Can you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your musical journey and background?
Both my parents were musicians, and I started out real early, playing professionally by the time I was fifteen. I got a scholarship to a music conservatory, and got a paid internship in the school’s recording studio. From there on out, it’s just been recording my songs and playing them live, and (hopefully) getting better each year at doing this.
Musical Influences
Who are some of your biggest musical influences, and how have they shaped your sound and style?
Growing up with parents for musicians, you get exposed to so much music that it’s hard to break it down to just a few influences. I heard a lot of vintage country and blues when I first started playing, and although I blend a lot of different styles and genres, that’s still the backbone of everything I do.
Can you share a specific artist or album that has had a significant impact on your music?
Hard to narrow those down to just one. I just inherited my dad’s collection of 3500 records, so we could be here all night trying to do this!
What’s your creative process like when you’re composing or writing a new song?
Usually, I find that my best ideas come like a bolt from out of the blue, either early in the morning or sometimes in the middle of the night, and if I know I’ve got something, I have to capture it immediately. So if I’m in a hotel room, I’ve already got a few instruments with me and I can get the idea down immediately on my phone If I’m driving, I’ve got to pull over and do that on the side of the road.
If I’m at home, I get up immediately, whatever time it is, and go downstairs to the studio to get it down. This is why I call my studio the “war room” – I’ve got thirty or so instruments in there; guitars, mandolins, basses, keyboards, whatever – and they’re all hooked up and ready to go, like a fighter plane on standby on an aircraft carrier. The recording setup is very simple and quick and cranks up in seconds. I’ll record something right away, and most often, some or all of what you hear on the final recording was actually the original demo, warts and all, from 4am or whatever, because you lose the spark if you try to go back and cut the “real” thing later.
Favorite Song
Among all the songs you’ve created, do you have a personal favorite? If so, what makes it special to you?
I’m going to pick “Hometown Hotel” because a friend of mine recently he told me he thought it was my finest songwriting moment. It’s nice to step back and let somebody else make that call.
I grew up in – shall we say – modest circumstances. We were not poor; I knew poor kids, and I want to make it very clear that I was not one of them. But we lived in what was essentially a glorified five-room shack on a back lot, off the beaten path. It was, quite literally, on the proverbial “wrong side of the tracks” – the more well-to-do folks and their nice houses were on the other side of a set of railroad tracks. I remember being embarrassed and almost ashamed when kids from school came over.
Well, that house is everything I’m about now. If I have any redeeming qualities at all, they came from that house. We had a great family life, we had music, my brother and I both had a great childhood, and we didn’t need any money or fancy possessions. You realize that stuff much later on, of course.
I’d been occasionally going back to that house after my folks died. It was abandoned and falling apart, being swallowed up by the surrounding woods. I just wanted to be near it, and all kinds of things would run through my mind. Following in my dad’s footsteps into music as a profession was kind of a double-edged sword; he was proud and we shared a lot of great moments, but there were also some generational conflicts and a sense of rivalry and maybe some envy there when I started to do pretty well, while his day in the sun had passed.
We were both very head-strong, and not everything was resolved before he passed. I’m still very angry at him about some things, but I’m also aware of how blessed I am to have had that relationship. All of that came out in that song, which was written while sitting by that old house. I think it also accomplished a crucial objective of songwriting, which is to merge the personal with the universal. Most people have had some stuff like what’s going on in that song happen in their own lives.
I think the studio recording was way over-produced, because I felt I had this grand statement, so I had to have some over-the-top “epic” recording of it. I’m much happier with the version on this live album, which was just me alone on piano, from a show in England. I think the song is much more well-served that way.
Let’s talk about your latest song. What’s the title, and what’s the story or message behind it?
I don’t really have a latest “song” per se – I just released an entire two-volume live set. I got blindsided last year with a cancer diagnosis. When you get hit with that kind of news, your life flashes in front of you. I had released five records, and I thought, “Is this what I’ll leave behind? Is this all I’ll have to be remembered by after I’m gone?” I’d spent the last few years working my tail off doing live dates. I’d made a living at it and enjoyed so many great moments interacting with people, but all that was fleeting. It doesn’t get documented, like when you go into the studio and make a record.
Then I remembered that a tiny fraction of that work actually had been recorded. I went through all the shows we’d done recently that were captured on multi-track. There weren’t a whole lot of them, but we went with what we had.
The first volume is all stripped-down or solo stuff, and the second volume is all stuff with the band. It’s essentially a snapshot of what’s been my setlist for the past several years. It’s also kind of a retrospective for me, sort of an end of an era, because I’m going to be moving on from a lot of these songs. They’ve done their duty, and I’ve got a whole new batch of music coming. Unless you want to have like a frigging five-hour show, you’ve got to eventually roll over the setlist and retire some things to make room for new music.
So far, it looks like I’ve beaten this cancer thing for the time being. I had a tumor removed and the cancer doesn’t seem to have spread, but we’re keeping a close eye on it. The silver lining here is that, after receiving that diagnosis, I went out every night and savored every note. It’s a blessing to be able to do this for a living, and I’ll never take it for granted again. But I have no delusions about cancer; I’m OK for now, but I’ll be looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life.
Share a memorable or unique experience from one of your live performances.
I have a great self-deprecating one for you…I was playing on this big stage by the ocean in front of a large audience. It was a solo show in a setting that was probably better suited to a full-band thing, a real party vibe, but I was holding my own. I was starting to sweat a little, like maybe I wasn’t going over that well. Then, all of a sudden, the crowd roared to life and started cheering. I thought to myself “Yeah, that’s right, people, you know I got it goin’ on.”
Then I turned around and saw that this huge yacht was docking behind me. The cast of one of those “Housewives Of Wherever” TV shows, all clad in bikinis with their entourage of rappers and hard-partying hangers-on came down the ramp. One of their handlers yelled in my ear that the star of the show (I don’t remember her name, I’ve never seen those shows) wanted to sing a duet with me. I said “sure.”
I just went with it. I don’t even remember what we sang together, but the whole thing was so bizarre and surreal that I couldn’t stop laughing – especially at myself. I guess the lesson is, every time you start thinking you’re Mr. Big Thing, life will find a way to suggest otherwise and humble you.
Beyond music, do you have any hobbies or interests that you’re passionate about? How do they influence your music?
I am a sports freak – football and hockey. I am also a total American history geek, and I’m also very politically active. The greatest influence all those things have on my music is taking me AWAY from it. When you do this for a living, you have to worry about burnout. Always make sure you have other interests. That’ll also make you a very well-rounded person. I can’t tell you how many musicians I’ve met who may be great at what they do, but they can’t hold a conversation about much of anything else.
Is there a dream collaboration you’d like to pursue in the future?
I am a huge Lucy Woodward fan. I’ve never actually met her and I only know her through friends of friends, but she is my favorite female vocalist and just a monster performer and creator. I don’t know of anyone else who does their own “thing” like Lucy does; it’s so unique, you can’t even really categorize it. It isn’t gypsy jazz, it isn’t pop, it isn’t funk and yet – it IS all of that. I don’t even know what I’d do with her, and frankly, I’m not sure I could keep up!
What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are just starting their journey in the music industry?
It takes time – years in fact – to get up and running. It’s a slow, incremental growth, and you just have to stick with it. The most important things are: 1.) don’t try to do anything else; stay focused and make sure music is always the most important thing in your life, and 2.) learn to do as an many things on your own as you can.
Can you give us a sneak peek into any upcoming projects or new music you have in the works? What can your fans and listeners look forward to from you in the near future?
I’m finishing off a new record now for a release this fall. It features a duet with another of my favorite singers, Juliana Riccardi. She lives in Los Angeles now, but I met her and started working with her when we were both living in New York City. Her regular guitar player couldn’t do a gig and referred me to fill in at the last minute; she came over and we met and hastily prepared a set of her songs the day before the gig.
She wanted to do one cover tune; Tim Hardin‘s “If I Were A Carpenter” – a song that goes all the way back to the sixties. She picked the key and the tempo and the overall vibe, and it felt so good and went over so well, I suggested we record it as a duet. That track has been laying around for a while, but friends who’ve heard it have called me an idiot for not releasing it, so I’ll put it on this new album.