I am very excited to announce that I am releasing new music! The album is called Suburban Rebel and the official release date is February 11, 2022. Beginning Friday November 19 I will be featuring one song a week on my website leading up to the release. You will be able to stream that week’s featured track, read about my thought process and the inspirations for the lyrics, and pre-order the album which will be available as digital download and on CD. Ten songs over ten weeks. The first five before the holidays, then a break over Christmas and New Year’s, and the remaining five picking back up in January. There will also be four weeks where pre-sales will benefit different organizations related to the subject of that week’s corresponding song. Links to learn more are below.
Suburban Rebel is a collection of songs recorded in my home pandemic project studio over the course of 2021. It is completely DIY. Nothing was done in a professional studio, and the tracks have not been professionally mastered. I’ve decided to send these into the world, warts and all because making these recordings was cathartic for me. Not only was this a way to stay creative during the pandemic when touring completely shut down, I was also experiencing a rapidly declining mental state. A large component of which revolved around questions concerning identity and voice, what it means to me to be an artist.
As a writer I put a lot of care and effort into my lyrics. All my songs start and remain focused there. The music is the delivery vehicle, but without it I would still be compelled to say the same things, to tell the same stories, to raise the same concerns. As an artist I am obligated to speak up. Whether speaking truth to power or giving voice to the things we’d rather not talk about, the role of art in society is to be provocative. To shine a light on the beautiful surely, but to shine that same light even more brightly in the dark places too. To provoke awareness. To not forget the people and circumstances too often swept under the rug. The themes and stories on Suburban Rebel are not entirely particularly happy or uplifting, although some are. I know it’s a risk to put out songs like these almost two years into a pandemic. People are weary and justifiably want to forget their troubles. That’s exactly why I feel it is important to release this music now. So we don’t forget to have the uncomfortable but necessary conversations.
I called this collection Suburban Rebel because I consider myself a displaced urbanite. I didn’t set out to land in this hamlet nestled on the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains, it just sort of happened. Moving out of the city was a matter of economics. First to the suburbs of Richmond because it was where we could kind of afford a house, and later to this pseudo-suburb for a job opportunity.
It’s been a great place to chill and raise our children. My wife humors the Blue Ridge as an acceptable substitute for her beloved Rocky Mountains. The vineyard gig I landed was an amazing experience I will carry with me fondly, I only left when it eventually became too much to balance with the lifestyle of a musician.
However, I can’t accept our current locale as a suburb though it looks and feels like one. The nearest “city” is fifteen miles away, the nearest honest city seventy five. We are not in the country either. With neighbors spitting distance in every direction, the only real quiet found in the small hours of the night, and the constant traffic, might as well live in the city. At least there you can get auto parts on a Sunday for the car that isn’t necessarily necessary. (I shouldn’t complain, I am in walking distance of an old fashioned hardware store, a pharmacy that doesn’t take my insurance, and two places to get fancy coffee).
So I rebel, in my heart and mind anyway. Against the bland sameness, the lack of vibrancy found just hanging out on a downtown city street. Against the lack of interesting things to do close at hand, these streets that roll up when night falls. Against the lack of a truly diverse music scene. Against the cookie cutter normalcy where using a reel mower instead of a riding one will get the neighbors wondering what’s wrong with you. But I do love how the Milky Way cuts directly overhead at night. It's something I'll never tire of even if I have to stand in exactly the right spot in my own yard so the shed blocks the neighbor's gajillion watt dusk to dawn light.
I hope you enjoy Suburban Rebel. Your help spreading the word over the next few months is greatly appreciated. Feel free to like and share when you see posts on social media. Particularly during the weeks that help benefit a cause if any of them are something you’d like to support. Leave comments here on these posts, let's start a conversation.
Suburban Rebel Release Cycle
- Paradise Lost: Nov 19 2021
- Odd Oasis: Nov 26 2021 Pre-Sales benefit National Independent Venue Association www.saveourstages.com
- Raven’s Roost: Dec 3 2021
- Gunshots and Chaos: Dec 10 2021 Pre-Sales benefit Sexual Assault Resource Agency www.saracville.org
- Mrs. Never Speaks: Dec 17 2021
** No release for 2 weeks for holidays **
- Back From The War: Jan 7 2022 Pre-Sales benefit Side By Side www.sidebysideva.org
- Not Jesus: Jan 14 2022 Pre-Sales benefit The Bitter Southerner www.bittersoutherner.com
- Bones: Jan 21 2022
- Tapestry: Jan 28 2022
- Creepy White Van: Feb 4 2022
Full album release: Feb 11 2022