Get it here!

This was a fun one. Had some friends/fans sing along again. Thanks to Chris, Ben, Doug, John, James, Jerry, Scott and Vin! Also Alan McEwen of The Grandsons is on trumpet! And of course Chip Johnson!

Enjoy and please tell other people!

Here are the lyrics:

City Of Refuge

Is that the sound of weeping or the sound of rejoicing i hear?
Is that the sound of weeping or the sound of rejoicing i hear?
In this carnival of chaos and confusion I can't hear so clear

I smell death on the wind - I see the blood red moon on the rise
Death on the wind - blood red moon's on the rise
I don't know how to interpret these portents, wonders and signs

How long till we come to...
How long till we come to...
The city of refuge?

Haven't slept for days I got sandpaper eyes
Haven't slept for days I got sandpaper eyes
Is that you i see or just some deep disguise?

Blood running in the streets just eight miles from my house tonight
Blood of innocents in the streets just eight miles from my house tonight
All I wanna do - find my baby - hold her tight

How long till we come to...
How long till we come to...
The city of refuge?

We made it thru the valley gonna wade across this river of pain
We made it thru the valley of shadows gonna wade across this river of pain
We're gonna be all new honey - never going back again!

How long till we come to...
How long till we come to...
The city of refuge?

For all you completists out there (and there are a few!) I changed the cover for "No Time For Fear".

Something doesn't feel right about this song. I can't put my finger on it. I know there is some good stuff in the lyrics and it's worth refining and keeping. I felt like it was "finished" for a while. Maybe I wasn't 100% gung ho about it, but I performed it live and recorded a version of it. It's really hard to have an objective, fresh perspective on a song when you've lived with it for so long and rewritten it countless times. Maybe I'm too "inside"? Maybe I'm being to precious about it? Maybe the whole thing is garbage? Maybe the chorus, the heart of it isn't moving me like it should?

I keep a sort of mental list of my song catalog. I try to do the Leonard Cohen gut check and make sure they are watertight lyrically, etc, according to my instinct. I want to keep every song I write at the top of that list and keep trying to outdo myself. What would be the first song I'd play if someone asked me to play one song? What songs am I psyched about playing live?

I'm trying to update it according to my sensibilities today but maybe I should just set it aside and try and salvage a verse or something later?

I've been working on this one for a couple years and the last few weeks especially. It's one of the "older" songs from this batch so that too makes it tricky as well - it's not something I'd necessarily write today.

I'm going to keep working at it and will keep you posted!

Here you go! Get it here.

I feel like this one is a little like returning to my roots in folk fingerstyle guitar, etc. It felt really natural (and fun). I played guitar and sang and Chip Johnson did everything else. I really love his harmonies and the other instruments. I knew I wanted it sparse like this. Pretty tasty huh? The message is personal but I hope it resonates with you too. 

One of these weeks I want to do a "making of" video sharing how we collaborate and incorporate special guests, etc. I think you'd dig it!

For all you guitar players, it's in open D (DADF#AD) capo IV. I just thought, wouldn't it be funny/cruel if I said it was in some random, incorrect tuning capoed some weird place? That'd make for some frustrated/confused guitarists trying to figure it out!

Enjoy and please spread the word any way you can! 

Luke

P.S. You may notice I repurposed the cover from "No Time For Fear" since I felt like this image was perfect for this song. I made a new cover for "No Time For Fear". Btw, the picture was taken at the 9/11 memorial at the Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, NJ.

I Got A Light
Words and music by Luke Brindley
Produced by Chip Johnson

Lost my friends and my band
My faith in any man
Almost let my marriage
Slip thru my hands
It's all right now
I got a light

Stones in my pathway
Stumbling thru the dark
A shroud of shadows
Around my heart
It's all right
I got a light

I got a light, I got a light
I got a light, I got a light
This light's gonna get me through this life

My baby born in Newark
"Little Sarah" was her name
Life ain't easy for her
But she does it just the same
And it's all right
Cuz we got a light

Can't see round the corner
My time may be near
But i ain't gonna live my life
Paralyzed by fear
Gonna be all right
If you got a light

I got a light, I got a light
I got a light, I got a light
This light's gonna get me through this life

I can't tell you exactly what love is
But it's something like a burning light
And love gonna get me thru this life

I got a light, I got a light
I got a light, I got a light
This light's gonna get me through this life

I can't tell you precisely what love is
But it's something like a burning light
This love's gonna get me thru this life
This love's gonna get us thru this life

Tomorrow night I'm playing a fun show with some musician friends. We're playing Van Morrison's Moondance and Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" in their entirety with the original instrumentation and everything. I'm playing the Springsteen song, "Wild Billy's Circus Story". I wasn't familiar with this song before I was assigned it for the show. It's very wordy and there's no chorus/repetition. It's been a challenge to learn it. It's a cool song tho - he details these characters in the traveling circus. There's no real "theme" or anything but it's there's some cool, vivid images and wordplay. Kind of out of what comes natural to me - I'm definitely on the "growing edge" here!