Frank Road by Dan Strauss
Many of these songs were born and took shape in the Catskill Mountain region of New York. After spending some time there, I could not get the spiritual and musical energy out of my system, so I returned one summer to write. I rented a little house on Frank Rd. in Saugerties. Each morning, I’d brew a pot of coffee, sit down at the piano or with a guitar and wait to see what happened. There is a musical heritage in this region that, if you open yourself to it, enters you and must come out through creativity. For me it was songs. I sat, I wrote, I went for walks and came back and wrote some more. Whatever didn’t get finished that summer, continued to evolve back home in Brooklyn. And then the songs sat for awhile. Life rolled along, other music projects came and went. And these songs waited. Sometimes I’d go back upstate for a weekend and another song came. Most of the songs are home recordings, but a few (tracks 6-8) were recorded at Coldbrook Studio in Woodstock, NY under the loving guidance of Julie Last. All in all, this collection of songs varies in style and may be, to the listener, kind of a jumbled up, disconnected hodgepodge. The songs aren’t about the Catskills, but in the end, they are a grateful homage to the mountains and their musical legacy. When I listen to these songs, I recall thunderstorms, sunrises, breezes, starry nights and quirky individuals unique to that park of the world. I owe a great deal of thanks to friends and family members (human and non-human) who helped to see it through even if they didn’t know they were. I played all the instruments I know how to play, but it could not have come together without these fine folks who popped in to contribute their talents.
Tracklist
| 1. | Painted Ocean Painted Sky | 6:20 |
| 2. | Swimming | 4:20 |
| 3. | New Breeze | 4:18 |
| 4. | February | 3:11 |
| 5. | Here We Are | 5:54 |
| 6. | When The Rain Was Over | 4:00 |
| 7. | No More | 3:34 |
| 8. | Crossed Wires | 3:34 |
| 9. | Barefoot Joe | 5:19 |
| 10. | We Said Enough | 3:19 |
| 11. | Where You Are Now | 3:24 |
| 12. | Ballad Of The Stranger | 5:48 |
| 13. | Take It Anyway | 3:46 |
Credits
Dan Strauss: Vocals, guitar, piano, percussion
Ted Looby: Guitar
Remy de Laroque: Guitar, vocals
Raymond Russell: Bass
Kyle Esposito: Bass
Seth Travins: Bass
Dimitri Moderbacher: Bass
Guy "Fooch" Fischetti: Pedal Steel
Eric Parker: Drums
Ian Solomon: Drums
Julie Last: Vocals
Produced and Engineered by Julie Last and Dan Strauss
License
All rights reserved.
Dan Strauss is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn, NY. His songs vary in style from alt country to indie folk and he proudly displays his influences from The Beatles to Nick Drake to Wilco. Dan's insightful and intelligent lyrics are buoyed by his gift for melody and hooks. He performs frequently in New York City and around the Northeast often solo or with any number of frequent collaborators.