catch the light
2020 started in a place of joy with all the clarity i was hoping for, beginning christmas night when i had dinner on the edge of the desert in tucson with artist michael haykin, who graciously shared his latest pieces, “stigmata,” “autumn” and “fall” with us. seeing these works by an artist, who is my age, at the prime of his career, completely changed my view of my own work in an inspiring and aspirational way. what i learned is that i, too, am at the prime of my creativity and that our work has relevance and importance that transcends trends and age. i am so grateful for the opportunity to pursue a career in music, such as it is.
the van gogh brothers started our “2nd saturdays” residency at vincent’s worcester on january 11th with a SRO crowd of old and new fans, and special guest kerri powers. we will be at vincent’s every 2nd saturday of each month through may. we also returned to woolly mammoth studios in waltham to complete the first 2 tracks of what will be another full-length album with david minehan co-producing, and, wow, the results are startling so far.
“down to the river,” which is fast becoming a crowd favorite, came up fast and furious and “power of love,” a sly-stone-meets-john-lennon-and-george-harrison upbeat track , blew our minds, thanks to the ever-inventive instrumental and vocal work of paul and clayton, together with a david minehan penned guitar part that provides yet another hook on top of umpteen hooks. i feel so lucky to work with such a talented team.
and i continue to write like a madman in my new digs… the latest addition is another nod to john lennon titled, “catch the light,” which is what i feel i’ve done with my life of late. i think of catching the light as living in the moment, in joy, notwithstanding the circumstances— life and death— passion and pain. being present ironically transcends life’s immediacies.
we are back at vincent’s on saturday, february 8th, for more songs from our latest, “love letters,” and for pre-valentine’s fun. we hope to see some of you come back out again. it was fabulous to see joanie betterley and crew in january- we miss cafe betterley, now that joanie and rick are in maine, so it’s alway a special treat to see them.
looking ahead, we will add a second worcester show on april 25th at the front room at wcuw, hosted by longtime friend and supporter, dj troy tyree. this is an intimate concert setting and tickets are on sale at brown paper tickets. please buy early as seating is limited to about 60. we will play some deep tracks at this show, as well as vincent’s favs.
stay warm to all in new england and like climes. i hope to get back to la in march, and i’ll be in nashville, memphis and new orleans in february, but otherwise in boston praying for an early spring!
i look forward to seeing some of you in the coming weeks, as we continue to catch the light.
love,
jc