Where The Story Goes (2015)
As we move forward in life and time, we sometimes wonder where it all will end up. This, for me, turned into the concept of “Where The Story Goes.”
This was the first record I've done where I played, recorded and mixed everything myself. I was working with what I had and trying to be a good steward the tools at my disposal. It was a great learning experience. It is my hope that these songs are cathartic and just a little bit transcendental in nature.
Song notes:
Angelina is a name for anybody and nobody. I wanted to write a love song, but had no one to write it to at the time. So I made up “Angelina” and wrote the song to her. Hopefully the song means something to people who are alone, or who remember being alone.
Unbroken - One of the most personal and honest songs I've ever written. The idea of “makeshift wings” had been around in several incarnations before resting permanently here. Hints of Icarus. Striving to accept freedom.
Mercy In The Moment - This song speaks of the heartache of personal pain. Much too often, we hurt ourselves much more than others hurt us. It is important to remember that there is mercy to accept and live with at every moment in life.
Box Of Stars – I had a small box painted and in the shape of a star. I used to keep keepsakes my daughter gave me in it. Little notes we passed to each other, mostly. The idea emerged of the "Box Of Stars” being a magical device that held eternity within it. Something special you share with one person.
So It Goes - “The fool I was becoming” is something I identified with very strongly. This song came to me one day while driving home for work. “So it goes” is a reference to a the Kurt Vonnegut book “Slaughterhosue Five” where each time mortality and death are dealt with the section ends with “so it goes”.
Learning To Crawl - “You have to crawl before you can walk” people say. I thought it would be amusing to reverse this. The singer is disillusioned because of his problems and decides it's time to revert back to crawling. The singer also hopes that there's more to existence than the mundane and material world that we encounter daily.
Where The Story Goes – The title track for the album and a very personal song. It was written for my wife Jenn, who loved me fiercely, sometimes as if her life depending on it. She never gave up and me (and she had plenty of chances). I love the lines: “The dust that we are made of we can never hide / But nothing lasts forever except what we decide.”
Arrow To The Sun – One of my favorite songs. After a time of great struggle, I found it important to say “The war is over now / Nobody lost or won". All our hopes and dreams are fired as an arrow into the sun, where they melt, and when the healing begins. This song was originally inspired by the book "Arrow To The Sun" by Gerald McDermott. It is a beautifully illustrated story about a Pueblo boy being turned into an arrow and sent to the sun to seek his father there.
