I've always been grateful for having grown up in such a beautiful area. Carmel and Monterey hold a special place in my heart, but I never thought to write a song about them until March of 2016. I was sent to work out of Dublin, Ireland that month and had made a note to go find some local vinyl. I'd previously stumbled across a small independent record store called, MOJOS Records and thankfully remembered to stop in during my last day in town. While sifting through literally the first crate a specific record caught my eye. It read, 'Carmel' in the upper right hand corner. As I lifted it out of the crate I was shocked to see that the cover was a full photo of an artist named Joe Sample posing in from of what looked exactly like Carmel beach! I flipped the record over to yet another full photo of the same with a quote from Joe titled, Carmel-By-The-Sea and song titles such as 'Carmel,' 'Cannery Row,' and 'A Rainy Day In Monterey.' This confirmed my suspicions that this was a full album about my hometown. And not only that but the liner notes read it was released in 1979, the year I was born! I immediately purchased the record along with some others. After returning home, I sat down and listened to the album in its entirety. It turned out to be a fully instrumental, contemporary jazz record, that painted pictures of the landscape of both Carmel and Monterey. That's when the inspiration sparked. I wanted the song to be a tribute to and a reflection of Carmel and have the same descriptive imagery as the album which brought on the idea. That's why you hear many references to the scenery of Carmel along with shouts out to many artists of all mediums who are known for capturing the essence of Carmel and Monterey's coastal beauty and architecture (i.e. Ansel Adams, Nancy Dodds, Frank Lloyd Wright). I hope you enjoy the song and plan to visit Carmel someday.