I’m a day late, (maybe I’ll just call it an April Fools!) but want to congratulate Ryan and share my deep gratitude for being asked to take part in the process of committing these beautiful songs to their album home. Working with these three inspired maestros for some consecutive days, guided by the natural spring light of Betty’s NC, and meandering through multiple takes and extended improvisations last May, was a perfect and much-needed reset for my soul in 2021. The focus was always on the spontaneous shapes we could collectively find inside these songs, rather than chasing down perfectionism. It was common for each take to end with a pregnant, contemplative pause, and without breaking eye contact Ryan would ease out of the moment with his signature calm smile and a “cool, let’s try it again tomorrow and see if we get anything else out of it, but that felt great!” If you find some time to settle in with this, I’m sure you’ll catch the vibe. Enjoy!