Unity

When Unity was first released in 1993, I remember being very excited about this release, and others around me shared this excitement. Many of them aren't around now, like Peter Campbell. He was such an inspiration to me in those days. That was a time in my life when I was going through many changes. At the time of the release I had not quite reached three years of sobriety, where now I have nearly 23 years in. This was a reflection of some of the songs on the Unity release, like One Day At A Time. Many of these songs have been a part of my life for all these years, and remain very special to me. The Unity release holds the first version of the very popular song Filtered Ways, which people throughout the years have told me that they use this song for medicine. It was actually a Stick Game song that I slowed down, and put lyrics to. I remember how special this song was to me while writing and recording it so long ago. It is still a special song to me. I remember singing this song at the Met at the release and could hear people, including the many elders in the balcony singing this song with me. That is a feeling I will never forget. These were all songs that had come to me very quickly, and almost spiritually, like the song Spirit Sings Along, I remember writing some of these songs like there was someone over my shoulder telling me what to write. I remember in those days that I wouldn't edit songs because I believed that some of these songs weren't really mine, because of this 'spiritual connection.' After the new mastering was completed, by Grammy winning Gavin Lurssen in LA, I listened to these songs again and it brought me back to that time. The sound was much bigger, yet Gavin was able to keep the original feel of the Unity recording. I recorded these songs in various places, including my bedroom. I had a Fostex 8-track reel-to-reel recorder and I literally carried it around to record others who helped me out on this recording. I was so grateful for the the Ludwig sisters (Pam, Lori, and Debra) who sang the beautiful background parts on the song Unity. I remember recording my friend Alfonso Kolb drum track to Like A Script In A Play in the long house in Inchelium. And I traveled to Boise, Idaho with my recording gear to get the keyboard parts from Mike Rosenthal. Unity was such a special project for me from writing the material to recording, through performing these songs that are still on my set list today, and I'm very excited about the re-release.