New Song Release: "You're Not Alone"

This past spring, I found myself sitting in the courtyard garden of my building with my guitar one warm May evening. I was just strumming, not thinking about songwriting. There were birds and squirrels and new leaves on the trees. It was just nice to be there, playing. I started noodling with a simple three-chord sequence repeated over and over in a loop. It had a feel of strolling down a path or maybe sitting on a train, moving along at a steady pace. I started singing over these chords and a little melody began to emerge that followed the chord progression. It sounded pretty nice and I wondered if anything else was really needed at all. I was really enjoying this simple sequence. Just to see, I added a minor chord shift for a B section and it seemed to work. I began to like this song and a little refrain of lyrics came along, just a simple phrase: “You’re Not Alone”. I didn’t know why I’d be thinking about that, but as I began to build verses around that phrase, I realized the idea of being alone was on my mind these days and maybe this was about something. Not just about myself, but about how isolated we’ve become from each other. And also as a reminder that no matter where any of us are in life, we didn’t get there by ourselves and we’re still not by ourselves, even though we may sometimes think we are.

Once the song had some definitive structure, I went to my little home studio and began recording it. It came out ok, but I realized I was following ideas I’ve used before and I wanted something different. Ironically, I knew they I did not want to go it alone on this song. I’d worked with Adam Lindquist a number of times over the past few years. Adam is an amazing musician, songwriter and producer. He creates beautiful music, usually under the name River Lume. He’s been generous enough to mix a bunch of my home-recorded tracks and here and there has added unique musical touches, with some really sweet bass parts, violin, guitar riffs and cool production ideas. This time though, I really wanted it to be a true collaboration. Even though “You’re Not Alone” was more or less written, I thought it would be great to scrap my original home recording and start the arrangement and production process together from scratch. I thought it would be great to combine my songwriting style with the style of Adam’s River Lume music. Adam describes River Lume as his “mostly instrumental retro Latin/World music project…or something”. While it does incorporate Latin rhythms and instrumentation as well some other influences, it is not like anything else I’ve heard. River Lume songs are lush and mesmerizing, filled with hooks and fun, unexpected moments. Often they are built on the repetition of a musical phrase or idea that just keeps you moving along. If we could merge our styles, I thought we could make something really great. Lucky for me, Adam was game.

We set out one evening in Adam’s basement studio to see what would happen. Soon we were knee-deep in rethinking the song structure, messing around with lyric placement and grabbing anything and everything Adam had lying around that you could hit or tap to make a percussive noise (a trademark of the River Lume magic). Once we had a groove in place, and we got that three-chord thing going, it was off to the races. Shockingly, my first vocal take was a winner (this never happens) and we built off of these basic elements over that evening and one more session. Adam also added some beautiful string parts. What I love about his string arrangements is that they are not at all the tried and true approach. They are a little haunting while also comforting and always very original. At one point I wondered if, in all this lush sweetness, it would be too out of left field to have a distorted guitar solo. Why not, said Adam, let’s try it. Somehow, it worked. After some inspired mixing, we had ourselves a song. The artwork features a photo Adam took years ago in Italy. It was sitting in a frame in his studio. It caught my eye one night and seemed to match the song’s vibe.

I love the combination of simplicity, repetition and surprise in this song. I like its simple message and story. I hope you do too.

A Great Night In Jersey

On Saturday, June 21, 2025, I pointed my car south on a steamy first day of summer. Destination, Stockton, New Jersey. I had played gigs in Stockton before. Twice I have been the opening act at the More Barn Studios house concert. More Barn Studios is a wonderful, intimate performance experience. They have created the most amazing space for musicians to play, a cozy barn converted into a small theater. I last played there in March of this year and it was an amazing experience. I played my half hour set and when I finished the last song, something happened that had never happened to me before. People not only applauded but some rose out of their chair. I was floored. I could not believe what I was seeing. I have a strong belief in the quality of my songs and my performances, but you never really know. With this gesture, I could say for sure that my music connected with people in a powerful way. My previous performance at More Barn was in October of 2023. That night, I opened for Alex Radus who I would later do a small tour with in the summer of 2024. There was no standing ovation that night, but there was a sense that the audience connected with the music. I began to think that this little region of New Jersey, with its small artsy river towns along the Delaware, might be a place where I could begin to create a little bit of a following. It seemed like a place where people were looking to discover the kind of music I make.

The skeleton dude outside of Starving Artist

This feeling grew stronger that night of June 21. Someone had told me that another place I should try to play in the area was Starving Artist Cafe, just down the road from More Barn in the tiny village of Stockton. Upon arriving, I was greeted in the parking lot by owner Todd Ellis. Todd welcomed me with much enthusiasm, so happy that I had made the drive from NYC to play at the little music venue/restaurant he had created about a year prior. He said it was becoming a destination for local musicians. I could see why. Adorning the performance area were walls of guitars and amps. I felt like a kid in a candy store as I cannot get enough of these two things. I began to unpack and get set up. Another nice part of this evening was that a man I had met eight years ago, Bob Liana, would be joining me this night on harmonica. I met Bob when I stayed at his AirBNB in 2018 when I had a show in nearby New Hope, PA. He came to that show with his harmonicas and joined me for a few tunes. We had a great time, and fit together seamlessly. Whenever I go to that area, I still stay at Bob’s and I invited him to join me at Starving Artist. Bob arrived with his wife Petra and they sat down for a meal along with other customers so that soon it was a full house. I began to play. Unlike so many shows when people chat while I perform, every person in the place was quiet with eyes on me. I’m so used to people half paying attention, that when I have their full attention, it ramps my nervousness way up. But I took a deep breath and began to play. The first set went great. The audience seemed to really enjoy the music and when Bob came up to join me, we really came alive. After a few songs, we stopped to take our break between sets. What happened next was as powerful as when that audience stood up. First, a man came up to buy a CD, telling me how much he liked the songs. How much, he asked? $15, I said. He gave me $20 and didn’t want change. Then another man came up, also to buy a CD, saying he would play it in his car as soon as he left. He also did not want change of a $20. Then a woman came up to talk to me. She and her husband had been sitting right up front, listening intensely. She told me they were looking forward to seeing me play and had been listening to my songs all week. She follows the Cafe on social media and they love coming out to hear musicians. She showed me the notes app on her phone where she had written the titles of five of my songs, hoping I would play them tonight. As with the standing ovation, I was just overwhelmed by this. I could not believe what she was saying to me. Two strangers had listened to my songs so much over the past week that they knew them by name and were hoping I’d play certain ones at a show. I’ve only ever imagined what this must feel like. It was surreal. I almost couldn’t keep playing. Somehow, this information changed me. I felt outside of myself. I was in disbelief. Did they really mean me? My songs? When I got back to the stage, I was shaking a little. I played the second set, being sure to play at least three of the songs on their list (I wasn’t prepared to play the others). They stayed for the whole second set, as did everyone else who had come. When the second set was over, I thanked them all for coming and said goodbye. They all said they hoped I would play again soon. I do too. Actually, I can’t wait to play in that area again and hope to many times. It was an incredibly special night for me, one that can keep you going when you do any kind of creative work. A sign that you’re on the right track, that it’s meaningful to be doing this and you shouldn’t stop. Those voices that suggest maybe it is time to stop can get pretty loud at times. Maybe for other artists too. For this night however, those voices were quiet. Hopefully they will stay that way.

With Bob Liana