The docu-pop experiment with my second album, which was thematically tied to finding the bright side of failure, led my mind into interesting territory the following year. The increasing dominance of online music was rapidly displacing physical albums by 2009, and I wondered if it made any sense to make albums at all anymore. Being a fan of storytelling vehicles like This American Life, I wondered if some sort of hybrid music and story delivery system might be possible.
Thus was born The Band That Never Was, a journey into memory and friendship that chronicled the rise and fall of my first band. Each episode would feature a single, either in context with the episode or available separately. It remains a good concept, and I liked the process of collecting and playing with audio in an innovative format.
This tune is from the second episode, and is one of my favorite collaborations. The verse chords were the creation of longtime musical associate Jeffry Simms, who came to me to try and put a chorus on it. This I did, and the song stayed in the barn for a while, a bit mild to be a showstopper at live gigs. When I started working on the podcast, I reworked the lyrics to reflect that material, and the completed song took shape.
I have played it live, mostly in Second Life, but it really works better as a studio piece, and I love the sound of the upright piano, which unfortunately I no longer have space for. Nancy Giammarco's alternate melody going through the ending chorus takes the song to another level, as do Jeffry and Dean Hall's harmonies. Still one of the releases I'm proudest of.