Chords for Richard Elliot: Summer Madness (Behind the Scenes)

_ _ [Bbm] _ [Ab] For me, [F] it's always been about funk and R&B, [Db] horn-based music from the 70s and 80s, and
that's what this [Bb] record pays homage to. _
The concept behind this new project [Bbm] was to take that feeling from that period of late
70s, early 80s funk and soul, [F] and layering on and gnashing it with more current [Fm] musical approaches.
[C] I wouldn't say that there's [Bbm] any one song on the record that sums [Eb] up the approach or the
[Dbm] direction of the record.
It really is [Fm] a cumulative sort [Bbm] of result.
The combination [F] of songs [Db] and the direction that we took with those songs [Bbm] sort of hearken
[Bb] a feeling and a mood from an era that [Db] was very, very [F] important to me growing up musically.
[Ab] _ So for [Am] this project, I'm very, very lucky to be working with Rick Braun.
He is producing the project.
He's also co-writing the majority of the material [A] with me and playing on [Am] the record. _
You know, Rick and I go back many, many years.
He's [E] incredibly musical.
[A] He's got great sensibilities, and [Am] frankly, we never stop laughing.
We just always have a wonderful [E] time working together, and I think [Am] when you have a positive
experience personally with someone that you're working with, the music just flows out of
you because your head's in the right place.
_ I know that if I work with Rick, [G] because he's such an [Am] amazing musician that I respect so
much, the fact is when he makes [C] a suggestion, he's going to push me in a direction where
I might not normally go, and that really, I think, is the key, [Fm] is getting [F] out of your comfort zone.
And [Gm] a lot of times, if you're left to your own devices, [Fm] you're not going to do it.
You're going to kind of stick with what's safe and what works.
You [C] work with someone who you [F] respect and that you enjoy working with, [Dm] they're going
to push you.
To me, that's [Eb] a big factor in [E] evolving musically.
_ [Am] _ _ _
One of [Bb] the coolest [G] things to me about this [D] project is that the [Bb] songs lend [D] themselves
to live [Dm] performance.
In fact, a big part of the way we cut these songs was using live rhythm section, basically
all of us playing together, and then [Gm] building on that [D] foundation.
The foundation of the majority of the tracks [Gm] were members of my band [Dm] and Rick playing together
at the same time, which, going back again to the 70s and 80s, [C] was [Gm] commonplace.
That's how [C] you recorded records.
[G] You got the band together, you [Gm] rehearsed a little bit, and then you recorded songs.
_ [Dm] Because there's such a live spontaneity to [Fm] the music [D] on the record, I cannot wait [Gm] to
get on stage and play this material live.
[Dm] Playing live is one of the most gratifying things [Gm] that I do, and without being able to
do that, I don't know if I could go into a studio [D] and record [C] without having [Gm] that live
experience in between my [G] recordings.
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Gm] _
It's amazing to me to have been doing this for over 30 [G] years.
Because when I [F] started making [Bb] records, and in fact when I started playing music professionally,
I never had any concept of [Eb] whether I was going to be able to do it for [Gm] a year or [A] two years
or five years or ten years, let alone [D] 30 years. _ _ _ _
[Gm] A lot has happened over those 32 years.
I [Bb] definitely feel like I've [Fm] grown.
I try to grow [Eb] with every record that I do.
[F] However the music evolves, the key is how do you push your boundaries [Bb] so that each time
you do a record, you're evolving to [Eb] some extent.
For me, I think getting a chance to make music as your livelihood is in fact a privilege
that I [D] never take for granted.
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