ROOTS RUN DEEP – 12 songs of family, friends, heartache, hope, and home.
With lyrics written over the course of the last 2-plus decades of my life, and music flavored with Celtic and Americana roots, my new album is dedicated to, and written about, the people and places who’ve shaped my life. You can find it on most major streaming platforms, or purchase it in CD format, at the places listed below:
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Or stream it on Spotify:
ABOUT THE SONGS:
Track 1: Sheryle (Hell’s Ugly Hounds):
-The lyrics for this one written 9 years ago, when my sister was going through a series of setbacks and heartbreaks. I hadn’t previously shared them with her because I felt they were never quite right, but when I decided on the overall theme of Roots Run Deep, I knew I needed to include the song. I re-worked the lyrics into a song I was happy with, and decided to make it the first track.
Track 2: Maybe
-These words were first written 10 years ago, then revised, then revised some more, then recorded in a version that I’ve since lost. I knew this one would be on the album somewhere. It’s both an ode to my friends from karaoke night at The Parrot’s Kay in Grand Forks, and also a love letter to bands like The Dropkick Murphy’s and Flogging Molly, who are responsible for re-igniting my love of writing some dozen years ago.
Track 3: Big Don
-This one was written recently, but is a reworking of a poem my Uncle Pete wrote over twenty years ago after my father’s passing. I didn’t change much of the substance (other than adding the last part about the God awful fishing hat he insisted on wearing for almost 20 years), just tried to make the lines flow a little better to the music. The tone and character are still the same, and fit my Dad’s personality too a T (and, to be honest, Uncle Pete’s as well).
Track 4: Will the Trumpets Sound?
-This was written within the last year. This is me, wondering what it will take for actual change. How much will it take for the people of this country to get tired of business as usual. When we will realize that every politician that says “No more business as usual” will indeed conduct business as usual, and not let them place the people they’re supposed to represent at the bottom of their list of priorities.
Track 5: Kid
-This was written the first time when I was the ripe old age of 18. Most of what I wrote then (and in the immediate years after) was over-earnest, pure sentimental vanilla crap, but this one stuck with me. At least the first verse did. The second verse is cobbled together from what I could remember, and then flavored with the decades of experience since I first wrote it.
Track 6: Yesterday’s Glories
-This was written and recorded (the first version) about 12 years ago, when I first started writing again. Thanks to a hard drive failure, I no longer have the original recording, but I’ve also learned a lot about production in the last 12 years, so this one is definitely better. It’s about the combination of joy and sadness at looking back on those who’ve left your life, and also celebrating making new memories.
Track 7: The Right Time
-Another victim of, but also blessed by, a hardware failure. Just a sad little song not about lost love, but the lost opportunity FOR love – about never taking the opportunity to tell someone how them make you feel, and losing out on the chance to see if they feel the same.
Track 8: Remember Them
-This was written around Christmas time of 2017. Dedicated to those who aren’t around to experience it now, or don’t have anyone to share the holidays with. Those who’ve died in pointless wars – soldier and civilian, those who lost their battles with addiction or other diseases, the homeless. The people who need the Christmas “Spirit” most, but get ignored by the overwhelming majority of us because we prefer not to think about them.
Track 9: 3rd and Broadway
-Written within the last year. A love song to my constant Tuesday Night Karaoke haunt, and the colorful cast of characters who’ve come into and/or through my life over the years thanks to Dempsey’s Public House.
Track 10: Sweet Melinda
-Written in January of 2019 during a writing binge. A love song of sorts. A song for someone who pops into your head at random moments, who usually makes you smile, who you feel a spark with, but who also aggravates and frustrates you to your wit’s end sometimes (and, in fairness, someone you do they same thing too). If I had to boil it down to a single sentence, it would be “I love and appreciate you most of the time.”
Track 11:Anymore
-Another song from yesteryear (around 10 or 11 I’d have to say), and another one that benefitted from production and recording experience in the meantime. A song about a slow, gradual break-up – nothing dramatic or drastic, just a slow, sad realization that the fire is out.
Track 12: Roots Run Deep
-Also written in January of 2019. The title track from the album that I originally didn’t plan to write, until I reflected on the track list and the idea for it popped into my head. It’s a song about home – going home, missing home, or even just the feeling of home, and the warmth and peace that feeling brings.