I decided to go ahead and release 2014’s Water from Heaven album digitally. Although half of the songs were released as digital singles, some were hard to find because of the various names and projects they were under. Shelley Barratt Music, The Shelley Barratt Band, 5 Revolving Doors, Blue House Red Door, etc.

For many years I worked with many exceptional musicians- who I thank from the bottom of my heart through good times and bad. It’s always a challenge to find yourself involved in projects that involve a group of people, hopefully all with a shared goal in mind- whether that is playing music for sheer joy, or working towards becoming an entity with loftier goals. Likely, this was also while all musicians involved also worked full time jobs, had families, and all kinds of other priorities in life. Including myself. As I peer backwards for a moment, it is amazing that we did as much as we did. I do not regret any of it, and I’m happy to have these songs and albums out in the ether. Perfect in their imperfections.

The last several songs (the first three songs on Water from Heaven) were recorded at Big Bug Sound in Phoenix, Arizona, with the guidance of producer and fellow musician, Robert Lang. He is no longer with us, and I am devastated even a year later to have lost my good friend and ‘comedian trapped in a musician’s body’. To be honest, I feel a little lost. He was going to help me setup my home studio. I briefly managed to get enough working to record vocals for The Cross Process project, One Sky, but I still don’t have a handle on the aspect of recording yet. I’ll get there.

The next three songs were recorded at The Hit Factory in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with the guidance of producer and musician John Hansen and his lovely wife, musician Magen Hansen, before life took them in another direction and they became beautiful parents. I’m sure they still have music going behind the scenes. This is also the time that the current band iteration, 5 Revolving Doors, solidified into: me, Jimmy LaPrelle, David DeBonis, and Geof Escandon–all who continued with me throughout the latter recordings.

Most of the remaining songs, except for Ballast a Ship and Balance, were recorded at Bob Reynolds’ Son Set Beach studio in Albuquerque. Bob and I worked together for years, along with Jimmy LaPrelle (our initial 5 Revolving Doors band iteration) and many, many other musicians over the years with The Shelley Barratt Band- too many to name here. Some of these recordings were really just demos and roughs, and I probably couldn’t name all the musicians on the tracks. But they were good enough to get out into the world. Ballast was recorded at Rema Records. Balance was recorded as a project with DJ Anthony Ash.

One of the main reasons I wanted to release this album was to get the Duran Duran cover out there. Ordinary World came about because of a request for a unique wedding gig at a local resort, where we followed the small party as bards. It was a song I always loved, I adored the challenge of the vocals, and Bob’s excellent guitar work was featured. It also has some nice backing vocals by Gladys Tangub, bringing us into the current times.

All in all, I am proud to finally have this album released. Note: there are a couple of songs on the limited edition CD that didn’t make it onto this release. There’s reasons for that, and if you are really curious you can ask.

Thank you for listening and I hope you will download and share this album.

One Sky is my 2021 Theme Song. You can listen to it HERE.

My peer and former colleague, Jason Garcia, wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics, melody, and harmonies. Jason started a project called The Cross Process this past year out of his studio in Tokyo Japan. He works with singers and lyricists around the globe, and provides the music for their inspiration. I jumped at the chance to get involved, which pushed me to learn the basics on how to use my home recording studio to get the vocals done. While that took a while to get going, the actual writing of the song was done quickly.

It’s a good power-pop rock song with driving guitars and good melodic content. It got me moving, motivated to DO something. Here in the USA, in addition to the raging pandemic, we were dealing with an intense election year. Some of the rhetoric made it seem like certain things were political arguments, when the actual stark reality is: these things are happening all over the world. Despite the fact that we live quite differently one from another, we are still under One Sky. We are more alike than you think. I’m not sure how to bring folks back into the fray of truth and facts, but I’m going to keep marching on doing my best to be real, compassionate, and curious. Here are the lyrics:

One Sky

So you were wandering 
In the midst of millions 
With the wind that comes from our mouths 
Let it rain I’m the hurricane 
The tsunami that didn’t catch your name 
Under One Sky 

You were wondering 
One of several billions 
Determined and uncontained 
Go on start something 
Grow something synthesize 
I can sympathize with you 
As you weave together the pieces 
Of your metamorphosis 
Under One Sky 

some go beyond 
some take to flight 
horizon gone 
solar lunar one sky 

We’re all under One Sky 

Scientific reasoning undergoing seasoning 
For something better 
End distraction misdirection 
We’re all on the island 
Under One Sky 

some go beyond 
some take to flight 
horizon gone 
solar lunar one sky 

One Sky

The idea to pull this collection of songs together on a physical CD came to me shortly after a true vacation I took in the fall of 2013. It had been a long time since I had time away from “normal” life, and apparently it cleared my mind, body, and spirit enough to allow the Water from Heaven to seep in and give course to wipe the slate clean. The photos on the cover and on the CD are from that trip. On location along the Emerald Coast, Panama City Beach, FL area. To me, this is a Completion of yet another chapter in life and music. I know by doing this, I have opened the door for something new to come in. I look forward with expectancy to whatever that may be. In the meantime, I hope all enjoy this collection of songs from the past decade. I am happy to share them with you!