"FOR THE LOVE"

   "For The Love" is a song that's near to my heart. Not only does it answer the question of my why, but is also a song co-written by my friend "Big" Joe Matthews who passed away in 2015.  I first met “Big” Joe Matthews at a bar just off Music Row in the bottom of a Best Western called Pick’s.  He introduced himself as “Big Joe” from Oklahoma, and we kept on drinking that night till they shut it down.  For the next three or four years we gave Nashville hell :) .  Joe worked at the Nashville Music Guide, and I was a singing waiter.  

     He was one of those guys that would take over a room (for better or worse) the minute he walked in.  He’d either have the whole place laughing, or we’d get kicked out after a few drinks.  When I was at my lowest he was there for me, whether it was a couch to crash on, food, beer, whatever.  He was one of the few people I could trust in this town.  

     Every crazy Nashville story you can think of we lived it.  From playing every dive in town, to trying  to host an internet radio show, or sneaking a limo complete with steer horns in the artist line at the CMA Awards, we had a blast and never thought about tomorrow.   I’ll never forget going to Hank Williams Jr. manager’s Christmas Party one year, and how Joe got us in I’ll never know.  Everyone was dressed up, they had a full buffet, free drinks, food trucks outside and a who’s who was present.  I had just got off work smelling like God knows what, so I stayed in the corner stuffing my face and drinking as much as possible (I figured we would eventually get kicked out, but never did) while Joe talked shit to whoever would listen.   We got a few weird looks, but didn’t care, we were on top of the world.  We crashed at his office that night, and talked about how we were gonna be the next big shots. I maybe had twenty dollars to my name. 

     You’re wondering by now where I’m going with all this, well in all the time I knew Joe, we only wrote 3 songs together.  I had an idea one day about answering the ever present question of WHY, WHY MUSIC?  Joe said, “Because we love it.”  So we wrote the beginnings of “For The Love” that day.  About a year later he moved back to Oklahoma, but rolled through Nashville in 2015 to help his brother Dillion Matthews record his first album.  They stayed with me in the top of the barn I was living in, and we had a blast, just like old times.  That was the last time I saw Joe, he died shortly after of a heart attack, while performing as the opening act for his brother’s CD Release Party. Joe truly loved music and the music business, and I hope to carry on that love and passion with this song. 

I was able to finish “For The Love” this past year with my friends Matt Coles and Dave Mescon. 

I hope you love it !

"I'M OK WITH IT"

      The show is booked, the acts are ready, ain't nothing left but be calm and steady.  Yeah right, there is 2 for 1, and one for all, good-looking women sitting at the bar, you booked the music and the tunes sound good, but you've drank too much before you should.   I'm OK with it.

     You reach the stage and want to sing, but got cotton mouth and drunkards dreams, so you tell jokes to overcompensate nothing works and the crowd won't participate.  Oh dear God, it's gone to hell, in most cases this doesn't end well. The rhyme is that it doesn't, the reason is why not, write a song about shortcomings.  If and when you have to put out the fire, Bruce Lee say "Be like water".   I'm OK With It.  

"I SEE YOU, YOU SEE ME"

  Love at first sight, does it exist?  Hell if I know, but it makes for a great song topic.  You run into so many people throughout life where immediate tension exist, but rarely do people act on it.  So listen to this one when you're trying to get the courage up, I suggest a beer or two as well.  

"LOOKIN UP"

  This song all started when Dave had a killer riff goin on guitar one day while we were recording.  It was this  mellow laid back groove that immediately put me in this reflective headspace.  So I started humming some words, we got the melody lined up, and literally within two hours we wrote and recorded this one live in Matt's living room.  Matt did the percussion part with some brushes on an old two inch reel tape box he had.                                  

The guy in this song like all of us is just someone who's had his shares of ups and downs, but is finally gettin rewarded for his hard work.  Just a working man trying to celebrate the little victories in life.  

THE DEVIL PLAYED BASS

    This is one of my favorite songs I've ever written! Was fortunate to write this one with my friend Wojtek Krupka and you can guess which instrument he plays 🙂. We spent about three writing sessions spread out over a two month span to finish this one! My first of many one class majors in college was English, and that lasted for about a month until the professor threw a six hundred page book on my desk called "Paradise Lost" written by John Milton, all about Lucifer's fall from grace and the start of another new major for me. Exit stage left.  
     Now flash forward to being in a writing session goofing around and a video about snake handling in Appalachia popping up on youtube. Well from there we decide we're gonna put Jesus and the devil in a band together, and there is only one instrument that the devil could play DA BASS. Anybody that's ever been in a band knows, if something goes wrong blame the bass player. Didn't get paid enough? Bass player stunk. Get kicked out of the hotel? Bass Player split beer all over the damn floor, all I did was go to beds early.  Finally my personal favorite, bar tab ridicously high? Run to the van lock the door and tell the bass player that someone forgot a cable on stage.  :))))))))) DA DEVIL PLAYED BASS :))))))