Newtowner Darryl Gregory’s Latest Recording Unfolds Under ‘Big Texas Sky’

By John Voket

Singer and songwriter Darryl Gregory is well known for the may gigs he has played in Newtown, and his popularity as a compelling performer who draws diverse audiences to concert stages and coffeehouses throughout Connecticut and occasionally New York.

Gregory’s latest effort, however, conjures up images of hardscrabble lives, colorful characters and wide open spaces. His new CD Big Texas Sky is in hand, and will be available for the first time Saturday, February 25, when Gregory plays a 7 pm coffeehouse concert at Trinity Episcopal Church.

Gregory recently told The Bee that the new release, his third solo project, sprang from a catalog of about 20 songs he had been performing since releasing his last CD, titled She.

“These were songs that I felt really good about and I felt that I could orchestrate and arrange in an interesting way,” Gregory said via email. “After I did demos for the songs, I listened to how they hung together and complimented one another. Some songs were rockers, some were blues, most were country oriented and few were folky.”

Gregory said he decided to steer the new CD into the country genre.

“So I started to whittle away using that criteria and I came to down to 12 that had a country feel,” he said. “Then I noticed that eight of those 12 had a certain feeling to them that resonated with me at the time, and still does.”

These were songs that elicited what Gregory called “a feeling of spirituality, but not that of a church-going spirituality.”

Instead, he said, it was a spirit of life and death and the concept of growing older and how we deal with it all.

“I wasn’t sure how to tie it all together until I wrote a last minute song that was not part of the original batch,” he said.

In that song, “Anywhere But Here,” the female subject laments about ever being born: Oh God why / Was I born under this big Texas sky?

“That’s when it hit me that the stories I’m singing about are all happening under the watchful eye of God — the ‘Big Texas Sky.’ We all go about our daily business, our daily triumphs and tragedies — all the while, above our heads, the sky is there: changing, transforming, but not caring about us or our situations,” Gregory said. “And, we all see the same sky, yet some of us see dark clouds and others see a life giving rain.”

Gregory believes each individual who embraces some form of spirituality either acknowledge that supreme presence or not, but the fact remains that it is there.

“Each of these songs are stories of the everyday life we all lead with the last song wrapping it all up with a prayer and a hallelujah,” he said, also referring to the title of that song, which closes Big Texas Sky.

As in the past with his CDs, Gregory did the majority of instrumental performances.

“But there comes a time when you just have to call in other musicians to help,” he said. “I was very fortunate to get local artist Jim Allyn – a/k/a Mr Everything – to lay down piano, fiddle and mandolin on several tracks which really enhanced what I had already done.”

For the duet “What About Love,” Gregory was able to snag the always busy Francine Wheeler to come into the studio and sing along.

“Her voice alone is worth the price of the CD,” he said. “I also got great vocals from my friend Wayne Johnson, who is an ordained minister, on the track ‘Prayer & Hallelujah’ which breaks into a rollicking gospel celebration.”

In the end, Gregory pared his selections down to seven songs as opposed to forcing more for fear it would dilute the concept.

“Big Texas Sky is a country album at heart and pulls a lot of emotional strings,” Gregory said. “But it’s also a love letter to my Texas roots and the down to earth, real life feeling I got when I visited my kin in the Lone Star State.”

Call the church at 203-426-9070 for details or to register to attend the coffeehouse. There is no charge to attend; light refreshments will be available. Trinity Episcopal Church is at 36 Main Street in Newtown, with driveways off Main Street and Church Hill Road.

To learn more about Darryl Gregory, to sample cuts from his entire catalog, or to order Big Texas Sky, go to www.BlueCaveStudios.com or www.DarrylGregory.com.

SIDEBAR

Darryl Gregory: Deconstructing The Inspiration

Newtowner and recording artist Darryl Gregory is releasing his third solo project Big Texas Sky, and he provided The Newtown Bee some insight into his inspiration for the seven original country-flavored tunes on the CD.

“Aunt Jean’s Piano” — A story that makes a connection through time using the piano that was played by a long dead relative as a pivot point.

“Anywhere But Here” — A story about a young girl who is trying to escape one abusive situation after another. The listener hopefully realizes that she’s never going to find peace because it’s always anywhere but here

“Workin’ Man” — I usually perform this song as a talking blues or a work-song. I arranged it for this CD with a pounding bass, a dobro and junk pecussion. The voice is run through an amp to make it sound like the singer is talking through a bull horn at a union rally.

“How Do I Tell Her” — A story song about a man who loses his job and doesn’t know how to tell his wife. He feels empty, like a thief in the night, but he finds that his wife knows about his fear and together they have the strength to weather the storm.

“What About Love” — This song is based on a photo I found on the web (viewable on his site, www.BlueCaveStudios.com) of a couple who had been married 30 years, who are posing in front of their wedding photo. The songs questions whether we can be happy in a long term relationship and whether we can stay in love.

“Elegy for an Old Man” — This is a song about dying and draws inspiration from the old cowboy song “Streets of Laredo.” After I wrote it and listened to it a bunch of times I realized it was an unintentional song about my father who grew up in Texas, was in the Navy and was a sort of cowboy in my eyes.

“Prayer & Hallelujah” — A very simple song as far as lyrics are concerned, yet when I perform it I always get a powerful response. The song starts slowly with two verses are a prayer to the divine for peace, love and compassion. The song then breaks into a rousing gospel section with a repeating refrain: “May we all feel the light of brilliant love.” The guitar part in the prayer section reminded me of Led Zeppelin’s song  “Ramble On” and so I pay homage to that great bass line of John Paul Jones by playing a very melodic and contrapuntal line against the voice and guitar.