As 2011 began, Rick Busby did not yet know that before the year would end, he would be in the studio recording the follow up record to his debut, Soul Diving. In 2004, Soul Diving, which was produced by Austin-based producer Mark Addison, received two nominations at the Texas Music awards, including “Song of the Year” for the track “Pray” and a “Producer of the Year” nomination for Addison’s work on the record. In the ensuing years since the release of Soul Diving, Rick continued writing and performing, and began a long association with the Austin Songwriters Group, where he has served as President since 2007. Yet, in the back of his mind, he was always imagining the next record.

In August 2011, Monte McWilliams, a long-time friend of Rick’s attended a performance of The Rick Show, a Beaumont, Texas based band he fronted with songwriter friend, Rick Danna. The “two Ricks” had been performing monthly shows together for going on 10 years at the time. During that time they had both written, recorded and released solo records. For the previous five years, they had been fronting The Rick Show, along with bandmates Kenny Wiebusch (lead guitar-vocals), Josh Courts (drums-vocals) and a trio of fine bass player-vocalists, including Stephen “Doc” Watson, Trip Wamsley and Bobby Summers years.  After some discussions about the original songs being performed in The Rick Show, McWilliams offered to Executive Produce a record and the road to Strawberry Moon began coming into view.

After returning to Austin, Rick contacted Austin producer Stephen Doster about overseeing the project. The two had attempted to work together in 2008 on a follow up to Soul Diving, but an unexpected emergency surgery in November sidelined Rick for a while. When McWilliams offered to front the studio costs, Doster’s was the only name that came to mind. It afforded a new opportunity for the two to work together and complete what they started. A lot had changed in three years and Rick had continued writing, as well as, performing his own versions of songs written by many of his Texas songwriting friends, including, Bob Cheevers and Steve Callif, among others.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Doster had earlier produced Cheevers’ 2009 release Tall Texas Tales, which Cheevers then rode to the Texas Music Academy’s “Songwriter of the Year” award in 2010. By the time pre-production had begun, Rick had already been performing his own version of Cheevers’ “Old Soul” for over a year, so it was among the initial 25 songs he originally gave Doster to sort through. Most of the songs were Rick’s self-penned originals, but also included “Strawberry Moon,” a song he had co-written in 2009 with songwriter Lenny Cochrun.

As pre-production talks began, Busby and Doster conceptually agreed to do a record that would contrast with Soul Diving, sonically and thematically. The eclectic, art pop sonics Addison employed for Soul Diving perfectly suited those songs and earned him a “Producer of the Year” nomination at the 2004 My Texas Music awards. In the ensuing years after Soul Diving, Busby, who also serves as president of the Austin Songwriters Group, continued writing and along the way began teaching songwriting. His own song crafting tends to sway between two poles, spiritual pop rock and cosmic americana. The intersections between the two tend to be the lyrical content, which upon conscious listening begin to reveal their underlying spiritual ideas.

During the years he wrote and recorded Soul Diving, Busby was undergoing a personal transformation in his life and the record’s lyrical themes reflected his journey. “I was doing a lot of spiritual searching and study during those years. Throwing off and letting go of long held false beliefs of life and love, heaven and earth. The songs tended to be first person expressions of parts of me I was working to get a handle on. Writing the songs was literally personal therapy, a way of recreating my life and my self. The spiritual themes began showing up in the little gaps in the process here and there and I just went with it.”

As Doster began sorting through the songs, he came to the conclusion that there were two distinct kinds of records he could produce, but one that he believed was the way to go. After listening to the demos for about a month, he called Rick to tell him his plan and named “Lilia” as his first choice for the record. After “Lilia” was agreed upon, the remaining songs were decided upon over the next couple of weeks. Of all the songs on Strawberry Moon, Lilia’s jangly pop, and the album’s closer, Rick Danna’s “I’ve Been Lifted Up” would have fit most neatly on Soul Diving’s eclectic mix; but, they also add a nuanced pop rock flavor to the largely alt-country feel of Strawberry Moon.

Over the next week, country rockers “A Chance In Heaven” and “Detroit Rain,” the waltzing “Home Back To You,” the gently rolling “Like A Dove” and the album’s ultimate title track “Strawberry Moon” were added to the mix. The next two songs that made the cut were not Busby originals. Bob Cheevers’ “Old Soul” and Rick Danna’s “I’ve Been Lifted Up,” both of which were already being performed in The Rick Show. The final two tracks chosen for the project were Stephen Doster’s “Never Be The One,” which was suggested by Austin Songwriters Group Executive Director, Lee Duffy, and Gordon Lightfoot’s 1974 hit “Carefree Highway,” which was Doster’s suggestion.

After all the songs were chosen, plans were made to enter the studio in November and December 2011 to record and mix the project at EAR Studio with Moonlight Towers frontman, James Stevens manning the boards. After mastering was completed in February by Jim Wilson in Boulder, Colorado, Busby spent several months with designer Chad Campbell working on the CD design and packaging. The cover photo was taken by Austin-based photographer Valerie Fremin, while all the studio shots in the 12-page CD booklet were taken by Grady Williamson during the first tracking sessions. “Strawberry Moon” became available for sale in September 2012. It is also available for digital download at iTunes, Amazon and many other online retailers.

For a track-by-track look at the songs on Strawberry Moon, go here.