We started working on “Bleeding Out”. We had to turn the air conditioner off at Rockwood to lay down the tracks and the room was buzzing with heat-and a holy energy.

Everyone knew that we had to make our move quickly and perfectly to truly capture the magic that was happening. We worked for two hours straight, singing and playing the song from the bottom of our souls and screaming at the top of our lungs. Charlie finally said the magic words: “That’s the take!”

Our piano player, Brian Murphy, then ran out into the Lower East Side night as it started pouring down rain. The entire band (except Kanene, of course) threw off their shirts and ran out into the downpour! It was that thumping kind of rain. As I lay on my back on the Allen Street sidewalk I could feel the drops crashing down on my chest and felt completely alive. We then ran back inside and said “Let’s do it now! Let’s lay down ‘Teach Me To Know’ right now!”

So Charlie gathered all the mics in the room and did a set up in the middle of the floor for us all to face each other and be inches away from each other’s faces. The lapsteel, mandolin, banjo, acoustics, upright, kick drum, and vocal mics were filling up my peripheral vision.

Suddenly Ken Rockwood (the owner of Rockwood Music Hall, and one of my heros) comes inside and joins in to sing and clap! We teach him the hook, “carried away…” Eric Marshall, Rickey Kramer, and Nate Freeman randomly show up to join!

With the rain dripping from our bodies we shake back and forth as we lay down the track to “Teach Me To Know.” Ten minutes later everyone in the room knows that the song can’t be touched.

That was my favorite 2 hours of music so far in my life.