59 Miles From Montgomery County (2022)
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The Watcher (1994)
“She's Too Cool"
“Another Life”
“Streets of Hollywood”
“The Watcher”
“Superman”
“Neon Rain”
“Break Through To Your Heart”
“Welcome Me Home”
“What Are You Doing”
“Perfect Strangers”
“Carry Me Away”
“Holiday”
“Heaven Awaits”
“Ordinary Girl”
“Finally Found A Home”
“On The Merry Go Round”
One of my favorite songs from the concert days of my band. This is also the favorite of my younger two children and their friends who blast it loud and dance along. It's about a short lived romance back in my younger days.
One of several songs in this record about the woman who would eventually become my wife. I carried a secret longing for Joy for many years before we became a couple. This song encapsulates many of those feelings.
Was inspired and wrote this song shortly after a night time band photoshoot on the roof of The Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood. From that vantage, you can see a massive illuminated cross on a church down the street and it looked to me that the people wandering Hollwood Boulevard were making a pilgrammage of their own in search of salvation.
This is a deeply personal song written mostly in the waiting room of an Anaheim hospital. Roger's daughter was quite ill and a dear friend of mine was fighting for her life in another hospital at the same time not too far away. One survived. One tragically passed away. Like in so many similar instances, all of us are forced to be observers and hope for miracles while medical personnel fight the good fight. Dedicated to the loving memory of Margie Hennen.
Have always been a comic book guy. My favorite is Batman but Superman is a more hopeful figure to craft music about. There are hundreds of ways to be a "super" man in real life - this song has stories about some of them.
When you're in an L.A. band and you play a lot of shows at The Whiskey, Roxy, etc., you meet a lot of characters in various states of consciousness, excitement, or sometimes, despair. This song is about some of those people.
Song #2 on this record about Joy - pretty obvious with respect to lyrics about the first few months after our relationship changed from a platonic one to a steamy romantic one.
I playfully refer to this as my love song to Craig Keller, a dear friend and former work colleague. He and I were standing at the bow of the Larkspur ferry coming in to SF harbor one night (we were In the bay area doing a massive IT upgrade) and had a few hours to take a break. The sight of the harbor from that ship welcoming me back from a journey, the way the clouds broke, the blazing colors across the sky...it was one of the most romantic and powerful sights I have ever witnessed on Earth. And I shared that incredibly powerful romantic moment with Craig instead of Joy. :-)
One of the most rewarding relationships in my life is the one I have with Ryan who I was matched with and met more than 30 years ago through Big Brothers of LA. This song is about the new thoughts I had when he started getting older and able to go out without supervison and potentially get into mischief with school friends.
Just like "She's Too Cool," this is a song about the romantic escapades I had before getting together with Joy. When you play in a rock band, there are plenty of romantic escapades - sometimes with total (and occasionally, perfect) strangers.
Chronologically, this is the oldest song on this record, a carryover from my folk rock days playing coffeehouses in Boston. I wrote this song one moody night after a friend admitted occasional thoughts of suicide. Thankfully, he got the help he needed.
Song #3 about the Mrs. - an easy reminder that when someone loves you, really loves you, it can make any old day feel like a holiday!
Wrote this song during the news coverage of the tragic murder of Polly Klaas in Petaluma, California. The hardest thing - and most unimaginable thing really - is for parents to bury their child.
One of three BONUS tracks that I left off the original release of this album. This one is about a crush I had on someone that I let get a little carried away. Was a reminder to myself that just because someone's available, doesn't mean she's the right person for me.
The fourth - and final - song on this record about my wife. This one was written shortly after we got engaged and appeared (along with Holiday) on the look back video that played at our wedding reception.
Had a lot of close female friends when I worked at Nossaman. Many got married and had children while I was there. I wrote this lullaby in honor of them, never knowing I would one day be singing it to my own children as well.