Lazy Boy Rocker was one of the first songs I wrote with my brother Nick. We modeled the main character after the drummer in our band. He had a ponytail and, (no kidding) a long, blonde-haired lover.

Weddings and Funerals

1 LAZY BOY ROCKER

A Texas swing boogie shuffle a la Bob Wills.

2 YES INDEED

BRETT

HALFWAY TO TEXAS

About as close as I'll get to a Buddhist song.

4 WALK ON WATER

ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY

6 THE GIFT

Sometimes, a lyric wanders into my house looking for a sandwich. 
I make one.
Other times it's a melody I thought was lost, pounding on my door at two o'clock in the morning begging to be let in. "Come in," I say, "make yourself at home."
Then, there are those rare moments when a lyric and melody arrive at the same time on my moonlit terrace in formal evening attire like Fred and Ginger. They regard one another, assume the position…and dance.

I wrote this song in about a half an hour.

7 LEMON YELLOW CADILLAC

Years ago, on a trip to Paris I wrote the lyrics for this song. I loved going to the old cemeteries. Some of them had homeless cats that were attended to by old women with umbrellas and food. At the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery, there were signs pointing the way to his grave. A lot of luminaries were interred there: Georges Bizet, Frédéric Chopin, Honoré de Balzac, Marcel Proust, Georges Seurat, Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt, Isadora Duncan, Gertrude Stein, Colette, Edith Piaf, Marcel Marceau, Richard Wright, Molière, Delacroix, Max Ernst, Modigliani and, well…Jim. I sent the lyrics to my old writing buddy Bill and he came up with the music.

8 JIMS GRAVE

9 THE LIGHTS ARE ON (BUT THERE'S NOBODY HOME)

As Woody Guthrie once said, "Way over yonder in the minor key."

10 BOX FULL OF MEMORIES

I had a band called Western Fiction in L.A. several years ago. Driving home late one night after a show I saw a bar named The Last Call. The next day I sat at the piano and made this song.

11 LAST CALL

Years ago Brett had a band in L.A. called Western Fiction. They played his songs and used to practice in one those scruffy rent-by-the-hour rehearsal spaces. The band had just returned after a brief time apart and shared what they had done over the holidays. The bass player said he’d just spent Christmas in Vegas. Bret figured he had to write that song.

Christmas In Vegas

I made this piece a number of years ago in L.A. on a four track recorder. I heard the melodies and counterpoint in my head and fit them together. Too bad I didn't have an orchestra handy to fill out the sound. Enjoy.

Evensong

Brett’s path has been serpentine. He’s followed music wherever it led him. He started off playing saxophone in a western swing band, then clarinet in a jazz duet. He began to write songs. First, a trickle, then a torrent. He’s played in jug bands, bar bands, original bands, country bands and R&B bands. Performed in smoky bars, lounges, coffeehouses, rock clubs, street fairs, parks, parades, farmers markets, swanky birthday parties, halls, hotels, memory care facilities, auditoriums, and the Palace Theater in Los Angeles. He’s played for oldsters, toddlers, teenagers, hippies, bikers, moms, dads, rockers, off-their-rockers, dancers, doctors, dog-lovers, cat people, babies, lawyers, veterans, administrative assistants and the president of the United States (once). He has written over 400 songs, some of which have piqued the interest of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Michael Bloom (Joe Cocker’s manager and one of the founders of Woodstock) and Carlos Santana among others.

Brett

Pinned to spotlight

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