My new album "Thornewood" is my attempt to reconcile these two sides of my soul. I wanted to see if blazing bebop trumpet and weeping steel guitar could play nicely together.
There are songs from the Great American Songbook, plainspoken Texas songwriters and slick film composers. My original songs are inspired musically by hard bop, lyrically by the Great Plains.
The fury that accompanies red-state-vs.-blue-state thinking in this country is not sustainable. We need to recognize the humanity in each other. I want jazz fans to love the mournful hollow tone of wide-open spaces. And I want fans of Americana music to love the electric crackle of city nights.