Liner Notes

One of my favorite parts of a good live album or concert is the intro, the monologue, the banter.

Sometimes the band's playing a little something in the background, while the singer talks about the song coming up.

When I was young, I didn't like live versions.

I wanted the album version.

And most of the time, the live versions weren't as good.

Poorer sounding.

Vocally or otherwise.

Sometimes, these folks dared changing the lyrics! 

Or turned it acoustic!

As I grew up, I learned I was wrong.

I realized how change could be so very magical.

How much play there was in doing it live.

How you can go acoustic, ballad, or electric.

How the same song can feel so different, can play so different, just by changing how you sing it.

And so, I learned that the true measure of a band was not in the safe studio, it was how they did it live.

Did they have a story to tell before certain songs.

Did they evolve it in the time since it's release.

You hear some artists say they hate to sing their hits because it's just the same crap over and over.

It becomes something of a catch phrase.

And I get that, maybe that's why songs do evolve.

To keep it interesting.

The best songs change over time. But they stay the same in spirit.

The best remakes are those that change fast to slow, electric to acoustic. But they stay the same in significance.

And versa vice.

I wish sometimes, that there was a piano playing behind me, while I stand on this stage.

Musing about music.

Sure, I hit some keys of my own, but they aren't the Mariah Carey or Bruce Hornsby kind, more the clicky-clacky.

And I just got to tell you, poetry comes in all forms.

You can read it, you can listen to it, you can see it in motion.

Live and in living color.

But most importantly, you can feel it.

To the bone.

In your heart.

For our souls.

This is for you.

[Cues up the band.]