Because I respect the musicians so much, it was nice to have them in there with me and have a recording atmosphere that says, "Let's be scared together. The audience often times doesn't know the difference, but I think just coming from the perspective of loving the live aspect, I really appreciate that Rick wanted to do this record that way because it was more fun for me and it was certainly more fun for the musicians. A lot of times with technology, especially if you're doing orchestra work, half the time you're sitting in a room listening to an orchestra play over your voice that's already been recorded. A lot of times in the studio, it's just kind of the lab, you know? You're just kind of doing it as many times as it takes, hitting notes over and over again until you get it. I love the aspect of live performance, the energy of filling the room and the uncertainty of what kind of moments will be created. You know, a lot of actors love to do theater, but sometimes the movie making process is much less "in the moment," and the same goes for recording. Rick pressed the big red button, we got a few takes and certainly all those tracks are one performance all the way through. We rehearsed, and we felt like we had rehearsed to the point where we had some really nice moments. So, the songs that I recorded with them were really done in the way that they like to record, which means we did them in one or two takes. For him to bring them into this project and to try some of those songs I had written with Dan with those musicians, not only did I make some new friends, but nothing could have prepared me for the master class of being able to play those songs. I'd always been comfortable standing in a room with an orchestra and doing things very technically or traditionally, but to be able to sit at the piano and just jam with those guys-that was the kind of Rick Rubin experience that I had been waiting for because I knew that he knew and worked with all those guys. The session with those guys was really the moment, for me, where I felt like the record was clicking into the place I wanted it to be in. We wrote tons of songs, and I think six of them are on the record, a couple of other ones will be on the next record, and he's a wonderful new addition to the family tree. We always were in agreement, and we had a great time trusting each other to go too far and the songs are proof of that. ![]() We very rarely had any of those awkward co-writer moments where you go back and forth, "I don't like this." "Well, I don't like this either." Sometimes, when you're writing with somebody, it can get kind of fuzzy, and Dan and I never had that. Then, I wound up going back about six or seven times because Dan and I just clicked. ![]() ![]() because I wanted to kind of get out of Dodge for a minute, go to Minneapolis, get out of my comfort zone and work with him. So, I went to Minneapolis-I didn't want him to come to L.A. So, as Rick was hearing my songs, he felt right away that Dan would be somebody that shared the same musical sensibilities that I have, and could help me achieve the very fine balance that Rick and I were trying to get to on this record. One of the great things about Rick is that he's got a great sense as to what the right puzzle pieces are, to get in the room with the artist he's working with. JG: Dan is somebody who I'd heard his voice and heard his songs but had never really sat in a room properly with him.
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