In a world gone mad, in disarray, full of superstition, errant beliefs, and attacks on reason… 2020 was a year like no other in my lifetime. Hope, loss, joy, sorrow, up and down solitude facing a plague. The title is a play on a book that dispelled the errors of witch trials, while history metaphorically repeated itself with raging mobs.
This album chronicles that year for me, from the treasonous attacks on democracy by a rabid right wing in The 5th of November, to a celebrating my new love in Every Day We Are in Love, my precious memories of performing with Merl Saunders in Play the Paris Blues, letting go of my past in It’s Just Me and Thinking What to Say.
C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell) was a reminder of Chuck Berry’s joyous inspiration in my youth, while Your Life or My Money was a tongue in cheek rebuke of the selfish spreaders of the COVD-19 misery, who love money more than life.
My Happy Today was an affirmation, a reminder to myself to strive for a higher road, because in our times, this is difficult.
Standing Too Close was a painful purging of years of sorrows carried around from the suicides of Vince Welnick, Stan Rawls, and Bob Welch. I made music with each of these dear friends, each took that path, and I never saw it coming.
In the end, all that was left to say was Death Don’t Have No Mercy.
Dedicated to the memories of Vince Welnick, Stan Rawls, and Bob Welch
Track Listing:
The 5th of November
Words and Music by Mike Lawson
Psychotronic Music – BMI
Every Day We Are in Love
Words and Music by Mike Lawson
Psychotronic Music – BMI
Play the Paris Blues
Words and Music by Jim McPherson/Merl Saunders
Kosher Dill Music – BMI/Oxtail Music Company – BMI
It’s Just Me
Words and Music by Mike Lawson
Psychotronic Music – BMI
C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell)
Words and Music by Chuck Berry
ARC Music – BMI
Thinking What to Say
Words and Music by Mike Lawson
Psychotronic Music – BMI
Your Life or My Money
Words and Music by Mike Lawson
Psychotronic Music – BMI
My Happy Today
Words and Music by Mike Lawson
Psychotronic Music – BMI
Standing Too Close
Words and Music by Mike Lawson
Psychotronic Music – BMI
Death Don’t Have No Mercy
Gary Davis
Budde Music, Inc – ASCAP
Credits:
- Mike Lawson – Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Piano, Drums
- Dianne Davidson – Vocals on Play the Paris Blues
- Michael Oliver Warren – Bass on Play the Paris Blues
- Rich Mahan – Guitar on C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell)
- Travis Collinsworth – Bass on Death Don’t Have No Mercy, C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell)
- Tyra Juliette – Background Vocals on The 5th of November, Every Day We Are in Love, Play the Paris Blues, Thinking What to Say, My Happy Today, Standing Too Close, Death Don’t Have No Mercy
- Joe Montague – Drums and Percussion on The 5th of November, Play the Paris Blues, My Happy Today, Standing Too Close
- Fred Bogert – Piano on Play the Paris Blues, It’s Just Me, Acordian on C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell)
- Brandon Estelle – Drums on It’s Just Me, Every Day We Are in Love
- Hugo Iglesias Olmos – String Bass on It’s Just Me
- Melisa Dopazo – Bass on The 5th of November, My Happy Today, Standing Too Close
- Noah Wall – Background Vocals on It’s Just Me
- Michael Cleveland – Fiddle on Death Don’t Have No Mercy
- Sarah Hambridge – Background Vocals on C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell)
- Rachel Hambridge – Background Vocals on C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell)
- Noah Savoie – Saxophone on The 5th of November
- Alex Kamm – Organ on Paris Blues
- Scott Lee Cupp – Piano/Organ on Your Life or My Money
- Aubrey Harris – Bass on Every Day We Are in Love
- Sam Skorik – Drums on C’est la vie! (You Never Can Tell)
Produced at AP Studios, Fairview, TN
Engineer/Producer/Arranger – Mike Lawson
Thanks to Dianne Davidson for the duet on Merl Saunders’s “Play the Paris Blues” plus Merl’s bassist who played on the original, Michael Oliver Warren, and contributors from Hooteroll? bandmates Rich Mahan and Travis Collinsworth, along with Tyra Juliette, Joe Montague, Fred Bogert, Brandon Estelle, Melisa Dopazo, Noah Wall, the great Mike Cleveland on fiddle, Sarah and Rachel Hambridge, Noah Savoie, Alex Kamm, Scott Lee Cupp, Aubrey Harris, and Sam Skorik for their parts.
Release Date: January 1, 2021
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