The idea for ‘Fight’ came from a friend and fellow songwriter asking me, “What do you wish someone would say to you?” I’ve struggled with depression on and off throughout my life, along with feeling like I’m not good enough, not seen. This song was my answer to that question. I want someone to say “I’ll fight for you…. When you need a hand to

The idea for ‘Fight’ came from a friend and fellow songwriter asking me, “What do you wish someone would say to you?” I’ve struggled with depression on and off throughout my life, along with feeling like I’m not good enough, not seen. This song was my answer to that question. I want someone to say “I’ll fight for you…. When you need a hand to hold, I’ll be the one. Keep going….” I wrote ‘Fight’ in late 2019 and it came to mean a lot to me across the next couple years and I’m very happy to get the recording out into the world. The song is autobiographical in the sense that these feelings are definitely mine, and it’s optimistic in the sense that I hope to have someone to say this to me, and to be able to say it to others. Along with my own struggles with depression, I’ve seen family members hospitalized, and experienced the crush of a few friends’ deaths from suicide, so this song is deeply personal to me. I hope this song can help us be open about our mental state and offer hope that someone is there to connect with us. Just talking about it feels like a step in the direction of making a difference. Help is available and I’m aiming to be helpful in those conversations, as well as receiving that support myself. Drums and bass for ‘Fight’, along with the rest of the other four songs on the ‘Open’ EP, were recorded at Rarefied Recording in San Diego, California. Rarefied Recording is a great small studio with excellent gear, run by Roy Silverstein. Super friendly for artists and bands and it felt awesome to start there. All vocal and guitar tracks were recorded in my home studio, while pedal steel on ‘Fight’, and Hammond B3 on all songs were recorded by my friends that played them in their studios. This is the first time I’ve taken a hybrid approach to recording, doing parts of it in different places. If felt great in that it gave me the flexibility to explore and get creative with different guitar parts. There’s a bunch of stuff that didn’t make it into the songs but I loved exploring what might work on the way to discovering what felt best for the songs. The mixing was done in my studio and mastering was finished by Paul Abbott at Zen Mastering. I’m releasing ‘Fight’ as the first single as I love the way it sounds with the pedal steel guitar and the B3 weaving sound together, and I want to lead off the new EP with this musical message. I feel it’s a great introduction to the vibe and sound of the EP. I wrote and recorded these songs to convey openness, connectedness, a sense of wonder, and the power of being in the moment. Drums - Michael Nieland Bass - Kyre Wilcox Hammond B3 - Ben Moore Pedal Steel Guitar - Ted Stern Guitars and Vocals - Marklyn Retzer

The song comes from recognition of mistakes I've made in relationships and the desire to keep going through the struggle and make it better. For me, that always starts with making things better within myself and then reaching out to improve things with others. "I want to make it better." And, if we are making something better, why not make

The song comes from recognition of mistakes I've made in relationships and the desire to keep going through the struggle and make it better. For me, that always starts with making things better within myself and then reaching out to improve things with others. "I want to make it better." And, if we are making something better, why not make everything better while we're at it.