

~David MacNeill, November 2012