Shades of Blue is about colors. Not just the way they look but colors that express the way you feel. Not only do we see the beautiful color blue in all its hues but we can feel blue. Everybody has felt blue or sad or down at some point. We attach so many metaphors to colors; green with envy; seeing red; even yellow to describe cowardice and one of my favorites; when you just made a pile of money; you’re in the black. Inside the lyric and music and even the photos on this record are subtexts which explore colors and how they fit into our experience; not only seeing but feeling. That’s one of the reasons that Bill Harrison played such a big part in this. Bill is a very visual writer. He paints interesting pictures with his lyrics which really inspired Kim and me as we wrote these songs together. On his song, Purple, the colors paint such a vivid and surrealistic view; it just lights up the song and brings it out of the dark for us all to see; uncomfortable as some of the images may be. It’s a reality show in vivid color! The music on this record is rhythm & blues, some reflective ballads, southern rock and the blues. I think it’s cool that we actually have a genre in music called “The Blues. The message in Blues music is loss, loneliness, hopelessness and sorrow and yes, having a good time and partying your blues away. It’s amazing how the color blue intertwines itself into the music to transfer itself to the feelings you can get from listening. In the Juke Joints which came into being in the early part of the 20 the century, the folks went there to party their troubles away; to forget about working in the cotton fields for next to nothing and the poverty and the hopelessness they had to live through. It was in this backdrop in Mississippi that the great Robert Johnson, the father of the blues showed up. Our song Jukin’, explores the juke joint life. We made it a period piece. I wanted it to sound like the music did in those days; the days of the race records where feel is everything and the blues shine through! Growing up in South Carolina and playing with the great players I did, I fell in love with the blues. I loved The Allman Brothers, Muddy Waters, Johnny Winter, Jimmy Reed, Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Marshall Tucker Band, Stevie Ray Vaughn and so many more. My brother Rickey and I studied all these players and just loved their spirits and we used to always make sure we did a couple of blues jam pieces every night we played. Rickey’s playing on this is otherworldly. He is one of my favorite blues players in the world! And the colors my wife Kim adds will be obvious to everyone that hears. Thomas Edison actually envisioned colored sounds. We musicians know about white noise and pink noise and such but sound gives us colors as well. When y’all hear this girl sing, it will light up the sound with such cool colors that, trust me, your ears and your soul will notice. And; my brother from another Mother, Mr. Mike Severs; fellow South Carolinian; gives amazing performances on “Purple” and “My Dark Destroyer,” as we reprise the Spaghetti Western Sound. Okay; you can’t have a blues record without a harmonica right? We got that covered. Mr. Bill Darnell, a man who bleeds Alabama crimson, gives a soulful performance on “Jukin” that you just gotta hear! I didn’t make this record y’all; it made me; and it’s been an incredible experience to let it happen!