专辑简介

"Girl of My Dreams" is my first solo venture: Five originals. Four with my vocals. One off-the-wall 5-string-violin shred solo through a sea of effects pedals. And one Bartok "Romanian Dance" that segues directly into "Whipping Post".

The seed was planted in April 2016, when I helped my old friend Matvei carry his gear after a gig. He asked if I was playing Key West "Meeting of the Minds" again this fall. After I asked if I could pull off an original EP in time, within 6 months, we ran with it, and this amazing project became a reality.

Matvei and I produced and recorded during a few 10-hour days at White Star Sound in Charlottesville VA, thanks to Chris Keup. My amazing rhythm section was bassist (and engineer!) Stewart Myers and drummer Brian Jones, who in the early 2000's had poured out of my crappy clock-radio with an incredible groove and vibe on Jason Mraz's hit, "You and I". Incredible to shake their hands and, 20 minutes later, begin recording the first track, "LaVerne" - the true story of my late mother's life (1940-1984). Adding to our mix was my friend and Army Band colleague Dan Campolieta on keys, who thankfully was available for the sessions and played the exact right things at the perfect times. My trip to NYC to watch Fred Kevorkian master the album at Avatar (formerly Powerstation) was unforgettable - not just the project being polished so well, but heading around the corner with Fred for a soup lunch and hearing his stories from the early 1990's...epic times.

Having been a sideman (and instrumentalist only) for the past 25 years, I found the courage to write these tunes and sing on a few of them, because my time as a musician is now so limited and precious (3 years ago, due to osteoarthritis, I switched from Army Strings to Ops, a desk position), that I have no fear anymore. I am not "a singer", and yet some of these are songs that only I could sing. Thank you for trusting me and embarking on this adventure with me!