ABOUT THE ALBUM
I had absolutely no ideas about how I wanted the music to sound that day in the studio. None. I only knew how I did not want it to sound, and how I did not want it to feel. I didn’t want it to be pretentious or slick. I didn’t want it to seem safe or to feel precious. I like music that’s wild. That feels unrehearsed. Music that’s full of the mysterious and the humorous and full of sex and wonder and dance and all the other things that make life interesting. I guess what I mean to say is that my music is subtractive in nature, not additive. I find what I like only by discarding what I don’t.
Also, the reason I do what I do and play the way I play reveals itself to me every time I pick up the instrument. It’s not a conscious effort at all.
I knew that Leo, who has been my friend for 20 years, is capable of the highest level of free expression in music and in life. He and I are beyond telling each other what or how to play. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Sean (whom I hadn’t played with before this session) is equally capable and masterful, and plays with a disciplined-reckless abandon I really dig.
Anyway, I hope you, the listener, enjoys receiving this music as much as we enjoyed creating it.
- Justin Purtill
ABOUT THE SONG ‘SWEET LIBERTY’
Sweet Liberty is sort of a protest song, though it’s certainly not “political.” It’s my attempt at writing a lament for the good ole’ US of A. Seems to me in the last two years we’ve been shown how far we still have to go, and sadly how few people seem to want to go there. I don’t mean to be pessimistic (I consider myself a committed optimist), but things are more divided, more vitriolic, and more dangerous here than at any other time I’ve seen in my 41 short years of life. I love this country (even with all its flaws), but I don’t know how it’s all going to come out on the other side. That’s what this song is about.
- Justin Purtill
Justin Purtill
feat. Leo Genovese and Sean Conly
Simple Twist EP
Justin Purtill: Guitars, voice
Leo Genovese: Piano
Sean Conly: Bass
Recorded in New Jersey
Release: November 4, 2022
Total time: 27:27
Catalog number 5911
Cover art by Robert Mirolo
Graphic design by Mark Smith
TRACKS:
1- Sweet Liberty 3:37
2- Nobody But You (Joe Price) 2:52
3- Simple Twist Of Fate (Bob Dylan) 6:14
4- Spike Driver's Blues (John Hurt) 5:13
5- El Paso 4:20
6- To Feel It All Fall 4:01
100% of profit from the sale of most of these albums
goes to the musicians