CUP OF TEA
One year in the making, Cup of Tea is my first EP album of 2023. It includes a previously released single, The Fight and four new releases that are introduced below. I had originally planned to release one full length album this year. To more efficiently manage both the production and the distribution, I decided it was best to break the process up into various parts (singles, EPs, etc). The album, as with future albums, allows a different kind of story telling by experimenting with different approaches and genres. All the songs were written and recorded in 2022 and mixed/mastered during the spring of 2023.
the songs
The Fight
This song was released as a single in February of 2023. There were three pillars of inspiration for this song: the war in Ukraine, John Ondrasik's release of Can One Man Save the World, and the Common Man Ukrainian Relief Fund. The work of the Relief Fund brought to my attention the magnitude of orphaned children that have been displaced. This war has attracted the attention of people all over the world. The song itself has received some unexpected and surprising attention in Europe and I decided to include it on this album as a reminder that the war continues as of this release. Ukrainian violinist Olha Ilyashenko is featured in this song.
You, Me, and a Cup of Tea
I wrote the arrangement for this title song over a year ago and found it a bit challenging due to the complexity of the tempo changes and instrumentation. I decided to team up with Studio Pros producer Craig Durrance to co-produce the song. Craig did a nice job coordinating the musicians, nailing down all the tempo changes and assisting with the lyrics. This is the first song for which I used a full band of studio musicians. While I am happy with the final outcome, the song begs for a remixing and remastering due to the amount (39 separate tracks) and combination of mono and stereo recordings used. While this may be a future project, the song has earned the worthiness of a release.
One More Tomorrow
This is a piano ballad in recognition of fighters and heroes all around the world. It is a tribute to first responders, health care providers, law enforcement officers, military personnel - all of those who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe and healthy. This song was arranged with the use of one chord (A major) with no other progression. I laid down a snare drum track (and some toms) with heavy reverb and a bit of delay on to which I recorded the piano track. The vocals are a bit pitchy but I think it works. The song was spiced up with simulated string sounds that are introduced with a slowly building crescendo over the length of the song.
Your Kind of Love
Last year I wrote a duet on which my friends Sharon Peters and Pat Ciliberto collaborated called "Finding My Soul". I was yearning to write another duet, and this is what I came up with. Session vocalist Bec Holcraft joins me on the song. Her voice has a nice tonal quality for this kind of "popish" arrangement. The percussion most definitely drives this song and the use of both acoustic and electric guitars along with strong piano chords fill out the catchy choruses.
SLOW
Thought I would have some fun and change it up a bit. After several attempts to come up with that right guitar sound, this repetitive blues rift (with a slight hint of bluegrass) gets tired if it goes too long. Adding a rolling drum beat and some honky-tonk piano with a running bass line makes it reasonably tolerable and fun. Also, it was fun to take some liberties in exploring a different genre for me.
Collaborators
Olha Ilyashenko
Bec Holcraft
Craig Durrance