Theoretically

Theoretically was rejected by the Nashville studio at first. Converting its punchy riffs into the Nashville numbering system the band could learn fast in a tight session was a toss of the dice. They would tell me the chart resembled the union test Nashville players must pass to be admitted. The lines are simple enough, just not a standard chord chart where they can color the song in whatever brilliant articulations strike their fancy.

But I knew they were professional assassins. That’s why I’m here.

When I arrive early with my folder of production notes I’m told by Eli Beaird, who heads Beaird Music Group with brother Aaron, “let’s not complicate things”. The band was setting up shop behind their respective glass enclosures and I took a deep breath. Trust. I knew these killers, from my 2018 co-write “Then We Got Older”. I stand headphones on, poised behind the mixing console like a deer in the headlights. The band is foraging for the notes and tones. It wasn’t happening. It sounded so soft and I just wanted the chords to go POW!

Then Eli drops “Need You Tonight” by INXS on the video screen. By chance, Andrew Farris, the chief songwriter for INXS currently records there and Eli knew they were my sonic inspiration, a tight retro pop 80’s groove at 110 bpm. Suddenly the band sprung into seamless harmony like a collective of bees pulling off the miracle of honey. Faith.

Theoretically first percolated to life with more of a downbeat bedhead sound during Covid. Produced by my artist friend Dane Rochelle and recorded in his home during the pandemic. It makes sense that this initial version would reflect the doziness of living in bubbles and masks.

So then, what’s the story with Nashville?

At a song circle last summer, Muddy Rivers (The Bargain) simply said “Can’t wait to hear that one with a band!”.

I flashbacked to the cowrite in Tennessee and felt it was time to put some new colors, fun and groove into my music. I knew this band could pull it off, and fast.

For the video I needed to feel my way back, long before my brother died, where life was MTV and comic books. Theoretically is that fantasy. What if I was a Peter Parker, a secret Spiderman, with the formulas for love.

To the wayback era before my friend Sean Gallimore died, when we ferociously collected comic books and drew superheroes together. Long before Sean actually became a superhero, drawing iconic animations for Disney, mastering martial arts, sculpting his own body into Aquaman, stunt acting in horror films with gory makeup, taking out gangs of villains in his DIY film “Fight Ring” which was picked up by Amazon. The drama inside comic book panels was our visual music, a way to feel connected to each other and the wild future ahead.

Sometimes you just follow these vibrational dominoes. And in Nashville there’s plenty to bump into.

Walking into Fanny’s Music in East Nashville the morning after recording, I bump smack dab into one of the most talented guitar hotshots in the country, Guthrie Trapp (Dolly Parton, Hall and Oates). Feeling starstruck I mutter “Look man we’re wearing the same pants!” referring to the joggers he wears on YouTube and gushed about offhandedly.

Little did I know, Guthrie was starstruck too! At the same moment, his favorite actor Tim Blake Nelson (O Brother Where Art Thou) was also in the parlor, checking out acoustics with his son. What followed was a circular mini jam and afterwards Guthrie bought me lunch at the Happy Cow down the street where we swapped phone pics and stories for what felt like hours. I didn’t want to leave for the airport. Guthrie explained Nashville’s a small town and this is just what happens here.

Sometimes, with the right nudge, the dominoes tip and fall in perfect harmony.

At least, that’s my theory.