I’m making the biggest, boldest, funnest and most heart wrenching album I’ve ever made. It’s a big sound with 18 musicians across the album: Horns, strings, solid rhythm section and plenty of BVs from my absolute favourite singers. It took a community to record the album and now it requires a community (that’s you!) to get the album out.

                                                      Some of the amazing musicians involved in recording on the album       

STORY

Back in those innocent, carefree days of early 2020 I headed into Aviary recording studio with my friend and (grammy nominated engineer!) Erick Jaskowiak and along with Justin (drums), Richie (bass) and Paddy (Electric guitar) and we put down 8 tracks of a new album. We planned to reconvene in a few months and finish off the album. What could possibly go wrong?!

                                                            2020: Finished 3 days of recording at Aviary

In May 2020 my second son was born. When covid hit my 3 month break from music turned into a year long hiatus. I was living in the wonders and the trials and tribulations of family life through lockdowns and some kind of baptism of fire / initiation into a deeper level of adulthood. So how was your 2020?

As a father of 2 boys I was thinking a lot about what it means to be a father, what it means to be a man and looking at the areas I needed to grow in order to be the best person for the people close to me. 

My song Son Of A Father has resonated with a lot of people when I've played it at shows. We have recorded a beautiful version on this album.

It has been the relationships in my life that have shaped this album. My kids, my partner, my parents, my friends. It explores fatherhood, motherhood, coming of age, friendship, masculinity and relationship

Musically I’ve gone shamelessly into 70s folk/rock and soul, the sound of my first musical influences: Jackson Brown, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac. (With inspiration from modern day acts such as Nathaniel Raitliff and the Night Sweats, Sharon Jones, Lake Street Dive, Alicia Keys)

My good friend, producer/engineer Erick Jaskowiak has been amazing through this whole project. He got right on board with creating the 70s sound from an audio perspective. Having spent 20+ years working in Nashville he’s super experienced. He’s worked on albums with so many amazing people: The Waifs, Colin Hay, Alison Krauss, T-Bone Burnett, Kenny Rodgers. Erick really helped me out a lot during the 2 and a half year process of making this album, it wouldn’t have been possible without his generosity and friendship.

                                               Erick Jaskowiak (producer/engineer) with Justin Olsson (drums)

After a year long break Erick and I returned in 2021 laid down some of my piano and guitar parts and a new solo acoustic track. 

We then laid down 3 more band tracks during a day at Aviary studio and a week later added our horn section in a big fun day at Echidna Recording Studio. 

Since then we have chipped away adding vocals, backing vocals, pedal steel, strings and even some timpani. It doesn’t sound like much but the final touches took a long, long time and we had many delays: covid cancellations, studio double bookings and even a trip to the ER. 

In June 2022, I finally got to do a gig with a horn section. Here's some video from that show which includes songs from the upcoming album

PROJECT COSTS

PATREON:

A shoutout to the wonderful Patreon supporters who backed me during the quietest patch of my career. Your support meant the world to me. If you feel like supporting this project then that's amazing! However if you would just like a copy of the new album, please get in touch. I'd be happy to throw one your way based on your past support.