Smitty: And that’s a beautiful thing. (Laughs.)
ML: I didn’t even purposely do that. These songs were just selected from a big list of my all-time favorite songs and songs that inspired me to become who I am and who I am today.
Smitty: You selected some great songs, and I like “It’s Too Late.” In fact, I remember that one very well. I could still listen to Carole King sing that one.
ML: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
Smitty: It’s just a beautiful tune.
ML: That’s the other thing: all of these songs here, the artists, because they were singer-songwriters basically, the artists, the original versions of these songs were great, all of them. So that was the other thing. It was a big challenge to…well, I should say, it’s a big responsibility to do something with these songs. You can’t just do what they did because it’s already there. I mean, you’ve got to really come up with something unique in order for it to work and that’s why if you listen, a lot of the songs have brand new intros on them.
Smitty: Yes.
ML: They’re brand new composed. They were not a part of the original songs. Some of them have sort of an interlude or a middle section of the song composed. “Nobody Does It Better,” that whole orchestral interlude, that wasn’t part of the original. We have switched sections, we have added solo sections, plus every single song has been very creatively re-harmonized. They’ve been redone as far as the structure of the harmonies of the song to make it so when you hear…and I know that it might sound a little technical and most people that listen to music, they don’t know, and I understand they don’t know how this harmony is different than the original, but what they do know is what they hear. It’s like “Okay, well, it sounds cool, but it’s different than the original.” It’s like they can hear something that’s a little bit different.
Smitty: Yeah, I totally agree.
ML: And that’s all they need to know. They don’t need to know the technical part of it, but as long as you keep homage to the original but then you put a fresh breath of air into these songs. That’s real important also.
Smitty: Absolutely, and you did just that, my friend, this is a great mix of music and I must take my hat off to everyone involved with this because the whole mixing and mastering, the whole thing, I mean, you can feel such so much emotion with this record.
ML: It has a certain sound to it, would you agree?
Smitty: Oh yeah.
ML: There’s an elegant kind of sound to it.
Smitty: Yeah, yeah, that’s it.
ML: And I kinda had a feeling it was gonna be like that once we had started the recording because even when we were listening to unmixed tracks…I mean, it couldn’t be more unmixed, right?
Smitty: Mm-hmm.
ML: Not put in perspective, and it still sounded great. I played it for some people. They thought it was the finished record.
Smitty: (Laughs.)
ML: I mean, it didn’t matter what I did to this record, I couldn’t screw it up.
Smitty: Yeah.
ML: At any stage I could completely change the levels and do nothing with it and it still sounded great. So I had a feeling I was in good shape. (Laughs.)
Smitty: Yeah, and I think the title of the record is appropriate. I mean, it’s A Song For You.
ML: Exactly.
Smitty: And everyone can find a song in there.
ML: For them, exactly.
Smitty: Yeah, that they remember…
ML: Right.
Smitty: …and that brings back memories, you know?
ML: And titles are hard, especially when it comes to either instrumental songs or albums, and how do you, with a title, capture what is the essence of the album, right?
Smitty: Yeah.
ML: In my opinion, it has to be descriptive and A Song For You, we kept on coming back to that title, not so much because we had the song “A Song For You” on the album, but just because there’s two things it describes: it talks about the songs, and basically it’s all about the songs.
Smitty: Yeah.
ML: And then the “for you” part? It’s a personal thing. Like this is a personal record for me and it has sort of a very personal touch to it and it describes it well.
Smitty: Yes, it does. I could totally feel that, man, absolutely. What’s the release date?
ML: September 26.
Smitty: All right, and you’re putting together a tour, I’m sure, for this record.
ML: Well, first what we’re doing is on the day of release, September 26, we are going to embark on a promotional tour where I will be starting on the East Coast, moving west, basically visiting radio stations, doing interviews, doing in-store appearances, signing CD’s, some of the stations are throwing parties for me, we’re gonna have a bunch of listeners down, and this stuff is being worked on right now, they’re being arranged right now, and it’s gonna basically end up around the 21st of October, where I will be going to Las Vegas with my band, and then we’re gonna do an L.A. record release party, even though it comes out in September.
Smitty: (Laughs.)
ML: We’re gonna do an L.A. sorta end-of-promotional-tour-release-big-deal-party at the El Rey Theatre on November 1st where I’m gonna have an orchestra and we’re gonna do a whole red carpet event, and it’s gonna be beautiful.
Smitty: Wow, dude!
ML: Yeah.
Smitty: I wanna go! (Laughs.)
ML: Well, you can go.
Smitty: (Laughs.)
ML: As a matter of fact, you should be there.
Smitty: I will come out for that one, Michael.
ML: Okay.
Smitty: I’m coming out, brother. (Laughs.)
ML: Yeah.
Smitty: That is fantastic, man. I like that approach too.
ML: Oh, it’s old school.
Smitty: Yeah.
ML: This is how they used to promote your albums. You’d go out and talk to anybody who wanted to listen to what you have to say.
Smitty: Yes, I like that, man.
ML: And nobody does it. It’s become very mechanical and it’s gotten a little lost in the shuffle too, and I wanna be out there, I wanna talk to everybody, and I wanna tell people how excited I am about this record because of course I’m excited about every record that gets released, but you gotta understand that this is a record I’ve wanted to make for 10 years, okay? It’s not every day you get to make a record with a full orchestra.
Smitty: I know.
ML: Mostly when you tell labels you wanna make an album with an orchestra, they start running in the other direction really quick.
Smitty: (Laughs.)
ML: Okay? Because it is not an easy affair to deal with. It is a lotta folks, it’s a lotta money, it’s a lot of other things that goes with that. And I so much applaud Rendezvous (Entertainment) for going on this journey with me because, yeah, it’s a whole ‘nother thing when people say “Yeah, well, I have a new record, it’s really different.” Well, I’m sure it is to the artist and I’ve even said it myself, but the reality is that the perception for the people that buy or listen to the album, it really is not that different, you know what I mean?
Smitty: Right.
ML: And it’s within the same sort of genre and I wanted to really make an album where when I tell you I did something different, well, that’s something different right there.
Smitty: Yeah, well, you did, brother, and it’s a nice project. And I just wanna say, well, you mentioned Rendezvous.
ML: Right.
