They Have Camels (EP)
Welcome to my first album - and thanks for stopping by.
I tend to write and play two kinds of pieces: ones with a bouncy groove, and ones that are more reflective and meditative. You'll find both here.
My goal was to create short, simple songs that give off positive vibes. There's plenty of negativity in the world already; I wanted these tracks to feel upbeat, uplifting, and relaxing.
To keep that feeling honest, I recorded the whole album live. All six tracks were performed in a single session from start to finish - no overdubs, no edits, no fixing mistakes. What you hear is exactly what I played, as if you were sitting in the room with me while I recorded.
Each track also has a story behind it. You can read those notes below as you listen.
I hope you enjoy the music and the stories. If you do, feel free to share the links to this page or these tracks with friends and on social media.
Track List and Notes
-
An upbeat groove to get your foot tapping. I first heard a groove like this on a video of Charlie Hunter playing at a guitar-builders festival. At one point, he looked at the crowd sitting politely in their seats and joked, "Hey, I thought this was a dance party." I borrowed the feel of that groove, reshaped it, and added a melody of my own.
-
A mellow, reflective piece - like sailing across a warm, breezy lake. It opens with some chords that appeared one day while I was improvising. The middle section pays tribute to one of my favorite guitarists, William Ackerman. The rising arpeggios (notes of a chord played individually) echo the style of his song Passage.
-
Another Charlie Hunter-inspired groove, this one from a short example he played in a video clip from a 2011 workshop. I took those few seconds, shifted the feel, and turned it into a slightly "sloppy" acoustic blues. It's another tune meant to get your foot tapping and your head nodding.
-
This tune evokes the proud, rolling gait of camels. I wrote it after visiting Frog Pond Farm in Wilsonville, Oregon, where my friend and I met two of them. The farm has over eighty animals - llamas, alpacas, miniature horses, goats, sheep, and more - but whenever I tell people about our visit, they always stop me with the same surprised question: "They have camels?" Yes, they do.
-
A toe-tapper that started with inspiration from Adam Miller. As it developed, it began sounding like a 1970s sitcom theme-something in the spirit of Barney Miller. Then the middle section wandered into children's-TV territory, more Sesame Street or Barney and Friends. The title follows that journey: from Adam Miller to Barney Miller to Barney the purple dinosaur.
-
I wrote this tune back in the 1980s. Its title comes from the Chinese term for the wandering monks of ancient China: "yun shui," meaning "cloud water." It symbolizes a Zen way of moving through life - floating like clouds, flowing like water. I tried to capture that same free-roaming, adventurous spirit you feel during a long hike alone in a mountain forest.