And so it begins...

Today I go into the studio with Marcin to begin recording What To Keep & Let Go.

I remember back in 2003, sitting in my dad's house after graduating college and plucking away at my guitar; the notes that would one day be the verse for the song Stand. Songs like We Are What We Are and Try It On followed but never made the cut; however made room for the birth of Passing Into August, a song that came to me when I was pumping gas in Springfield, VT with my friend Mike. It's fair to say that the remaining 9 songs on the album were penned and created in Massachusetts. This is where I was most heavily inspired, having gone through so many changes both good and bad. Bicycle on the Ice was probably the first to be written, followed by Horizons, In The End and Circles. These songs definitely dealt with relationships and how to accept the change and struggle in each of them, which totally fits with what was going on in my life at the time. My second home in Massachusetts was the birthplace of City Lights & Electric Candle; songs that talk of my ability to get close to love or the failed attempt at it. Hello, Amy was finalized roughly around this time...its theme going hand in hand with these messages. I recall being at my 9-5 and the words for Ask You spilling out of me on my lunch break, sloppily pouring onto a piece of letterhead and revealing so many of my thoughts and emotions about my late mom. Who knew that could all happen while eating a turkey sandwich. Do What You Can was the last song to find its place in the album, talking of a good friend's situation with love and discouragement over moving on from a rough situation. Songs like It's Over When You Go and Shadows Cast by Tall Buildings never made the cut but perhaps they'll surface again someday...

It's amazing to think that after 5 or so years of planning, scrapping, rewriting and replacing What To Keep & Let Go will finally be fully realized. I often wondered if I was just procrastinating with the completion of this project; that I used every excuse in the book to just not get it done. I now believe however that this long period of time was necessary to pick and write the appropriate songs to fit the theme of the album. Every song has its place in a very important time of my life; each event giving way to the next and nestling its way into the corners of my being....what has made me who I am and brought me to where I am today.

And so it begins...starting with Bicycle on the Ice. My plan is to give a brief description of the song meanings as we go. So definitely keep checking for updates as I anticipate quite a bit of them in the next few weeks...Thanks so much for keeping up with this blog and I look forward to sharing the final versions with you.