"EAT THE SUNSHINE, DRINK THE STARSHINE"

I KNEW Ed Woltil's name before I met him. He was one of those people other people always said I should meet. I'd heard he was a great songwriter - "no, really something special" - and I thought I'd like to meet him someday. Prior to the pandemic, Ed was doing the poster art for the Hideaway Cafe and Recording Studio at which I had a residency. I commented on how great they were, especially the one of me. John Kelly, who owned the venue said, "you should really meet Ed. He's a great songwriter. Something special." JK took me into the studio and played a song Ed had recorded there. A *simple* affair in that it was just voice and acoustic guitar, but the chords were dense and compelling and the voice was high and clean, perfectly precise with the more sophisticated than usual melody. I was wowed.

Eventually, I dug into Ed's excellent past efforts, his solo works, the fantastic Ditchflowers album "Bird's Eye" and his work with the tremendous Steve Robinson. I was pleasantly blown - all the way - away.

As happens a lot with close friends, I can't recall a specific moment when we met. I recall running into him one day in the afternoon at the Hideaway when he was bringing in poster-art, I believe. I remember seeing him very early on in our relationship doing an in-the-round show and marveling at his great songs and great skills. I remember engaging in "you love that, I love that too!" conversations and the first fleeting mention of writing a song together.

During the pandemic we started having coffee at the Black Crow in the Grand Central area. Our conversations regularly revealed our similarities when it came to our musical education. XTC (always an outlier), Elvis Costello, The Beatles of course, etc. You already know all the songwriter darlings, especially of people who came up through the 80's. There were differences too. I had leanings towards Tom Waits and Wilco. Ed was more versed in Paul Simon and Todd Rundgren, for example. But, we also talked about our lives, our pasts, our future, the perilous present and enjoyed a damn fine cup of coffee.

During this time Ed furnished the album art for "This Means Everything" and made excellent vocal contributions to "Wild Hare". I provided some slide guitar for his single "Nowhere Blues". He created a beautiful lyric video for my tune "Here & Now" featuring the artwork of the renowned Kirsten Ulve. I think we even did a show with our respective bands at the Palladium during this time. I am my very own unreliable narrator, especially when it comes to time. It wasn't until Ed moved to Wisconsin that we really began working on this album, "Eat The Sunshine, Drink The Starshine". He'd already curated a few demos of mine and via the internet we began sending songs back and forth, adding and subtracting bits and pieces, chiseling away until, a few years later, we had our album.

I feel like we made a concerted effort to make sure the album had the sound of a group effort, not just a "here's my finished song, here's your finished song" sort of thing. I think we succeeded. A true blending of our styles and talents. Our influences are present but our combined originality shines through, I believe. Ed arranged to include contributions from the entirely unbelievable Dave Gregory (guitarist for the iconic XTC), and the incomparible Dave Mattacks (drummer for Fair Port Convention and session man for the Gods, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Nick Drake to name a very few.) And also an icon in my world, the rock solid Joey Interrante slapped the skins on a song.

SO, there's some background. Here's my overview of the songs. These are my impressions, Ed's may differ. I hope you'll give the album a listen. If you already have, thanks a million! ALMOST HOME - The frenetic piano and "different" percussion choices at the beginning were meant to illustrate the tired yet busy mind of a traveler, be it one as a kid in the back of an old station wagon, a musician on the way home from a show or someone pondering the bigger questions as they hurl through time and space. An unusually optimistic song for me and Ed polished it up nice with a lot of great stuff and a terrific solo. Not to mention his uplifting bridge which furnishes the album with it's title. SOUL RECOVERY - A hook laden masterpiece that reminds us you don't always need a shaman to put that broken soul together, just someone to love and who loves you back. I tried to keep up with Ed in the harmony section and applied what I hoped would be some muscular guitar to this smooth pop master-class. IT'S ALL SONGS - When you're a songwriter, you notice little songs everywhere you go. You might begin to get the feeling reality itself is just made up of little interconnecting songs. Especially love songs.Then you might realize, hey that could be a song! It's a jaunty tune with an adventurous melody, and those rich harmonies and biting guitar rhythms provided by the fabulous Mr. Ed. It features the stunningly excellent guitar work of the exceptional Dave Gregory rockin' on his Firebird, a thrilling turn of events orchestrated by my partner in song. As a big fan of XTC, it is no less than a dream come true to hear his seemingly effortless guitar solo brilliance next to my voice. Thanks so much Mr. Gregory, you elevate everything you grace with your gift. HOW DO I KNOW - In an age where so much happens online and in the virtual medium, Ed poses the very reasonable philosophical question "How do we know anything"? The answer is, of course, you Kant. Maybe some shades of Steely Dan on this one in it's quirky lyric, stretched melody and jazz-adjacent chord structure. The fabulous Mr. Gregory once again tears it up on the guitar. LAST CALL 4 LOST DOGS - Write what you know, they always say, so a lot of my tunes are informed by night life. Sometimes you don't want the night to end, even though you have no where to go. Sometimes here in the South it can even be hot in the wee hours. Ships pass in the night. Here there's a lighthouse, over there are some rocks. I love a mid-tempo shuffler. The pale ghost of Brian May makes the scene. GOOD TO BE BACK - This is one of the first songs Ed sent me. Just a rock solid power-popper which, for me carries hints of Badfinger, Wings and Big Star. Great lyrics from Ed, each verse quite topical upon further inspection. I was quite entertained by the William Shatner cameo. in the lyrics of verse 3. I enjoyed adding some rock-star guitar licks. The fantastic Dave Mattacks supplies some bad-ass back-beat to this rock n' roller. KING OF ALL THE ROTTEN THINGS - Aesop's Fables was one of my favorite books as a child. Though there are technically no animals in my little fable, current events led me to concoct this crazy tune about the King of Rotten Things, who uses his privilege and power to only feed his base urges instead of helping out his fellow man. It's a re-occuring story for sure, and not solely about one particular person. I swear. Really. The Latin infused rhythms presented themselves as I wrote from the lyric which suggested a particular groove. Ed really dresses this one up in some royal finery with his stunning harmonies, killer acoustic guitar and other musical additions. "O, it is excellent to have a giant’s strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.

– William Shakespeare FUNNY LITTLE CRYING SOUND - Sometimes love and desire can make you feel small in their awesome, majestic presence. The muse took me on a ride with this one. This song is among the first I sent for Ed's consideration. I liked it, but thought it was a bit odd and ambiguous with a "Bennie and the Jets" slow burn of a groove and abstract, yet emotive lyrics. Luckily, Ed took a liking to it and he crafted it beautifully, even arranging for the unambiguously amazing Dave Gregory to provide some fancy and fanciful guitar leads that perfectly punctuate the picture-perfect production. Is it a man? Is it a cat? you decide!

A RUMOR OF THE PROMISED LAND - A rockin' shuffle in which Ed reminds us the future is unwritten so beware of those those self-doubts and charlatans. Mr. Gregory provides some stellar blues licks on his '64 Grestch Country Gentleman, as I do my best attempt at Marc Bolan on rhythm guitar. I STILL LOVE YOU - Here is where we show our soft side. I think Ed said "play some slide on this 'un!" and I got right to it, no doubt channeling my slide hero George Harrison. Ed penned this tune presumably after making a big boo-boo. It's important to know when to say your sorry and throw yourself at the mercy of the court. There are heartfelt melodies and sumptuous harmonies to be enjoyed. Listen and share with someone special. WHERE THERE'S SMOKE - A bunch of words came out of me back during the protests and riots that occurred during the George Floyd business and BLM movement. It was just sort of an eruption of emotion on my part. As a writer that's the deal. As often happens, a mood and a melodic sense accompanied the words and I held on to it, or maybe should say it held on to me for several years. When I had exhausted my initial round of demos, I wanted to do something fresh and the possibilities for this song were always floating around in my mind, but I'd put it off because I knew it would be a lot of work to pull the big fish from the deep waters and retrieve the song I had imagined. So I put my head down and really dug for this one. I'm quite happy with the way it came out between Ed's always superlative production work and the kick-ass Joey Interrante furnishing the drums. Also, I didn't push back too much against my influences when they wanted to make themselves known. SOFT LANDING - I believe the first thing I offered up to Ed at the beginning of this effort was a humble, but mostly complete set of lyrics I really liked. It was a bit on the melancholy side as is my wont, but I was hoping Ed could compose a melody and maybe a bridge and there you go - a song is born. But, Ed surpassed any expectations I could have had by really reconstructing what I had given him and adding so much to the lyric and he created an honest but uplifting song that is moving in many ways. As I wanted to take a pass at singing it I can tell you, it's a hard f*cker to sing! Ed however soars and the finished product, with it's undercurrent of pain, care, healing and hope - was the clear candidate for finishing up the album. IF YOU READ THIS FAR! Thank you so very much for supporting and taking the time to allow us to create for you.