Of my previously released albums, the two I like the best are two short records written specifically for acoustic guitar, cello and voice. Drawing from the realm of classical music, I wanted to impose a limitation on the music, because limitation is often what breeds creativity - form, specific instrumentation, etc. I have always planned on recording one more album in this series to make it into a trilogy. Of course, this is mostly just so I can say that I made a trilogy of something! Through 2016, I had been listening to Beethoven quartets and songs from the “Golden Age of American Song” - the Tin Pan Alley era spanning the 20’s through the 50’s. Then in January, I settled in to being recording the new record. However something weird happened... I had also started listening to a lot of country and Americana music. And then something really weird happened. I started writing songs in that vein. I thought I might try to write songs for Nashville artists. However, since I can’t move to Nashville and develop those relationships right now, and it’s all about relationships of course, I decided I should record them myself. I enjoyed writing these songs because the focus was more on the lyrics - stories, turns of phrase, and the basic ideas for the songs - rather than on more abstract musical ideas. This was a different process for me, and I enjoyed it. I also enjoyed discovering how syncopated the lyrics are in modern country songs - an idea I tried to incorporate in the choruses of "Plead The Fifth", "Angel On Strike", and "Alcohol Of Shame." And, of course, I couldn't resist some more abstract musical notions, like changing keys during the verse of "Sometimes We Make Mistakes." I also tried to make many of the choruses quite hook-y, and I hope I succeeded. On the recording side of things, I used a lot of guitar slides, country licks and singer-songwriter oriented finger picking. Cello, mandolin, drums and electric bass are also featured throughout. And a little organ! I had considered several different titles for this unexpected Americana, country-ish, rock-ish album - ideas like “Composer Goes Country” and “Americana Accident”, but finally I decided on the title “Country Wrong Turn”.