Cleary Country

Recorded March – May, 2020 at Dave Klein Recording in Highland Park, Mt. Baine in the Omaha Hills, the Brothers Landau Farm in Altadena and Zach Jones’ folks’ house in Portland, Maine, during the pandemic, safe at home.

I would like to dedicate this set of tunes to my mother, Fredericka, who bought me the Martin DM guitar heard on these tracks back when I was in high school.

Thank you to my wife and partner, Cheryl, who has been so supportive of my endeavors. I also want to express huge thanks to my talented friends who contributed their parts to this set of songs, and to Dave Klein for putting it all together.

NOTES
I was inspired to rework a previous attempt to write “Brand of Lonesome” by seeing “You Played With My Heart” performed by Double E and Bad Business at Joe’s Great American Bar and Grill in Burbank. Thanks for the honky-tonk inspiration, pal.
“Tucson Eyes” was one of the first songs I ever wrote, when I was attending UC Irvine. My best friend Josh decided to drive through the night from Riverside, California to Tucson, Arizona, and when he got there he saw a different sort of look in the eyes of the girl who would soon become his girlfriend.
It was Josh who played me Hank Williams’ 40 Greatest Hits and introduced me to “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You)” while driving around in his 1987 Ford Bronco which we affectionately dubbed Bessie. It’s only the most recent Hank Williams composition I have been singing with Cheryl around Casa Cleary, along with a Merle Haggard classic we greatly admire called “Wine Take Me Away”, co-written by the great Tommy Collins.