Some exciting news on the new CD. Thar be artwork, a title and a release date!
The CD is called “Hearts & Reason,” and it will be available on Friday, January 23 from most places that deliver digital music, including iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Rhapsody. I’ll also make it available from my Bandcamp page, where you will be able to download but also order a physical CD. And of course I’ll have CDs at gigs and from my website!
So what’s the deal with this title and cover? Why the street sign?
Folks who know my career with The Strangers may recall the use of a street sign on the inside of our Life on the Road CD, which looked like this:
We saw this sign on an off-ramp in Longview, Washington and thought it was particularly funky for a highway sign. It also represented how we felt a lot of the time, which was slightly askew and out of control.
But it was an exciting time. The future was uncertain yet full of opportunity and we were game to ride it out. Gig to gig, song to song, per diem food ration to per diem food ration. We evolved from a naïve acoustic bar band to a touring rock and roll machine with our own bus (we actually went through two of them, plus a van and trailer), ultimately playing more than 900 shows in five years across 17 states in the west coast, Rockies, Midwest and Canada.
Ah but we grow older. We get married. We have kids, and things change! Instead of being solely focused on one thing – in my case moving the band forward step by step – we juggle a lot of things.
That brings us to the new CD. As I was putting the songs together, I realized that a lot of them look at the push and pull between passions and responsibilities. The things we do to nurture our minds and bodies, versus the things we do to make sure the lights and heat stay on.
Play ball with the boy, or get that yardwork done? Have a drink with my sweetie, or go through the stack of mail and pay some bills (but who am I kidding? My sweetie handles the bills)? There’s room for all of it, and how we navigate it is our push and pull between Hearts & Reason. And the seesaw street sign photo seemed to illustrate it perfectly. So there ya go.
I’m really excited about this CD and will post a few more times about the writing and recording process. But for now I’ll leave you with the art. Enjoy!
Do you have a Hearts and Reason story? If you want to share it, post a comment!
--PL
The CD is called “Hearts & Reason,” and it will be available on Friday, January 23 from most places that deliver digital music, including iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and Rhapsody. I’ll also make it available from my Bandcamp page, where you will be able to download but also order a physical CD. And of course I’ll have CDs at gigs and from my website!
Folks who know my career with The Strangers may recall the use of a street sign on the inside of our Life on the Road CD, which looked like this:
We saw this sign on an off-ramp in Longview, Washington and thought it was particularly funky for a highway sign. It also represented how we felt a lot of the time, which was slightly askew and out of control.
But it was an exciting time. The future was uncertain yet full of opportunity and we were game to ride it out. Gig to gig, song to song, per diem food ration to per diem food ration. We evolved from a naïve acoustic bar band to a touring rock and roll machine with our own bus (we actually went through two of them, plus a van and trailer), ultimately playing more than 900 shows in five years across 17 states in the west coast, Rockies, Midwest and Canada.
Ah but we grow older. We get married. We have kids, and things change! Instead of being solely focused on one thing – in my case moving the band forward step by step – we juggle a lot of things.
That brings us to the new CD. As I was putting the songs together, I realized that a lot of them look at the push and pull between passions and responsibilities. The things we do to nurture our minds and bodies, versus the things we do to make sure the lights and heat stay on.
Play ball with the boy, or get that yardwork done? Have a drink with my sweetie, or go through the stack of mail and pay some bills (but who am I kidding? My sweetie handles the bills)? There’s room for all of it, and how we navigate it is our push and pull between Hearts & Reason. And the seesaw street sign photo seemed to illustrate it perfectly. So there ya go.
I’m really excited about this CD and will post a few more times about the writing and recording process. But for now I’ll leave you with the art. Enjoy!
Do you have a Hearts and Reason story? If you want to share it, post a comment!
--PL