A Decade of Green… Ten years are gone but a whole lot of living life has transpired. The odyssey which is the journey of making this record began even earlier than the release of RED, but 2003 gave it it’s GREEN code name as an homage to the Seattle area in which we lived. Little did I know the amount of big life events which would take place before the project could come to fruition. The passing of two of our parents, my Dad and then Wendy’s mom just one year later, and the desire to come home from our west coast tour led us to make a major move back to the SF Bay Area. We then proceeded to heed the call of life by having our adorable children. Even if all we did was buy and sell 3 houses in fairly quick succession, which we did, it would be major. Even if I just built 2 recording studios, J-Zone San Jose and then another in Danville, which I did, it would be pretty major. Yet in addition we sped through the diaper years of our kids and then the declining year of my mother Roberta who came to stay for a while with us. A lot can and does happen in ten years. A pivotal point came, however, in September 2007 when I would connect with two guys who would turn Emerald into a “Buddy” album...a real Band record. As a kid my hero was my big cousin Mark who first introduced me to music as a thing to be “into”. He was a drummer, so naturally, I wanted to be one, though I was destined for the guitar. He liked The Beatles so of course I became a huge fan and collected all of their albums. Over the years he watched my career from a distance and had his own band exploits. Finally we had a chance to connect musically at the end of the summer of 2007. He brought along a new friend for me...bass man and blues harpist Dennis Zwicker. The time was finally right. The studio was functioning and the babies had stable regular baby-sitting which allowed me to have Monday mornings to develop songs and record. A web-blog posted weekly, “The Captain’s Blog”, kept us churning out music regularly and from 2007 through 2009 we had a very productive and fun time as we created most of the songs for this album. The fun, energy, hilarity, and camaraderie of those times are what gave Emerald it’s different character. There are bits of laughter left at the end of some of the songs to help put you in the scene with us. The three of us soon became fast friends and constituted the core of the Jay Wayne Band. The party didn’t last forever but we thoroughly enjoyed a good run of doing basic tracks until one more big hurtle would arrive to delay production and indeed stall the momentum of the new group. The world sits still for no one... In 2009 Wendy’s career move northward, and the desire to raise our children in a bigger house, a quieter neighborhood, and better schools, helped us to decide to move lock, stock, and studio to my childhood town of Danville. This would prove to be more than just a little detour along the way toward making an album. The new home required a lot of work before we could even move in and among all the projects was a full interior paint job done by none other than bass man Dennis or as we call him DZ. Band members and my local family members chipped in to turn that house into a wonderful place to live. For the first year in the new place I attempted to mix our songs inside the home, in an office, but in a short time it became obvious to me I would have to build yet another J-Zone Records recording and rehearsal studio. Over the ensuing three years Mark and DZ would keep the JWB flame alive enough to play a few fun shows each year, rehearsing at Epiphany Church, and adding guitar players David Staub, Warren Waldorf and Brian Collins here and there to handle extra harmonies and lead guitar chores. My old pal from the band The Likes, Warren Waldorf, and I built the new studio throughout 2010 and 2011 until finally in February of 2012 it was complete. Another band buddy from The Likes, Ron Bushard joined the JWB in the studio a few times and was a valuable advisor on this project, especially in the latter stages ,adding keyboards, bass and vocals here and there. The toughest part of 2011 though was the major emotional undertaking of the battle against cancer for my Mom that would end November 17 of that year. I had this idea for a time that I could help her beat the reaper with the application of intense green medicinal herbs, probiotics, and digestive enzymes. She came to live with us for a while and even showed signs of improvement. She said she had some happy mornings sitting in our front room watching the birds and the hills out our front window. However, it was all too little too late. I miss her a lot for this was her town. I am reminded of her in every street, tree, and building of this my old hometown. One morning in February of 2012 I awoke to a new day and realized not only that I could get back to completing Emerald, but that if I could finish it in 2012 and release it in 2013 it will have been about ten years, one decade, in production. The studio was done now and the JWB could complete it’s masterpiece. My kids are growing fast and attending my old grammar school. I have a beautiful wife and a beautiful home, and as I take inventory of all that transpired during this era I realize how blessed I am now here on the other side of it all. Emerald is for me more than just my third release, it stands as a record of my journey from the green forests of Washington back home to the green hills and trees of where I grew up here in Danville. I hope it takes you on a fun, laugh-filled, trip down what the JWB calls the “Emerald Highway”. Jay Wayne