Here are twelve songs from 1926 through 1973, that shaped his world and through which he has chosen to present his first ever guitar record. Michael calls these arrangements “renderings,” which in visual art is “an accurate reproduction of light-and-shadow.” With great attention to the details of the harmony, his instrumental renderings of these classic hit songs remain meticulously faithful to the melodies, painting the familiar lyrics in the imagination of the listener. This is accomplished through Michael’s masterful fingerstyle guitar (which is like classical guitar with a hipster groove on steel strings), in spirited arrangements with Chicago jazz and chamber musicians — double bass, drum set, vibes, violin, and clarinet. The crowning touch of the CD is that five of the songs feature one of America’s greatest living violinists, Darol Anger—who made his mark with the original David Grisman Quintet, and The Turtle Island String Quartet. The first song on the record is Al Green’s Let’s Stay Together from 1972. The last song is Skylark, from Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer at the doorstep of WWII. In between, the musical ride includes George & Ira Gershwin, Carole King, Stephen Sondheim, Stevie Wonder, Laura Nyro, Marvin Gaye, Rodgers & Hammerstein and a few more. A-sides are hit songs. Growing up, Michael’s blue-collar father (Johnny Miles) would come home from work, sit in the basement at the player piano and with Sinatra-like candor sing through the A-sides of his younger days in the 1930’s and 40’s. By osmosis, through the kitchen floor, those songs made their way to Michael’s inner jukebox, along with the hits of the 1960’s and 70’s coming from the AM-FM radio on the dashboard of his Volkswagen. And for the past 50 years, Michael’s been working out the shadows and riddles of this mix of songs. The answer came delivered like a dream on a silver platter. Call it A-sides, because there you can sit Stevie Wonder right next to Richard Rodgers. And they get along quite nicely.