Six Strings & a Story: An Acoustic Retrospective (1990-2023)

I am VERY proud to announce that my latest release is due out on streaming services October 6th! This is a solo acoustic album featuring a four new or previously unreleased songs along side seven selections from my catalog, but played solo in an imtimate and heartfelt performance. The album is currently available on CD and USB as a pre-order from the record shop on my web site.

Why re-record old songs? I outline my reasoning in the liner notes as follows:

I have been doing this for going on fifty years, and as a recording engineer and record producer I have tended to favor a kitchen sink production style.  The writing process, however, involves a simple voice and accompanying instrument with the final result tested out on my wife Pamela.  I have literally been doing this since we met back in high school, and she is an exacting and sometimes brutal critic whose instincts about lyric, story, and song are ones that I have come to respect and appreciate beyond measure.

Interestingly, our individual opinion of record production is where the two of us part ways. She often will hear what I bring back from a recording session and express disappointment in how the intimate and passionate one-on-one experience of my song has been – in her opinion – diluted by the additions I have made.  She often longs to hear the song in its purist representation… just me and my guitar, sitting in the living room, telling the story in my head with passionate focus and sometimes imperfect execution.

So, I thought that after 43 years together, I might finally create an album of songs sung the way she likes to hear them - just guitar and voice – bare bones but passionate.  This album is as live as it gets without an audience, and in all honesty the warts-and-all-approach makes me nervous.  But it is also refreshing to just present the songs to you in their purist form.  I hope you will ignore the warts, hear the heart, and enjoy listening to these songs as much I enjoyed playing them for you. This one is for Pamela.

-RS June 2023