While I spend most of my time improvising and writing original pieces, every now and then it's fun to revisit songs that have stayed with me over the years. This album gathers a handful of those favorites.
When I record a cover, I don't sit down and learn the song exactly the way it was originally played. Instead, I work from memory. What comes out is less a reproduction and more a reflection of how the song has lived in my head over time. The result may not match the original note for note, but it captures what I remember most strongly about it.
I also reshape each tune to fit the way I naturally play today - acoustic fingerstyle guitar, with a relaxed chord-melody approach similar to the style of my original compositions and parallel pieces.
The album title Priority comes from the name of the first rock cover band I played in back in the 1970s. Before that, I had mostly played religious, folk, and pop music. Joining Priority opened the door to a whole different repertoire, and the songs on this album are a small tribute to that time and the music that left a lasting impression on me.
I suppose you can take the guitarist out of the 1970s... but you can't quite take the 1970s out of the guitarist.
As always, I hope you enjoy these tunes and the stories behind them below. If you like what you hear, feel free to share the links to this page or these tracks with friends or on social media.
Individual Tracks and Notes
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Priority (my first cover band) worked on this song at our first rehearsal together. Dan, the other guitarist in the band, handled the lead guitar parts, and his take on the solo stuck with me. So the lead break in this version reflects more of what I remember Dan playing than Boston's original recording. It's a small nod to those early rehearsals and the sound of two guitars figuring things out together.
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The Beatles were the reason I started playing guitar. The first two albums I ever owned? Let It Be and Paul McCartney's first solo album. The guitar work on those albums, especially on the original version of Maybe I'm Amazed, was an early inspiration. I've never performed this song with a band, but it has stayed with me through the years. It also brings back memories of the first concert I ever attended - Wings at Riverfront Coloseum in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1976.
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Near the end of college - where I had been a classical music major - I discovered jazz and jazz-rock. I listened constantly to Weather Report, Return to Forever, Al Di Meola, and especially Stanley Clarke. After graduating, I was teaching at a music store and used to jam on this tune with one of the salesmen there. Those informal store jams were a lot of fun, and this version brings back memories of that period when my musical horizons were widening quickly.
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I never actually played this one with a band, but as I got deeper into jazz, I started to really appreciate Chicago's early material. Before they became known primarily for ballads, their music blended rock with a strong jazz influence, and this song is a great example of that sound. It's always been one of my favorite pieces from their early catalog.
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During college I saw Rush three times in concert - this was early Rush, around the A Farewell to Kings and Hemispheres era. Around that time, "Fly By Night" became one of the highlights of a cover band I played in called City, which included the guitarist and drummer from Priority. It's one of my favorite Rush songs from their earliest albums.
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This was another song from the original Priority set list. One of These Nights has always been my favorite Eagles album. It captures a great moment in their evolution. Some tunes are still rooted in their early country-rock sound, while others are harder-edged like the more commercial albums that followed. Lying Eyes, Take It to the Limit, Too Many Hands, and Journey of the Sorcerer, along with this title track, show just how wide their musical range was.