Congratulations on the release of Ways Of The World, how does it feel?
It’s always bittersweet. I love the process of writing and seeing how the songs evolve in the studio and working with the band. But I love what came out of the sessions, and the songs remain important to me.
Its origin story is quite unique, how did it come about?
In the summer of 2023, more than 30 years after the last time I wrote a song or played, songs started coming to me in my sleep and then all of the time. I suddenly felt like a very different person. Ways of the World comes out of that ongoing experience, as well as four other albums, which include two previous albums, one album that will be released in September 2026, and another that we’ll record in early March.
What’s your favourite track from it?
Hard to pick, but I’ll say “The Water.” It captures just about everything that I’m doing or trying to do in the overall project – lyrically, musically, spiritually.
What was the easiest and most difficult of putting it together?
There’s nothing difficult about trying to find the right groove or arrangement for a song when you’re lucky enough to work with great musicians. It’s just about continuing to be open about possibilities in sounds and instrumentation. For example, Mark Clark, the drummer and percussionist, has a vast collection of percussion instruments, some of which are not even conventional instruments. He tried all sorts of sounds, and I think we kept all of them, including churning up water in a bucket.
You’re a singer songwriter and musician from New Mexico. How did it all begin for you?
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, I played in a couple of working blues and rockabilly bands in the small circuit here in Albuquerque. In those days, bands played four-hour shows. But that was okay with me. I fell in love with all of the music that I was hearing and that I’d never heard growing up in northern New Jersey. A lot of the songs I wrote back then were heavily influenced by the punkabilly bands coming out of Southern California and the Chicago-style blues bands that came here to play. Nowadays, I still have pieces of the blues in my songs, but my approach is really different from what I was writing before.
What did you listen to growing up?
The Beatles, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Cat Stevens, Van Morrison, Billy Joel, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, The Talking Heads, The Doors, The Who, The J.Geils Band, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, The Band, The Allman Brothers, Little Feat, and whatever else I heard on NYC FM stations. It was a pretty conventional, male-oriented musical experience for a boy from the suburbs. I was curious enough to skip classes and take the train to Manhattan. But I wasn’t cool enough to understand what was really going on.
Your journey with this project started two years ago, 30 years after you last played or wrote music. What did it feel like picking up an instrument to play again?
Awkward, strange, and exhilarating. I barely could play a thing. But it still felt right. It took me a long time and lots of practicing to get my playing even close to where I wanted it. The songs were coming really fast, and, in those early days, I didn’t know how to use my guitar to help them along.
This is all part of a larger body of work and a bigger release plan. What have you learned on this journey?
At a personal level, it’s helped me to understand or come closer to understanding things I didn’t know – I’m referring to people that I write about and the challenges that they were given. Temporarily, in the process of writing, I become a more sensitive and empathetic person, until I return to my norm. Songwriting makes me a better person for a little while. At a creative level, I’ve learned to slow down and be patient. At first, I was writing a song every day or two. Now, I have just as many parts of songs rattling in my head, but I’ll record them into my voicemail and go back to the song I’m working on until it feels right and not rush full steam ahead into another.
It’s been two years since you began this. If you could give yourself from two years ago some advice what would it be?
To be honest, I don’t even know how or why songs started coming after so long, so I have no advice. If pressed, learn to play the piano.
If you could ask yourself from over 30 years ago one question what would it be?
Why did you stop playing and singing and writing?
What are you listening to at the moment?
Carla Patullo, Mavis Staples, Jahnavi Harrison, Moto Fukushima, Rhiannon Giddens, Billy Strings, Allison Russell, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Townes Van Zandt, Sierra Ferrell.
What are you looking forward to doing in 2026?
Learning, writing, playing, singing, recording.
