Background on the new EP Songs

Wanted to give everybody some personal notes on the songs on the new "Five Songs" EP. You will be able to pre-order it very soon.


1. Loving Arms: Guitar-wise this song grew out of a simple shuffle pattern based on a C Major chord. I wanted it too feel loose, rambling and laid back - a little of that folk blues feel. Jon Carroll (Mary Chapin Carpenter, Starland Vocal Band) played organ on this one. Random aside: I sing at my daughter's preschool sometimes and I remember working on this one (musically at least) in between singing for the little ones - lest anyone think I'm a rock star or anything.



2. On Your Side: This is one of the first one I finished from this batch of tunes. Pretty straightforward - pledging allegiance sort of tune. Got to play this one at my brother Daniel's wedding last summer. My friend Todd Wright said even my "love songs" are more "life songs". That's a real compliment to me and when people ask me to play at their wedding or a funeral it's one of the greatest honors that my music has a place there.



3. Wrecking Ball: This one is pretty dense lyrically. How powerful is love to affect change? I was thinking about how much we can really change - how much of who we are is inherited and how someone else's love can affect change in us. Can we really break down these barriers we've built up around us? At some point you need to decide what you want and how hard you are willing to work for it and what sacrifices you are willing to make - whether it's to keep a relationship going, or a career, or working for what you believe in. It's HARDEST when there is no reward in site.



4. Can't Save Yourself: I had the idea for this one for a couple years but never finished it. Then one morning I was writing at home and I saw two Mormon missionaries walking down the street towards my house. I didn't feel like talking with them so I took my guitar and went to the basement to wait it out. I finished the song right there. It has nothing to do with mormons...



5. Sun Gonna Rise: I got real into Townes Van Zandt for a while last year. This one I wrote pretty quickly during that time. Not that there is much correlation...just saying. There's a line about birds singing in it and every time we come to that line in rehearsal the band makes bird noises - not always friendly sounding birds either.