Americana Highways brings you this premiere of John Mailander’s song “Song for John,” from his album John Mailander’s Forecast, due out on May 7. You may recognize John Mailander from Bruce Hornsby’s band the Noisemakers. His album was self-produced, engineered by Daniel Rice, and mastered by Dan Cardinal.
An instrumental, “Song for John” is a jazzy fusion song, with John Mailander on fiddle; Ethan Jodziewicz on bass; Chris Lippincott on Wurlitzer; Mark Raudabaugh on drums; Jake Stargel on guitar; David Williford on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet.
The band has a live-streamed album release show coming up on Thursday, May 6th, 8pm CST at the 5 Spot in East Nashville, featuring Kristina Train and Maya De Vitry. Event info here: https://fb.me/e/dA6aFe2ym
This song has a soothing story to tell all on its own. Without the words to overspecify it, the imagery that emerges while you’re listening is all your own, buoyed by the easy arrangement.
This is an older tune of mine, written for and dedicated to the great musician John McGann. John was a brilliant mandolinist, guitarist and teacher who I was lucky to know as a friend and mentor during my time in Boston. I recorded a version of this song on my 2014 bluegrass album, but have always envisioned it with instrumentation from outside the bluegrass realm. Out of the music I’ve written, this piece feels like one of the truest to my heart, and it was a joy to re-imagine it with the Forecast band for our new album. — John Mailander
https://johnmailander.bandcamp.com/album/look-closer
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