After some discussions with a few trusted friends, I decided to self-release the album. The undertaking of this album from the beginning has been in that spirit, I think.
I reached out to a few creative, productive people I know to assist me in creating some promotional material for the album. A few ol’ reliables like Anthony Simpkins of GemsOnVHS (may God grant him wealth) and some fresh talent from where I live too. Namely, Sarah Reynolds (Couturra) and Zachary Schneider Studio.
I saw Zachary at someone’s birthday party and I remembered seeing some of his photography. It made me wonder if he did video work. I got in touch later and Zack responded with enthusiasm and a bunch of good questions and got to work right away on collecting some footage I described to him. I think what he captured and sequenced works perfectly for the feel of this song and the images are captivating. It’s a cool thing about where we live (Upper Michigan) that that imagery is around you all the time. I hear it come through the songs on this album.
Please go full screen and enjoy the look and sound and feel of the song and the visuals and hear “Kings, Gods, Fools” on your favorite streaming platform on April 28th.
Thanks for listening.
-John
Listen to and download the single version of “Lower Tiers”:
bandcamp, iTunes
Some context.
GemsOnVHS is the popular YouTube channel helmed by my old friend Anthony Simpkins. Anthony came up from Nashville, Tennessee to visit us in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the early part of September this year (2019) and we worked up some videos in advance of my new album Toss Your Javelin being released.
A little bit about the song.
I wrote this song in 2013 after my album Living Is Trying had been recorded, but before it had been released. I was listening to a lot of Paul Simon (top) and learning some renditions of a couple Irving Berlin (middle) compositions to make myself better at the guitar. You can hear the Tin Pan Alley hat tip in the bridge and the Simonized chorus where I take that diminished chord on a little walk downtown. I remember having the goal to use every note in the chromatic scale in the construction of the song. I made some adjustments to do so in the editing phase. That’s that off kilter, accidental sound you hear. The blues in it.
I had been having some conversations with my sister about attempting to make art pay the bills and was in the process of one of those bi-annual, zoomed-out life reassessments. The thing my murky unconscious kept spitting up was this crazy optimism that doing the same behaviors repeatedly would produce the changes I so desperately wanted in my life and my career. Does Living = Trying? Serious question. Either way, I knew I had to aim SOME direction and shoot for it. What I didn’t know then is that there was some serious living and growing up I had to do. That’s called gaining footing. I was telling myself to “sit straight up and cast off all your spells”.
I’m really proud of this song.
My brother Joe recently introduced me to this painting I had never seen before (bottom). It’s called Truth Coming Out Of Her Well. This painting says to me better than what I can say to myself.
Thanks for the kind support.
If you’d like to help keep the fire alive so’s the storyteller don’t go hungry, you can blow some ashy dollars in the direction of the top left corner of the website or become a monthly subscriber on bandcamp. If you’d like something in return like a cd, a funny shirt or digital downloads, please visit either the store on my website or iTunes, bandcamp, Amazon, etc. Tell your local promoter you want John Davey to come to your town and we’ll get something going.
If you’d just like to listen instead, no big deal. Go stream the songs on Spotify, Apple Music, Google, YouTube or wherever you usually listen to music. If you subscribe, follow or add the song to your library, it doesn’t cost you much extra than a click, but it makes a big difference on my end.
I’ll see you soon!
-John
