I recorded this song with my close friend Ram Dass for his album “The Alchemist’s Prayer.” I wrote and performed the guitar, bass, and mandolin parts, and created the song’s basic structure. Ram Dass wrote the vocal melody, keyboard, and other parts. The “monsoon” at the beginning of the track is built from field recordings I made of streams, thunder storms, and wind chimes while we were traveling together. Vocals were performed by Ram Dass and tabla player Manish Vyas.
Ram Dass and I did all the recording, mixing, and mastering work for the album, working through Ram Dass’s Siddha Sound studio. (At the time it was called Epiphany Studios.) We put great care into crafting layered arrangements for each song; if you listen multiple times you’ll hear lots of stuff within the background of strings, slide guitars, vocals, sound samples, and more.
You can find a YouTube playlist with every song on the album here.
The album was released by Spirit Voyage Records in 2011.
While I don’t agree with the religious beliefs espoused by Spirit Voyage Records, I can tell you that this album is really wonderful and I had a great time helping Ram Dass make it! You don’t need to believe in anything to appreciate good music.