Rick Busby Music

Rick Busby Music

 

“Strawberry Moon” Track By Track

“Strawberry Moon” is the second release by Texas artist and marks a musical departure from his My Texas Music Awards nominated debut, “Soul Diving.” Where “Soul Diving” offered a diverse menu of Busby’s pop and rock influences, “Strawberry Moon” delves more into his country rock leanings. However, in its own way, “Strawberry Moon” is just as musically and thematically adventurous as the debut.

Connecting the two musically disparate projects is Busby’s spiritually searching lyricism, which explores themes of identity, place and purpose in a world of constantly shifting relationships. However, unlike “Soul Diving,” which was completely self-written, on “Strawberry Moon,” Busby includes four songs written by others, along with six originals, including the co-written title track, a meditation on fathers and sons, unrealized dreams and forgiveness.

Produced by Stephen Doster in Austin, “Strawberry Moon” features ten tracks, chosen from about 25 songs considered for the record. Recorded in late 2011 at EAR Studio in Austin with Moonlight Towers frontman, James Stevens on the boards, “Strawberry Moon” was initially released in September 2012.

Lyrically, the songs on “Strawberry Moon” are about the journey of a soul through a single lifetime, and, in the case of “Old Soul,” even through eternity. The characters that populate the songs on “Strawberry Moon” are restless and constantly searching for home in a world where there are no easy answers. These characters are endlessly roaming the world, weary, exhausted and sometimes crazed, yet constantly trying to get at a deep truth, something real that will help make sense of it all. Everyday, these characters are at a crossroads and must choose the path they will follow. Yet, somehow through all the bad choices, restless journeying and battered bodies and souls, they persevere to seek a higher truth, a deeper sense of purpose, and possess an innate desire to be “lifted up.”

Track 1: A Chance In Heaven (Rick Busby)

The album kicks right off with the rockin “A Chance In Heaven,” the story of a troubadour willing to go through hell “to get a chance in heaven.” Lead guitarist Kenny Wiebusch powers the track with a signature riff and a blistering lead, set against Busby’s mystical lyrics like “I try to slake my thirst with a draw from a deeper well / to get a chance in heaven, I’ll roll the bones in hell.”

Track 2: Lilia (Rick Busby)

The jangly guitar pop of “Lilia” follows, featuring tight harmonies and chiming rhythm guitars from Doster, with a Busby lyric that explores the ins and outs of love, where a broken heart is the easy way to “pay for our crimes.” This track is a favorite among all the players, and with its pop-rock underpinnings could have easily fit on Busby’s debut “Soul Diving.”

Track 3: Never Be The One (Stephen Doster)

Stephen Doster’s “Never Be The One” is a perfectly suited segue from “Lilia.” It is easy to imagine the singer in the song who sings “I am no holy man, my religion I can’t say” being both the troubadour in “A Chance In Heaven” and the lover in “Lilia.” Josh Courts’ samba beat, Connor Forsyth’s elegant piano, Guy Thomas’ dreamy bass and Scott Coffman’s midnight claves almost steal the show in perhaps the most straight ahead love song on the album.

Track 4: Detroit Rain (Rick Busby)

Busby’s “Detroit Rain,” a straight out country rocker with Dylanesque wordplay, was written as a songwriting challenge and features a character crazy in love, popping pills, hitchhiking to Texas in the “midnight Detroit Rain” with a “smooth Colt .45” in his pocket.  Lead guitarist, Kenny Wiebusch once again blisters the frets, while Doster’s chugging chords bring to mind vintage Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

Track 5: Home Back To You (Rick Busby)

The traditional country waltz of “Home Back To You” perfectly complements Busby’s fine, world-weary lyric for the song’s central character, a man who has travelled everywhere and done just about everything, fighting the devil, searching for the light and everything in between all just to make his way back home. Connor Forsyth’s piano ride near the end of the track sets the stage for the piano driven title track that follows.

Track 6: Strawberry Moon (Rick Busby & Lenny Cochrun)

Co-written with Lenny Cochrun, “Strawberry Moon” is a tribute to Busby’s father who died in prison, but transcends the biographical to become a meditation on the unrealized dreams and unspoken words between fathers and sons. While deeply personal, the song’s sensitive lyric is poetic at its heart and serves as a reminder that forgiveness is the only way to know peace for “no matter who is wrong or right, we all go home too soon.”

Track 7: Carefree Highway (Gordon Lightfoot)

In pre-production, Doster and Busby decided to include a song that had been a hit single in the Seventies. Both avowed Gordon Lightfoot fans, the two chose “Carefree Highway,” because its lyrical themes were in sympathy with the other songs on “Strawberry Moon.” Busby voice is suited to the song and he maintains a faithful rendering of Lightfoot’s melody, while Doster assembles a swirling, Leslie-infused backing track.

Track 8: Old Soul (Bob Cheevers)

Written by former Texas Music Academy Singer-Songwriter of the Year, Bob Cheevers, the mystical “Old Soul” begins to turn matters towards the eternal. If “Home Back To You” is the story of one lifetime, “Old Soul” is the story of one soul across many lifetimes. Busby’s passionate vocal testifies to the tale in Cheevers’ lyric, while Bobby Summers’ thick, swampy bass underpins Doster’s crunchy rhythms and Wiebusch’s stellar lead tones.

Track 9: Like A Dove (Rick Busby)

“Like A Dove” is the final Busby original on the album and offers a soft landing after the flight through eternity of “Old Soul.” With a gently rolling beat, delicate slide guitars and a searching lyric, “Like A Dove” is a song about faith and the search for purpose. For Busby, “Like A Dove” makes it clear his stated purpose is peace.

Track 10: I’ve Been Lifted Up (Rick Danna)

The album’s final track, “I’ve Been Lifted Up” was written by Busby’s long time musical collaborator, Rick Danna and was first featured on Danna’s debut, “Right Where You Belong.” Danna and Busby have been closing their performances with “The Rick Show” for years with “I’ve Been Lifted Up,” and the song has morphed over that time from acoustic duet to anthemic rocker. So, it is a perfectly-fitted closer for “Strawberry Moon.” Danna provides co-lead vocals on the song, which features their trademark vocal interplay, a towering lead from Wiebusch and a dramtic finish to a record that comes in under 40 minutes and makes you want to hit the replay button and take the “Strawberry Moon” journey all over again.

“Strawberry Moon” by Rick Busby
Private Angel Records (PA-3811)

Tracks:
1) A Chance In Heaven (Rick Busby)
2) Lilia (Rick Busby)
3) Never Be The One (Stephen Doster)
4) Detroit Rain (Rick Busby)
5) Home Back To You (Rick Busby)
6) Strawberry Moon (Rick Busby & Lenny Cochrun)
7) Carefree Highway (Gordon Lightfoot)
8) Old Soul (Bob Cheevers)
9) Like A Dove (Rick Busby)
10) I’ve Been Lifted Up (Rick Danna)

Produced by Stephen Doster
Recorded and Mixed by James Stevens
EAR Studio in Austin, Texas