The Great Migration

When I lived in San Francisco, I had the perfect set up for a poor young songwriter - a cold unfinished room in the backyard of an old house on 40th and Balboa. To enter I had to walk through the garage and take one step outside into the backyard. It was quiet, close to the beach, and cheap. I lived there for many years. I loved it. I would be gone for weeks at a time playing with the band, but that room, my "garden shed", was home port and safe harbor. It had two large old fashioned windows, painted shut. I had my piano set up beneath them and I would stare into the fog while I played. I wrote a lot of songs in that room. I eventually had to let the place go but I took with me one last collection of songs. The first bits were recorded in that room. I carried them around with me for sometime, adding to them, getting help from my friends (Chris Haugen, Aaron Redner, Madeline Tasquin, Al Howard, Cochrane McMillian, Jason Smart, Adam Boyd, Dave Odell.) Eventually Davey (who lived right above me in that old house) got a hold of these recordings and took them down to Nashville. He put it all together for me while my life transitioned, learning how to make wine and taking care of horses. These are the last songs from that garden shed. It has been a long journey, with no end in sight

January 2021