On Songwriting: Deal with the Devil
To me, the inspiration photo for Deal with the Devil perfectly suits the song. But it didn’t initiate the songwriting process. Rather, it was a bang-on prefect fit for the song I’d written (almost completely) at the time I went searching through photos from the Farm Security Information and Department of War Information archives. There…
On songwriting: The Lesson of Gethsemane (with video)
When I started writing songs in earnest, I had a singular ambition. I aspired to write an album that would be as moving on first listen and as multifaceted on the hundredth as Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska had been for me.I never actually seriously expect that I might–until The Lesson of Gethsemane. The inspiration photo:Reverend Bullard,…
Origin of a song: By fours and fives and sixes (with video)
Yes, the inspiration photo of folks arriving at Ellis Island in 1907 is perfectly evocative of my own family history. But this was a song I felt I needed to write because of current events. And I wanted to do a live recording as a shout-out to my colleagues who may be worried about immigration…
Hard Times Hundred & One 