Secret Heart is: Nine original songs (and one bonus live cover) composed and recorded mainly in 2012 at my home studio Jackson Hole and at Lady of Carlisle studio in Carlisle, MA. Recorded and produced by Skip Jackson and Paul Beck. Here is the track info and a little bit about how the song came to be. I agree with Arlo Guthrie that songs are just floating in the air, and all we need to do is catch them. (All Songs copyright Skip Jackson BMI except "Trouble in Mind" by Richard M Jones) The Tracks: 1. Purgatory Road Skip Jackson -- vocals, guitar Shana Hall -- vocals Paul Beck -- mandolin, bass, percussion I drove by the road with that sign a dozen times, usually on a long trip to visit family in Vermont. Every time, I said to myself: "There's a song in that...." Finally, two or three years later, the song suddenly came together late one night. After, I'd been playing it for a while, it became one of my favorites. Then I featured at an open mike in Peterborough, NH. The last act of the night was a quartet of three lovely young ladies and a guitar player. One of the singers was Shana Hall, and I immediately fell in love with her voice. After the show, I whisked her downstairs into the "Green Room" for a trial rehearsal and the group "Purgatory Road" had its fourth and final member. Turned out that Shana grew up near "Purgatory Road" and saw it almost every day. 2. Secret Heart Skip Jackson -- vocals, guitar Shana Hall -- vocals Paul Beck -- mandolin, bass I've written half a dozen love songs about love gone wrong. This was the first and only Love song that I've ever written about love gone right. It's for the love I my life, Joan. OK, do I still have to take my music stuff from the living room? Paul Beck plays wonderful mando on this as he does throughout the CD. I've played with Paul on and off for many years at all kinds of venues. He was the third member of Purgatory Road, and the CD would not have been possible without him? 3. Tell Me Why Skip Jackson -- vocals, guitar Shana Hall -- vocals Paul Beck -- mandolin Gregory Franklin -- bass I wrote this one for a songwriting contest. The topic was "Questions." Were all full of them aren't we? I fidn't win-funny songs always seem to get the nod. But I got a great song out of it which I love to play. It naturally falls as a vocal duet, with Shana and I trading verses or even lines. When I play it solo, I often forget for a moment to sing "Shana's verses" because I can hear hear powerful, emotive, intriguing voice about to soar. Greg Franklin is really the second member of Purgatory Road because I've known and played with him the longest. His wonderful, lyrical bass lines weave though several of these tunes. Greg took time out from a tour and drove a hundred miles to play our inaugural gig as Skip Jackson and Purgatory Road. 4. Feels Like Rain Skip Jackson -- vocals, guitar, percussion Shana Hall -- vocals Paul Beck -- mandolin, rain stick Gregory Franklin -- bass This one was inspired by a few intriguing guitar chords that I fell upon. "It feels like rain," we're the first words and the rest of the lyrics fell into place from there. Greg and Paul contributed some of the rain feeling, and Shaa's evocative voice tells it all. Paul added the rain stick at the end as a perfect touch. 5. Rolling Home Skip Jackson -- guitar Every fingerstyle songwriter worth his salt has an instrumental in the Key of C. I sat down to do it, and I'm happy about the way it came out. It's a jaunty little ramble of a song. 6. Out Of My Skin Skip Jackson -- vocals, guitar Shana Hall -- vocals Paul Beck -- mandolin This one was inspired by a conversation I had with master luthier and phenomenal singer/guitar player Fran Lamalva. We were driving to a faraway gig and he told me that he just "got a new job'" "sold his old truck" took in and old dog from a shelter. I had the third verse written by the time we got home. 7. Waiting For The January Thaw Skip Jackson -- guitar In New England everyone waits for the January Thaw. It's a little respit from the cold when it warms up by a few degrees for a few days. In this instrumental, I tried to capture that feeling if restlessness and expectancy-waiting for something-anything to happen when times are hard. 8. One More City, One More Night Skip Jackson -- vocals, guitar Shana Hall -- vocals Paul Beck -- mandolin, bass This is probably the oldest of these tunes-the one I've carried around with me the longest. I wrote it after I had just played three dives in a week. It's about how the life of a travelling musician is hard and sometimes nasty. The only thing that makes it worthwhile is the music and one of the people you meet. My favorite moment in the studio was when Shana had to sing harmony to my line "hookers wriggle into cars." it was hard for her to do with a straight face, n when we ll started to giggle... 9. Taking The Long Way Home Skip Jackson -- guitar This is a brief instrumental in open Cmaj7 tuning. I wrote it while I was recording my last CD "Coming Back." During a few moments of downtime in the studio, I picked up a guitar in open C. After playing the only song I knew in that tuning-Bruce Cockburn's "Foxglove," I tuned down the second string from C to B so the open strings strummed a CMaj7. In a few moments, I found a few interesting an unusual chords, and the whole song was written in ten minutes. Of course, it took me two weeks to refine it, and another month to play it cleanly. But the result is a lovely little ditty, that sounds just like it's name. 10. Trouble In Mind (Live at the PCA) Skip Jackson -- vocals, guitar Shana Hall -- vocals Paul Beck -- mandolin It's too bad that Greg couldn't be here for this-our farewell performance (barring a reunion, of course?) . I kicked the one off a little sloppily, but then we hit a groove, and when Shana's voice kicked in, the audience literally rose to their feet. Such power from such a thin woman!