The music of our youth is possibly the most influential of any music that we hear during our lives. It is the music that we associate with most of our “firsts” — our first summer away from home, our first love, our first apartment — which stays with us for the rest of our lives. Growing up as a white kid on the south side of Chicago put me in ears'-way of an astounding mix of musical styles. WBMX (which stood for, from what I was led to believe, "Black Music Xperience") was on my radio, while Mantovani Orchestra was blasting from my mother's AM radio. Time spent in small record stores in Hyde Park gave me my musical education; the guys who worked in the store, who were the ultimate proto-hipsters, would always toss a couple of cutout records in my bag for free, with the promise that I'd go home and listen to them. And so began my initiation into the bizarre world of “Sir Nose D’Voidoffunk” and other slightly frightening Bootsy Collins characters. The title of this record, “Sway,” is a nod to all of these influences that shape the music that inspired, and continues to inspire me.