Back Before I'm Ready
My career as a musician-singer-songwriter has been challenged by severe rare stroke. The cerebellum stroke presents somewhat differently than other stokes, affecting both sides of the body internally and externally in different ways. My right side, including an eye, is now spastic and difficult to control. My left side has lost sensation of hot or cold, wet or dry and overall my balance has been destroyed. (see my GoFundMe page for more info and regular updates.) Trying to play my instruments feels like I’m starting over but I continue to write music and have all my faculties. And here I am, posting new finished music soon.
Before the stroke destroyed my voice, I finished a lot of new tracks in the studio. As with all my albums, I am cutting “off the trails” pathways others generally do not walk. I have historically done 3 albums in a genre then switched once I began cutting vinyl in 1978. This has kept me artistically creative and as a side effect, relatively undiscovered even for an indie. I am fiercely independent. I have had shots at major label distribution but chose to remain indie even when friends and partners took the deal. This was not necessarily smart, but it is the way things played out. I have done the things musically that I wanted to do, hampered only by money which occasionally showed in the quality of the releases. Still, it’s been a pretty good run.
Looking back at a 40 year career, the release of my 33rd album looms on the horizon. My first 3 vinyl records were actually releases 8-10 (the first 7 were cassette releases) and all the early stuff was labelled early Jesus Music. The 10th project or 3rd album marked the end of an era as I left the sub-culture to embrace a radio audience. I did not leave my faith behind and have continued to write songs for my own devotional use during all the time I was engaged fully across the industry. Now, faced with my own mortality and things that really matter, I have come full circle. The praise and worship material I have written over 40 years is what I have been working on.
Having said that, this is not a typical sounding praise and worship album. I embrace many styles from rock to folk to jazz to Caribbean island sounds. It’s less a product of church and more a product of relationship. It’s not the early Jesus Music which was folk/rock n roll evangelism, but these are songs that speak to God or echo his prophetic word to us. It is the album a man embracing the culture of 40 years in the music business and serious about his faith would make. It’s a very personal statement. I invite you to listen, and to let your heart sing along.
Jael
PS. These are essentially the liner notes (with a few changes) for the new CD which will be part one of the new collection. I am mounting a sneak preview of the album here before its official release. Just a few of my favorite music sites will get this and how long they stay up will depend on the reception of the material.
