The story of "The Spirit"... What is The Spirit? In our title track, the lyric is a direct quote from Muddy Water’s piano man Pinetop Perkins. Years back I was lucky enough to get hired to back him up at a show in Bar Harbor. As I was setting up to play I happened to overhear one of the other band members questioning Pinetop about the wisdom of knocking back Courvoisier in fairly significant quantities right before the performance. His response was, “Let me tell you something, son. You have to let the spirit in, before you can let the spirit out.” And then of course that venerable old fellow proceeded to tear the roof off the joint well into the wee hours of the night. So yes, spirit can mean alcohol. But that is merely a means to an end, and by no means the only way to get there. More importantly, The Spirit is the living, beating heart of the music. The Spirit is the muse that drives us; to play, to practice, to compose, striving to achieve the music we love in spite of the overwhelming probability that no one but us gives a damn. The Spirit moves us. It calls, and we must obey. Is it the spirit of Django that inspires? Is it the spirit of loved ones lost? Or is it much older, much deeper, much wiser? Is it The Spirit that shapes our lives from the moment we emerge crying into this cold world until we leave it, hoping we did enough? Yes. The Spirit is all these things...and I hope it moves you too. Steve This album features: Steve Lynnworth - lead vocals; lead guitar on all tracks except 7; rhythm and incidental guitar on track 7; rhythm guitar (L) on all tracks except 3 and 12. Secret electric guitar rhythm track somewhere on the album…if you can find it, you have good ears! Harry Richter - rhythm guitar (R) on all tracks except 7; lead guitar on track 7; backup vocal on track 4. Wells Gordon - acoustic bass on all tracks; backup vocals on tracks 4 and 8. Shane Ellis - tenor saxophone on tracks 5, 8, 9 and 11; soprano saxophone on tracks 1, 2, 4 and 13; clarinet on tracks 3, 6, 10 and 12; flute on track 11; backup vocals on tracks 4, 8, and 11. Additional personnel: Stesha Cano - backup vocal on track 4 Tom Whitehead - accordion on track 7 James Winters - trombone on track 13 All songs written and arranged by Steve Lynnworth except track 2, Misty, written by Erroll Garner and arranged by Steve Lynnworth, and track 7, Tengo No Tango, written and arranged by Harry Richter. Special thanks to James Winters for the horn arrangement on track 13, The Spirit. Front cover illustration “The Spirit,” oil on canvas by Aaron McKusick Back cover photo by Brave Williams Recorded and engineered by Josh Small and Wells Gordon with assistance from Walter Clissen, Nate Eaton, Alex Knowles, Andrew Martin and Anthony Soto. Mixed by Wells Gordon and Steve Lynnworth. Mastered by John Furbush. Additional thanks to NESCom and Husson University. And to all of our family, friends and fans, without whom none of this would be possible - thank you!