Wagon Band

ABOUT THE ALBUM by Steve

CARRY US THROUGH – Our previous album in 2015 was entitled The End and meant to finish off our time as a band. However, we decided to come back together and return for one more album. I wrote this song to let listeners know why we came back.

SNOWY OWL – This is my favorite song on the new album. It features banjo and accordion playing throughout with fantastic production by John Rewind. I wrote this song about the Snowy Owls found on Baffin Island living by the Owl River. This is part of my Baffin Island trilogy of songs included in a documentary I filmed about a backpacking trip there. Check out my lyrics video for this on my YouTube channel. This song won an award for Best Song at the Vegas Movie Awards for my film "Baffin Island: An Arctic Adventure".

AT A LOSS FOR WORDS – Charlie wrote this song about dealing with tragedies in life and how these things affect us when they happen.

AFTER ALL THESE YEARS – An instrumental based on a lead guitar hook that I wrote about 15 years ago and set aside, not sure what to do with it. I kept the original title of the demo since it seemed to fit with the theme of this album. John Rewind took my idea and crafted an excellent song out of it.

BE YOURSELF – A song that I wrote about just being ourselves and not worrying about impressing other people. This was another one taken from my collection of older demos, as this was a subject that I found more interesting to write about back then. Not a subject I think about much these days. A rock song produced by Lowell.

MISTY HAZE – A stand-out track with good potential as a single that was written by Charlie and Lowell. Lowell has an outstanding guitar solo.

LEFT IN THE COLD – Our launch single for this album, most have already heard this one. An all-out rock song. Work on the new album began on April 9, 2018, when Steve forwarded fourteen of his unreleased demos to Lowell for recording consideration. In Steve's notations, he added: "Demo 4 (Left in the Cold). Very fast-paced verse chords and chorus chords. Probably should record this just to have such a fast-paced song. Most of mine are slow or mid-tempo." Lowell listened to the demo and replied: "So far my favorite, sounds like a lost Oasis track. Upbeat and uptempo which is something we need. Mark this one down!" And with that, we began recording "Left in the Cold" to start off our seventh album era. The song "Left in the Cold" was a demo that Steve had first written and recorded on April 20, 2007. The original demo has the title, related lyrics, and verse and chorus chords. For some unknown reason Wagon Band did not end up recording it for our fifth album and thus it became a forgotten lost track. For his production, Lowell kept the song all electric and wrote a pre-chorus and return/walk down part that added a lot. Lowell also wrote a very fitting guitar solo as well as other lead parts that filled out the song. Charlie next wrote and perfected a vocal melody, and then came in and recorded strong lead vocals that kept up the high energy. The finished version of "Left in the Cold" is a 3-minute all-out rock song. The lyrics describe what it is like to start to fall in love with someone but be unsure if they feel the same way back. You might hope and think that they like you, but you just don't know for sure. Have you developed all of these feelings just to get left in the cold? The song explores that possibility. Because Steve started writing the demo and title back when he was still single, he was able to nicely capture this interesting subject in a song. The first two lines are: "I'm trying real hard to read your clues. But your mixed signals leave me confused."

TWENTY – The album’s title track. A co-write between myself and Lowell. Another rock song that takes listeners back to the 20-Mule Teams of Death Valley which transported borax from 1883-1889.

MODERN WORLD – Charlie’s take on life in this system of things and how bad this modern world really is. John Rewind put some very interesting production into this one to capture the essence of what Charlie is singing about. A very unusual and different song.

WEASEL RIVER – The album’s 2nd instrumental. This is part of my Baffin Island trilogy of songs used in my documentary soundtrack.

BAFFIN ISLAND – The final song from my Baffin Island trilogy of songs. This gives an excellent window into what it is like to visit this spectacular place God created far away in the Canadian Arctic. Such as majestic Mount Thor, which has the highest vertical rock face on earth (even higher than El Capitan). Check out my lyrics video for this on my YouTube channel.

IF I’M NOT HERE – The album’s closing track is a hard one for me to listen to. I started writing this song when I was diagnosed with melanoma in 2018. I wrote about half of it and then set it aside since I had gotten better. But then I was diagnosed with kidney cancer in 2019 and decided to finish writing it and record it for the album. It is a farewell message to my dear son Stefan. A very sad song that I’m not sure I should have released.