MUSIC



Tracks

1. “Long Way From Where I’ve Been”
I always loved this tune. This was written by a friend I lived next door to in Nashville back in late 80’s. I heard him perform this song and told him when I have the opportunity to record my own CD that I would like to record it. 16 years later, he gave me the permission to cut it. The swing/jazz feel is my version of good dancehall song!

2. “This Cowboy’s In Love”
True story…lyrics say it all.

3. “I’ll Take Away The Blues For You”
This was one of the first 5 songs I wrote after arriving in Nashville in 1987. I wrote this song after I received a phone call from a friend who was venting about her summer job.

4. “Hard To Hold”
This song was written by husband and wife duo, Gary and Mary Jones. My contribution is in the second verse. I think this is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. While recording, this is one of those rare moments in the studio when all aspects of the recording were in sync. The music simply played out perfectly.

5. “Blue Heartache”
I was attending several bluegrass jams at a local bar in Lyons, CO when this song was written. I liked how the words BLUE HEARTACHE sounded with the melody I came up with. I didn’t write it with anything specific in mind, the songs true spirit is in the music.

6. “Come Closing Time”
I had an upcoming gig with a very well known local blues act, Mary Russell. One day while jogging, I was thinking of a song we could record as a duet. I recently saw the movie Walk The Line and began humming a different arrangement that fit us. By the time I got to the top of the hill, the lyrics to the chorus for another song crept in. I had the verses finished before I got back from my run! The first verse describes the preparation for a big night in the guys mind and the second verse is his humble opinion. Intent on winning her over, the chorus shows his modesty and confidence.

7. “Under The Sun”
I co-wrote this song with a friend of mine, Becky Martinek. We were throwing out ideas, and she talked about some scenarios about her walks through the Rocky Mountains surrounding where we lived. We then started talking about something completely unrelated and she made the comment, “that’s nothing new under the sun.” A light bulb lit up and a few days later, this song was written about my personal journey in dealing with divorce.

8. “Pour Me Back Down”
My two friends who were supposed to help me stack hay hit the local bar instead of helping me and showed up just as I was stacking the last 5 bales, drunk! I later forgave them and on the drive back, I wrote about the irony of how someone was dependent on the bartender, of all people, to be brought back to sobriety to save his relationship.

9. “I’ve Got Something On My Mind”
This song is built around the sounds of the classic country piano style. To me, this represents what a country song must feel and sound like. This was written about a personal concern I had at the time when I felt communication was not happening and this was a way to introduce how to talk about it.

10. “Devika’s Song (I Believe In Love)”
My foundation mare, Tigerlily, gave birth to her first foal. It was 1:30 in the morning on a clear starlit night emblazed by a full moon. For breeding purposes, it is tradition to name the foal with the first letter of the stallion, which began with the letter D. I researched and found that the name Devika meant ‘moon goddess’ in Hindu. Feeling accomplished, fittingly I named the newborn foal Devika. The song came from how excited I was watching her stand, take her first step, nurse, sleep, and begin her new life. This is related to how a new parent feels when a child is born.

11. “Be Good To Me”
This is my version of the blues - opposite of what one would expect on a blues track. This is not about feeling bad, losing a lover, or teaching a lover a lesson, this is purely about one night, one great night of passion.

12. “Run Like The Wind”
I had a family relative who studied alternative therapeutic approaches to animals and speaking to animals. One day I was running through the ritual of feeding the 4 mares and my one gelding, JB. This particular morning, out of character and routine, my horse, JB, decided to run fast circles around me and the four mares, disrupting the entire ritual which resulted in spilled buckets of grain, horses eating from other piles, pasture chaos and making me late for work. Once I was at work, I got an email from my family relative with the subject line “Me and JB’s conversation.” This was a scripted conversation between her and JB. Being skeptical, I read through it and was not intrigued until the last statement left by my horse JB. He broke their conversation by exclaiming “You know…I can run like the wind!” This song was written that afternoon while at work!

 

Tracks

 

1.“Dance Angelina”
I went to birthday party at a small condo for my friend’s daughter Angelina. The house was decked out with decorations. Angelina was turning 2-years old and she was overjoyed with the decorations, cake and presents she received. Her huge brown eyes could barely blink while dancing with grandma ‘Cappy’ all night and Mom got it all on camera. At the end of the evening, her mom told her it was not time for bed yet because daddy was going to come by. Like many children being reared by divorced parents, Angelina looked forward to seeing her father more than anything else on her birthday, but he never showed. The next morning, I wrote the entire song while driving down the canyon, steering the truck with one hand and knee on the
wheel, and writing with the other.

2.“Colorado Cowboy”
I wrote this when I was on the way home from work and driving to meet two cowboy friends at a local brew pub for my birthday.

3.“She’s Got A Mind Of Her Own”
This song was written in 1987, after I arrived in Nashville. I got a phone call from this girl I liked in college telling me that she met someone and they were planning a life together.

4.“The Way I Love You”
Only song on the record I didn’t write. In the late 80’s I was signed as a songwriter for a small publishing company, and fell in love with a song written by fellow staff writer Rob Crosby and publisher Buzz Arledge. I loved the lyrics yet heard a different production in my head. I promised myself if I get the chance to record it I will do it the way I hear it. So I did!

5.“Poor Lonely Me”
This song took me 9 months to write. I got the 1st verse in my head while I was driving up the canyon one night after work. I decided to write about a pity party and getting it out of my system so I could enjoy life again. I had my fiddle player play it like an electric guitar and it definitely made the song stand out!

6.“Do You Love Me?”
Another song I wrote on my birthday. A dinner for two, upscale mountain restaurant, nice wine, the whole bit, until a discussion about the relationship cold-cocked me right in the heart. I found out I was more into it than my partner in crime. So I turned my being ‘pissed’ into a song forever immortalizing my feeling from that night. It took literally 10 minutes to finish the song. The music and lyrics replicate the ‘discussion’ and the guitar/fiddle exchange is the ‘argument’.

7.“What’s Old Is New Again”
I wrote this song as a gift for my friend’s wedding. I let this ‘cook’ for months since I could not think of what I wanted to write. Then, I literally wrote the song two days before the wedding. It came to me again driving down the canyon, knee helping me steer.

8.“Leather Bound”
I didn’t grow up near my mom’s side of the family, so I learned about who my relatives were through a handmade leather photo album my uncle Bill made while in prison. I had the chorus in my head for years, but struggled with the rest. I was unable to make a family reunion due to a scheduled trip to Nashville to record. I recorded this song on my guitar as a gift to the family in my absence. I chose a past, present and future format then the song wrote itself. The 1st verse is about my mom’s mother, father and siblings, 2nd verse is about looking at photos documenting everyone’s life through the years and the last verse is about my brother and I and the family we are raising for the future.

9.“The Ring”
If you listen to these lyrics, there is such a great story behind it. I wrote this song about my mom marrying her childhood sweetheart.

10.“Drinking Whiskey In The Middle Of The Afternoon”
This is a true story. I went to an Irish/Scottish festival on this nice, hot, sunny, summer day. When I came back home, I decided to hit the river. So I grabbed a bottle of whiskey, took my clothes off except for river shoes and my cowboy hat, and found a spot on the river! The more I imbibed, the more adventurous I got. I took liberty to walk up stream (in river) along another pasture where there was a spot close to the road. Whenever a car or Harley passed, I stood up and waved hello resulting in hilarious double takes and near crashes. This was one of the best Sundays I ever had!

11.“Back Under Montana Skies”
I wanted to write a song about being from a small town in Montana and how it would feel going home for the first time since leaving 20 years ago. It hit me one afternoon driving home in my truck and within 3 miles I had the song knocked out. I recently made the trip back home and the song is 100% dead on!!!

12.“August Moon”
This title came from an advertisement on a bus bench in Nashville, at the corner of Fairfax and Hillsboro Road, for the August Moon Chinese restaurant. The idea came from a friend of mine who told a story about how he and his now wife danced under the stars on a full moonlit night in Texas. This song took me 10 minutes to write. Then a couple years ago, I experienced my own moment ‘under the stars,’ and rewrote the first verse.

 

© 2008 Mike Schikora All Rights Reserved