In 2006 I reluctantly signed up for the American Song Academy in connection with the Sisters Folk Festival in Sisters, Oregon. I had played and written songs off and on for years, but had never really worked on songwriting as a craft. I was apprehensive about sharing my songs and opening myself up to criticism, however constructive it might be. On the evening of the first day, I heard Keith Greeninger, at headliner at the Festival who had just released an epic CD, and my life took a new direction. Keith is among the most soulful songwriters out there, and he just blew my heart wide open. That fall I got involved with creating a venue for kirtan and community music gatherings at an old church, and I invited Keith to play there, and over time we became friends. In 2009 I found myself working near San Francisco for weeks at a time, going home to family in Bend roughly once a month. After a year or so of this, I ventured out to an open mic in North Beach to play some of my songs. Keith and I had talked about recording at that time, but I wasn't ready. Finally in January 2013 I made it into Keith's studio in the Santa Cruz mountains and started tracking this record. The album has come together very organically. We did most of the tracking live, with minimal overdubs. Between engineer Tim mF. Prince and Keith, top end pro mics and gear, and the natural atmosphere of Keith's studio among the redwoods in the Santa Cruz mountains, all the elements came together for a very warm and rich production. I was very fortunate to work with a phenomenal lineup of session talent, including Keith Greeninger (production and vocals), John R. Burr (Alison Brown, Maria Muldaur - piano and organ), Ronny Crawford (Lisa Loeb, drums and percussion), Dan Robbins (upright bass), Barry Phillips (Ravi Shankar and George Harrison - cello), Rory Cloud (Quiles and Cloud - vocals and acoustic guitar), Maria Quiles (Quiles and Cloud - vocals), James DePrato (Chuck Prophet and Megan Slankard - electric and acoustic guitar) and Gianni Staiano (Hammond B3). The album was engineered and mastered by Tim mF. Prince of Ridgetop Sound in Santa Cruz. Heavy Light is also the commercial art debut of my daughter, Sabrina, who did the cover art. How would I describe my music in general? When people learn that I am a songwriter, I’m frequently asked what kind of music I play, or what are my songs like? Tough questions, I think. It’s like trying to describe a color. “Bluesy folk” or “urban jazzy indie” no adjectives really get you there. I may as well say something like “where red meets orange”, or “a cross between Paul Simon and Christopher Walken." or "the love child of Leonard Cohen and Mark Knopfler." I can say something about what my songs are about, though. In a word, they’re all about Grace. Much of them explore the relationship between force and flow. I’m fascinated by the deep truths bound in paradox, and those moments when you realized that everything you thought you knew about something, or someone, was wrong. I am learning to trust my judgments less and less, because I’ve been so often wrong and the slightest change in lighting changes the appearance of things, and thereby my perception. We are like blind men trying to describe an elephant. Anyway, I enjoy cultivating the growing realization of how much I don’t know, especially about what I don’t know. Can a little biographical detail help? Probably not, but for what it’s worth I was born in New York City, and have lived in Colorado, New Mexico, New England, California and Oregon, as well as a stint studying abroad in Europe. I attended 13 different schools before I went off to college. I suppose my travels and vagabond childhood contribute to my penchant for observation and compassionate insight. My influences, you ask? They are varied and many, but they include Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Mark Knopfler, Bruce Cockburn, Eric Taylor, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Harry Manx. Thanks for stopping by. If you like my songs at all, please let me know. It feels really good to know they might mean something to you. Warm regards, Johnny