Moving to Florida’s West Coast in 1965 put me in a special place at a special time.  Concerts at the Clearwater Auditorium had a manager with connections who brought in some of the current popular artists.  So for a young lad, I got to see many including the Beach Boys with my big sister.  The Beaches of Pinellas County are some of the best in the country and soon after I graduated from being a beach goer to a regular performer on many hotel stages in the 80’s and 90’s.  Beautiful Sunsets, gorgeous white sand filled with muscular men and curvaceous woman getting a tan inspired this song.  And with horns reminiscent of that special time in the mid 60’s, this one is a toe tapper with a good beach vibe.

The inspiration for “One Song” came to me after I understood the meaning of the word “Universe”.  The Christian perspective is God spoke in one (Uni) sentence (Verse) and it was done.  Another glance might read Uni (one) Verse (a verse can be a song) so Universe could be one song.  Job 38:7 says “the morning stars sang together”.  I believe music is the universal language, no other form of communication has as much of an impact of the entire brain as music.
Thanks to Ken Keller for the superb vocals in bring this song to life.

This song was inspired a few years ago when saying “Merry Christmas” was offensive to some and there a public outcry just to say “Happy Holidays”.  Christmas has become a seasonal retail money maker, a secular side show and as a result, the true meaning got lost in the past few decades.  This bothered me enough to express it in this song.   The title says it simply, “Let’s put Christ back in Christmas”.
 There has been several versions of this song recorded over the years and this latest one I was blessed to have two professional Tampa Bay heavyweights help me:  Stan Collins on keys and the orchestral arrangement and Alison Burns do all the vocals on this female version.    

This original instrumental is about and dedicated to my mother, Priscilla Miller.  Born in February, 1919 and part of the greatest generation, she was six months pregnant with my younger brother when my father suddenly and tragically died.  She already had seven children; the new baby three months later would be number eight.  She was given advice to foster some of my siblings, but her heart wouldn’t let her, and she kept us all together.  It was tough growing up in the 60’s with no father, yet we never went on welfare and never got food stamps.  Instead, she taught us a work ethic and we all worked together to make ends meet.
Priscilla was able to hear this song before she died, and she liked it.  Made me proud to become the only professional musician of her eight children and be able to write and perform this song in memory of her.
 

Living in the Tampa Bay area for a sports fan has been a roller coaster ride over the past few decades.  Occasionally one of our teams gets into the playoffs.  One year in particular the Bucs, Dolphins, Jaguars and our college teams Florida State, University of Florida and Miami were all in the playoff hunt.
After realizing this and while watching a game with a friend I said “Florida is Football Heaven”, he agreed and I thought to myself that’s a good title for a song.  The result is this month’s song of the month and features my pianist and arranger, Stan Collins’ brilliant work on keys.
 

I was fortunate to perform for a few seasons at Tropicana Field with pre-game music.  So much fun feeling the crowds, the pre-game excitement that I was inspired to write the song “Hooray for the Rays” and it’s this month’s featured song of the month.  Stan Collins, my pianist and arranger helped me put together a fun filled salute to baseball and our home town team and it’s capped off with amazing vocals by local singer Lisa Gillum.
I do have permission to perform and play the song but not to sell.  Therefore this song is free to download and enjoy.

 

Growing up and working on Florida’s west coast has been a lifetime of memories, especially playing music somewhere on the water to a fun crowd and a gorgeous sunset.  In the 80’s there was a Smooth Jazz station on the Suncoast that used “The Wave” as a call signal and at about the same time I learned the song “The Wave” by A. Carlos Jobim.  I was influenced by both.  So as a writer trying to push his limits, where all my previous songs started with a lyric or a word concept, “Ride the Wave” was my first melodic song.  The opening overtone melody is a call to a water adventure, to imagine it, feel it and finally, ride it.  The song has gone through several adaptations, finally ending up with rhythm tracks being done by Tampa Bay Jazz pianist Alon Sams and adding horns and vocals by Leo LaBranche, then overdubbing some of the guitar an octave higher to the finished product.  “Ride The Wave” is my way of saying, let’s take this wave and ride it.

 

“I was inspired to write “We the People” after my second performance playing Richard Henry Lee in the Broadway Musical “1776”.  Lee, of the Lee’s of ‘Ole Virginia was instrumental in bringing a resolution through the Virginia House of Burgesses to the Continental Congress to declare their independency. My engineer and co-producer, Ben Rodgers, and I spent many hours mixing the background of the song’s ending, blending several Patriotic songs under the recitation of the "Preamble" of the Declaration of Independence. Labor of Love.”