When we recorded the album, we had a collection of 12 songs, but what order should we put them in? Start with three fast songs, slow down a bit and ramp back up for a climactic finish? Order it like a live set? These are difficult decisions to make. Then it occurred to me that there were three major themes and maybe the album could follow kind of a story arc of sorts. And musically and dynamically I felt it flowed well too.
The three major themes ended up being Love, Work and God, so that’s how I ordered it. It starts off with a cover of one of my favorite Hank Williams songs, Long Gone Lonesome Blues, not because of its lyrical depth or meaning to me personally, but because it’s fast, there’s yodeling and it’s just plain fun to sing. So it starts off that this man has lost this woman.
Then the album get’s very auto-biographical actually, as Goin’ Down is essentially the story of Jeri and I getting together and getting married and Shared Secrets continues that story. Undone (The Sweater Song) is the other cover song on the album (by Weezer). Followed by My Love.
So then we needed a transition between this happy, love relationship to the world of work and I thought The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions would be just the song. And it works really well.
American Man (the song) starts off the world of work portion and is about how life doesn’t necessarily turn out like you had dreamed it would. But it’s hard to find something better (Hard To Find).
The God portion contains Search Me O God, Don’t Believe ‘Em, and Heaven Is My Retirement Plan (bringing a sort of reconciliation with the world of work). And then as a final statement Make A Difference caps off the album with how we can make a difference in the world, even if it’s a small one. It’s not so hard after all.
Back in April we invited a bunch of people over to our house to record background vocals for the new American Man album and we had a blast. Over forty people were in our living room learning two songs and singing their parts. Here’s the video of that night:
American Man, Brother Howe’s long awaited full length album is now available through a pre-release private launch! It is for email subscribers and fans from December 6th through 12th only.
Here’s what you get:
A high-quality digital download of the album with two extra bonus tracks that will not be on the cd. You’ll get instant access to a zip file with high quality 320 kbps mp3 files downloaded directly to your computer.
You wanted a physical copy of the album? Well as another bonus, if you order the digital download, you have the option of pre-ordering an autographed copy of the physical cd for $4.99 as well. These come in a handsomely packaged fold-open digi-pak (sorry I don’t have pictures yet, but the proofs look great and we’re really proud of them). And you can pre-order as many copies at this price as you want and have them mailed to your home in time for Christmas (just in case you wanted to have a few extra copies for gifts or stocking stuffers).
However, there is a limited run of 100 the physical cd’s so if they run out, we won’t be able to ship in time for Christmas. If you want to be sure to get your copy, you’ll want to act fast.
This deal is only available through our website and is not available now on iTunes, Amazon or in any stores.
