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Today, with the release of the radio edit of “Holding Her Freedom,” the Deluxe Version of Turns To Gold is officially released! You can listen to the whole album here!  I hope you enjoy it!

Here are some thoughts I have about Turns To Gold.

In 2014, I began planning my first independently released album. The lackluster success of 2011’s One Spark led to Fantasy Records dropping me, and I was searching for a new way forward as an artist. 

For years, I had watched several friends thrive by releasing their records independently, owning their recordings, and building a loyal community of fans they could rely on to help them continue to create and release their music—on their terms. By 2014, with a collection of new songs written, I decided to follow their lead.

I met with producer Paul Moak and toured his studio, The Smoakstack, in Berry Hill, TN. We clicked creatively, and he agreed to work on the project. We selected 14 out of nearly 20 songs I had written, aiming to capture basic tracks with a band without prior rehearsals. I tapped some of the best musicians I knew, Jano Rix on drums and Viktor Krauss on bass, and Paul brought in his go-to electric guitarist, Kris Donegan and recording engineer, Devin Vaughan. Paul would play auxiliary instruments and sing some background vocals. We would record the basic tracks in five days.

With a plan in place, I turned to you, my fans, for support. Your response was overwhelming. You funded the project through incentives like signed piano keys, hand-written lyrics, piano-string bracelets made by singer/songwriter/friend, Sarah Siskind, private concerts, custom written songs, video performances, and more. Thanks to your generosity, I was able to record the album in early March 2015 and release it in March 2016.

The album features guest musicians, including a special guest vocal by Natalie Prass on “The Way To Love Me” and other vocal contributions by Jason Eskridge, Boots Ottestad, Garrison Starr, Jon Green, and Javelyn, who won the “sing on Gabe’s album” prize. The late Lindsey Smith-Trostle played cello, and Eleonore Denig created beautiful string arrangements and played violin. The recording and overdubbing process was a joy.

Many of the songs on this album reflect my feelings during a time when my wife and I were new parents, and, as so often happens, the arrival of a child upended our lives and our ideas about who we thought we were and where we were going in life. My old ideas of success—wealth and fame—were starting to give way to a new idea of what deeper and more meaningful success could look like. 

As I reflect on this album almost a decade later, I think it is about maturing and embracing my commitments—about deciding to let go of old ideas about myself and turning toward my partner and our life together. Matthew Fleming’s cover art, showing the sun setting between mountains which form an obvious “V” or downward triangle—an ancient representation of the sacred feminine—symbolizes my turning toward my partner. Whether this symbolism was intentional or not, it holds great meaning for me.

The album was well received, with reviews in Rolling Stone, No Depression, Relix, and other publications. A few years later, the likes of Garth Brooks even recorded and performed his own version of “Live Again,” adding to the album’s legacy. Most importantly, you, the fans, helped me create it and showed me that I could succeed as an independent artist. I am forever grateful for your support. Without you, I couldn’t continue making music.

I hope you enjoy the three new tracks released over the past two months to celebrate the 8th anniversary Deluxe Version of Turns To Gold.

Sincerely,
Gabe

Hi!

Take a listen to the new Piano Spells release here! 

I was a muppets kid. I watched the movies, I watched The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, Sesame Street, and even Muppet Babies on Saturday mornings. The Muppets and this song from the first Muppet movie have always had a special place in my heart. And I thought that since it talks about rainbows, I would release it during Pride Month. So, happy Pride Month, happy Muppets, happy everything!

I hope you enjoy this version of “Rainbow Connection.”

Love,
Gabe

Hello!

I recorded today’s release back in 2015 during my Turns To Gold recording sessions. It is called “One Thing,” and you can stream or download it here!

I wrote the song about 10 years ago with songwriters, Jasmine Ash and Nate Boone, at a time when I was writing like a maniac–several songs per week with different co-writers. We really hit a beauty with this one, and I recorded a piano/vocal-only version of it which was subsequently placed in a TV show on the CW network. Since it got placed, I went ahead and released that version back in June of 2014 (You can still stream it to this day).

The following year, when I went in to record Turns To Gold at The Smoakstack in Nashville, TN, I considered “One Thing” to be one of my better songs and wanted to hear it fleshed out with a full band, so we recorded it! It features the band from that record: Jano Rix on drums, Viktor Krauss on bass, Kris Donegan on guitar, and me on piano and vocals. Paul Moak produced and mixed the song and added some musical magic along the way, and it also features a beautiful string arrangement by Eleonor Denig, played by her on violin and Lindsey Smith-Trostle on cello.

From the start, I had only planned to put 10 songs on the record, and this song didn’t quite fit with the rest of them, so I shelved this recording. And maybe there was a part of me that didn’t want two songs on the album with the words “One Thing” in the title (another song is called “The One Thing” [I Did Right]).

In any case, this song is special to me because it is about the life-changing love I have for my wife and our first son, who, when I wrote this, was still a little toddler. My life goals and outlook were quite different before he was born. I was much more focused on myself, vain career goals, and what I see now were shallow ideas of success. He reoriented our lives completely, and I am grateful. My little family is everything to me, but as I say in the song, “you can’t have everything without giving up something, and I don’t want anything if it’s not with you.”

I hope you enjoy this version of “One Thing.” A final bonus track and the entire Turns To Gold Deluxe Version will be released in June!

Look for another Piano Spells song in June too!

And, once again, I want to sincerely thank those of you who contributed to the Pledgemusic campaign back in 2015 and 2016 which enabled me to make the Turns To Gold album. I am forever grateful for your support.

Love,
Gabe