This collection of 11 songs comes as a result of many life experiences, observations and obsession with how my influences were able to capture topics both fun and serious brilliantly in song form. There is nothing more beautiful to me than effectively capturing a “feeling” in a
4-minute piece of music.
This record is primarily about three things: Family, tragedy, and the human condition. Naming the collection Turn on the Light made sense as the phrase covers a lot of ground. Turn on the light to our consciousness...to society...to past tragedies...to reconciliation...?
These songs can and have been interpreted in many ways, and it is my hope that anyone listening makes them their own. Though, I always wished I knew what my favorite songwriters were thinking when listening to their songs. Therefore, I am going to let you in on my thoughts.
The songs:
Enlightenment and Turn on the Light go hand-in-hand. There is an epiphany and the coming to grips with some past abuse or oppression with the opportunity to now process the issue and even seek retribution and/or healing today.
How Do You Know? - a human condition we all face of not always knowing when to leave a situation whether it is a job, career, relationship, or even a conversation…until it’s usually too late.
Where the Wild Things Are - a child’s perspective of domestic violence in the household blaming his/her toys for the violent sounds they hear in the night.
Self-Destruct - so many around us (including ourselves on occasion) going from 1-10 on the rage scale for things both big and small and even apparently pushing a personal self-destruct button…sometimes when things are going too well.
I Still Feel You - written for my wife as a conversation with her mother Diane who passed away at 52 years old. It is a song about still being connected to and learning from lost loved ones every day, even though they may have been gone for a long time.
Come on Down - a linear voyage about how family and friends seem to be there for us at key moments in our lives. From birth, graduations, interventions, and marriage, they truly do “fill the room” for us!
I’ll Wait for You - about lost opportunities- my earliest song.
No Reason Why - this album’s only protest song chiding Congress (both sides) because it allows politics to poison the waters and distract from doing its job - protecting the citizenry... especially if it is a "hot button" issue.
Goodbye to You - trying to capture the sadness, desperation, and HOPE of someone who is thinking about ending their life.
Bonus track - Just Hope - a song written and sung by my 8 year-old daughter Madeline when kids were forced to quarantine away from friends and some family in the spring of 2020. To my ear, it captures the optimism of a child during a very difficult time. My other daughters Morgann (7) & Kaitlyn (18) join her in the “choir” section that brings the song to a close.