Late last summer while pooching through old bits and pieces in an old closet for an overdue cleanout, I came across a pile of dusty old long-forgotten songbooks.

Among the tattered pages were scribbles, musings and half-fleshed out songs, which reflected styles the music I’ve listened to over the past two decades – A lot of Springsteen and Petty, a touch of Dylan and Cohen, and a good mix of Dave Alvin, Tom Russell, Bob Seeger, Glen Campbell, The Killers, Coldplay and Glen Hansard – just to name just a few.

The next evening I picked up an acoustic and tried fingered the chords and threads of melodies from the notebooks. I began to feel that there were some really interesting ideas which, with the passing of time and a bit of experience, gave these songs a new perspective and meaning. The characters within the verses of these songs had their own voices and stories which I decided I wanted to revisit.

The earliest song ‘The Deerpark Mines’ was written in 2008 – exactly fifteen years ago. Using this song as a compass, fifteen more followed with the final result being Fifteen, a 15 track album which maps out my own musical tastes and growth since I starting to write a the age of 15.

Every Friday Starting June 2, 2023 I’ll be releasing a song from the album on my Bandcamp page before the record drops in its entirety on all streaming platforms in September.

Below you can find the second track ‘Better off Young’ (2009). My first band performed this at a battle of the bands way back in 2010. There’s a wordiness which suggests I was going through my ‘Bob Dylan’ phase! Hope you enjoy listening!

All the best,

C.

• Bandcamp