Brushfire by Rian Davis

Make no mistake about it. Ryan Davis has that magical voice, a voice that is often recognized as having similar qualities to the great crooners of yesteryear, like Frank Sinatra. It takes a special type of song to showcase that kind of talent. That's where the story of Brushfire begins.

In the spring of 2012, Joe Darnell had written a couple of tunes that he thought might pair well with Ryan's voice. The two of them found common ground in Jazz music and decided to simply record a couple of demo tracks. But like many creative endeavors, it was destined to become a venture on a much grander scale.

Finding a perfect harmony between Ryan's voice and his music, Joe would eventually be inspired to write a total of 14 songs –influenced by the American Jazz Standards they both loved. Notably, Ryan asked Joe to write a song with the rhythm and beat similar to the classic Mission Impossible theme – in 5/4 time. This proved to be the spark that ignited the title track, Brushfire.

From the start, their collaborative arrangements called for live trumpets, trombones, saxophones, strings, basically the works. They were shooting for the moon on a shoe string budget, and had to think of very creative ways to see the vision realized.

The determination to create a work as grand as the concept led them to contact two individuals with multiple talents. Ryan and Joe first met with Ken Gregory - a greater Atlanta musician/songwriter- and proposed a unique deal. With no money changing hands, Ryan and Joe bartered their time, doing "fix-it" projects over the weekends in exchange for Ken's horns. Arrangements were sent to 800 East Studios, where Ken recorded multiple trumpets, trombones, and mellowphones. Each instrument was played one at a time, to create the full brass sections. All the tracks were collected and aligned at Joe's Greenridge Studio. Once Ken heard the potential of this album, he volunteered his skills of jazz guitar.

Next, they recruited the talented Marla Feeney - another incredible Atlanta musician who has mastered multiple instruments. Agreeing again to an exchange of time rather than money, Marla graciously supplied her expertise with alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, flutes, clarinets, and strings. With her patience and talent, they created entire sections of the orchestra - again, one track at a time.

In the end, a 30 piece orchestra was created by a total of three musicians, Ken Gregory, Marla Feeney and Joe Darnell - who played piano, upright bass, drums and percussion.

Five of the songs on this album feature the lavish vocal talents of The Riverstreet Six – a group made up of talented “volunteers”. In keeping with the unique production techniques of this album, the group never performed these songs in studio together. Each part – written and arranged by Ryan – was recorded one at a time, and in various locations. These voices were brought together as one unit at Ryan’s Talking Rock Studios. Creating an album of this magnitude and complexity in such a manner doesn't seem possible. Yet, Ryan and Joe had a steadfast idea of exactly how Brushfire would sound.

After months of editing, Brushfire was finally mastered at Talking Rock Studios under Ryan's watchful eye and tuneful ear. Ryan and Joe agreed that the final sound should encompass a tonal quality reminiscent of the influential albums of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Henry Mancini and others of that period.

Today, nearly two years in the making, Brushfire is an amazing story of accomplishment and perseverance, a grand puzzle put together one tiny piece at a time.

Now forget the background story, close your eyes and listen. Your ears will tell you that you’re enjoying the big band sound of Brushfire.

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