Track by Track album description from Greg Dayton
What inspired this album, this body of work?
Here to Stay was almost entirely written during pandemic, which was difficult time for
the entire world. Sadly we never got to tour with Sailing for the Sun (2020), but I immediately
found that writing again was therapeutic for me. We experienced a lot of intense emotions at the
same time. I had a trip planned to see my daughter, Noa, in London and the Canary Islands just
after my album release party at the Triad Theater in NYC (March 9th, 2020) which I called home
for 18 years, and as it panned out I wouldn’t see Noa in person for two years. Luckily, I was able
to get on plane on March 15th to wait it all out with my girlfriend Tanya in Sausalito, CA, which
led to my move to be with her.
I never got sick, but we could all feel the vulnerability as we watched the news, seeing
the numbers rise, and desperately waiting for a vaccine. At the same time there was despair as
we had nothing but time witness our dysfunctional national leadership, the extreme polarization
of our country, and the brutal injustices to people of color by police, the murder of George Floyd,
and so many others, week after week, day after day. I was fortunate to be able to continue
teaching online, but live music was stripped away from us, leaving all musicians in limbo. The
communication which we experience as musicians in live performances and in rehearsals has an
irreplaceable element of joy which keeps us going in the wake of all the difficult aspects of the
industry. It also has inspired much of my writing for which I have my bandmates in mind.
The writing of this album reflects all of what I was going through over the past few years.
The pain of separation from my daughter, the joy of finding true love and happiness with Tanya,
my move from NYC to California, the hard look at our society, the process of inner and outer
change, and the hope in seeing people come together in other ways in those hard times.
I was lucky to have spent years establishing trust with my band and many other incredible
musicians, especially my producer and drummer, Adrian Harpham, to know that I could start
writing and recording remotely, with short visits to New York. It started with a single “See My
Baby,” later another “Break the Chains” after we had started several others and I knew I had to
finish another album. Here to Stay is musically, conceptually and production-wise the true
follow up to Sailing for the Sun, with most of the same artists involved.
The writing of Here to Stay reflects a lot of what I was going through during the pandemic. The
pain of separation from my daughter, the joy of finding true love and happiness, my move from
NYC to California, the hard look at our society in turmoil, the process of inner and outer change,
and the hope in seeing people come together in other ways in those hard times.
I was lucky to have spent years establishing trust with my band and many other incredible
musicians, especially my producer and drummer, Adrian Harpham, to know that I could start
writing and recording remotely, with short visits to New York. It started with a single “See My
Baby,” later another “Break the Chains” after we had started several others and I knew I had to
finish another album. Here to Stay is musically, conceptually and production-wise the true
follow up to Sailing for the Sun, with most of the same artists involved.
Singer/songwriter Greg Dayton’s Here to Stay, written during pandemic is musically,
conceptually and production-wise (Adrian Harpham) the compelling follow-up to critically
acclaimed Sailing for the Sun (2020), with most of the same incredible NYC artists and a few
magical additions.
Track by Track Description
1) Track 1:“See My Baby”
“See My Baby” started as an happy whistle-along finger-style guitar melody in Open E
tuning in the spirit of Taj Mahal’s “Fishin’ Blues.” I co-wrote that a while back with my
former student Max Rifkin who was playing banjo in about 20 minutes or less.
The lyric came a while later and captured my feelings of elation on my early visits to see
Tanya in Sausalito. The light reflecting off the water is magical and there is incredible
bird life everywhere. I’m not sure if there are actual bluebirds but that sounded much
better than seagulls, cormorants, pelicans, crows or hawks. I kept it simple. Life is good
‘cause I’m going to see me baby. Tanya runs the San Francisco zoo so I threw the
humorous zoo reference in there (in the spirit of James Taylor’s “Gorilla”)..”she spends
her days at the local zoo, knows what the monkeys do…” We then adapted it for all the
SF Zoo’s radio ads on Audacy and iHeart, where it continues to air. On the recording I
doubled the melody on a resonator with slide, and with a Nashville high-strung acoustic.
Producer/drummer Adrian Harpham played a creative drum track even using his washing
machine as percussion and Fred Cash laid down the upright bass. Steven Bernstein
(Levon Helm, Little Feat, Sex Mob) layered several brass instruments to give it a creative
New Orleans flavor. We released this as the first single from Here to Stay, and it was
selected as Track of the Day by All About Jazz magazine.
“See My Baby” is a happy whistle-along acoustic finger-style guitar tune in the spirit of
Taj Mahal’s “Fishin’ Blues,” co-written with Max Rifkin and featuring Steven
Bernstein’s Boutique Brass Choir.
“Break the Chains”
“Break the Chains” was written at the piano after I had been working on a couple of favorite
tunes by Boz Skaggs and Elton John. I wanted a song with a piano intro so that line came first
and the chord progression and melody (singing random jibberish) after that came together pretty
quickly. The bridge section went to a different place harmonically. It’s a song about internal
change as the leading factor to communal and societal change.
The “chains” are the are habits and internal wiring we grow up with that prevent us from
evolving. The pandemic gave a us a long moment to contemplate all the ills of our society. “We
finally got a a place to start” refers to that initial sense of relief on the day we voted a sociopath
out of the White House. However political change has limited reach when a country becomes so
polarized, and this song is really a cry for kindness and love over hatred and prejudice first and
foremost on a personal level. Clayton Bryant (Valerie Simpson, Roger Daltry, Elton John) did all
the backing vocals as a one man choir. Marvin Sewell (Cassandra Wilson, Lizz Wright) added a
beautiful slide guitar, in our first collaboration on a recording. The regular killer rhythm section
with Anthony Robustelli on keys, Dave Inniss on bass and Adrian Harpham on drums. We
released this as the second single from Here to Stay, and it was selected as Track of the Day by
All About Jazz magazine.
“Break the Chains” is an inspiring Elton John/Boz Skaggs inspired pop ballad with Gospel edged
backing vocals written as a cry for personal and societal change.
Track 3: “No One Else Around”
“No One Else Around” is the barn-burner blues on the album in the spirit of Freddy King’s
“Going Down” with a bit of Zeppelin mixed in. Based on a driving guitar riff in DADGAD
tuning it was conceived to go hard with our band but actually translates well solo as well. It ties
together the themes of climate change with hurricanes, earthquakes, mother nature and howling
wolves in with those of passion and desire. I first wrote a similar riff on piano and Adrian wanted
me to speed up the tempo a lot for the groove at which point I first resisted then realized I could
do it on guitar more effectively. I played the riff on Adrian’s Yamaha acoustic, then doubled it
with my friend Jon Bendis’s baritone Gretsch, again with my Gibson SG with a Cry Baby wah
and a Fulltone Mosfet distortion pedal through my Blues Jr. amp. Dave Inniss doubles it again on
bass, with special guest Bobby Sparks (Snarky Puppy) on organ and clav. The blues licks are
with my go to ’57 reissue Strat.
“No One Else Around” is the barn-burner blues on the album in the spirit of Freddy King’s
“Going Down” and a bit of Zeppelin mixed in.
“Crying Out” was written for my daughter, Noa, during our two years of separation due to the
pandemic lockdown. It started as a piano progression I played for a long time before finding
lyrics. When I began to think of Noa it came together more easily. She nearly lost her
grandmother in Spain early on and I felt so helpless. At first I was using “Calling out” as the
lyrical hook but knew that was borrowed from one of my favorite Tedeschi Trucks songs.
“Crying out” felt much better and reflected the spirit of the 8pm neighborhood howl which I
embraced heartily from our porch every night for a year or so. The “day after day after day…”
backing vocal refrain and “we’re all in this together” ties the song to the the rest of the suffering
world around us. I ended up recordiing a fingerstyle acoustic, then a 12 string Taylor both in
Open D Tunings though the song is more in A. Marvin Sewell (Cassandra Wilson, Lizz Wright,
and also part of Adrian’s band MILK) added a beautiful haunting slide, the first of our recording
collaborations. Clayton Bryant (Valerie Simpson, Elton John), who arranged most of the backing
vocals for Sailing for the Sun recorded a small choir for the backing vocals remotely from his
apartment in NYC. The regulars David Inniss on bass, Anthony Robustelli on keys, and Adrian
Harpham (producer) on drums.
“Crying Out” was written for my daughter, Noa, during our two years of separation due to the
pandemic lockdown. It features Marvin Sewell on slide guitar and Clayton Bryant on backing
vocals.
“Wally and Wendy”
“Wally and Wendy” is an acoustic blues in the traditions of Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder, with a
humorous twist on a love story gone bad. I wanted to write a traditional story style song, which I
rarely do, and liked the idea of small town dysfunctional romance even referencing a Jan 6th
type incident (“they tried to burn that courthouse down”). I guess it’s my “Frankie and Johnny”
of sorts. The guy is a loser and the girl makes out ok. The hook and song are upbeat so you can’t
take it too seriously. From the start I could hear my brilliant friends Marlon Saunders and Biti
Strauchn singing with me. They were the last layer on the recording and got it immediately.
“Wally and Wendy” is a playful acoustic blues in the traditions of Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder,
with a humorous twist on a doomed small town love story.
“Over” was inspired by some Joni Mitchell style piano voicings I was playing around with for a
while. I was striving to set up a floating effect of straddling a couple different keys without a
clear resolution. The turn of phrase “I know it’s over…so why are you still here?” Speaks both
to that gut feeling of knowing a relationship has run it’s course and neither person knows how to
end it, but also to the time it takes for us to move on from relationships psychologically and
emotionally.
Adrian was immediately drawn to the sound as we are both big Joni fans and laid down a great
drum groove. We brought in the regulars Anthony Robustelli on keys and Dave Inniss on drums.
after that I added two rhythm guitar lines on the Strat. Marvin Sewell plays a gorgeous haunting
slide which heightens the yearning sensation of the tune.
“Over” is a Joni Mitchell inspired post break-up tune with Greg’s NYC based band and Marvin
Sewell on slide guitar.
“Here to Stay”
“Here to Stay” is a love song. The search for love can be long and many times discouraging for
those of us who find it in its best version much later in life, but when you are older you
appreciate it even more. It’s a song about this journey…”the roads we traveled just lead to
today…” This started with the chord progression on the piano which doesn’t reveal the key til
later in the chorus. It is more influenced by jazz standards than rock or blues but has some
Jackson Browne “Late for the Sky” in the lyrical approach.
We had Adrian’s band mates from MILK, Bruce Flowers (David Sanborn) on piano and Marvin
Sewell (Cassandra Wilson, Lizz Wright) on guitar, with Steven Bernstein (Levon Helm, Little
Feat) on Flugelhorn. The regulars David Inniss on bass and Adrian Harpham (producer) on
drums.
“Here to Stay” is a lush love song like a jazz ballad with some Jackson Browne influences in the
lyrical approach with Steven Bernstein on Flugelhorn.