![]() So once they started playing, it was like half an hour or 40 minutes and we had it. Tommy was just sitting, watching and listening, with his sticks. The next thing we knew, we had this really cool road map of the song. This is kind of what I want the riff to be.” He’d go, “Yeah, yeah, that’s cool, but what about this?” He’d bend it a little bit and change it. I’d worked with him a lot and we were great friends. I play rhythm, but I can’t really play lead shit. I would sing him a riff, because I can play, but I can’t play worth a shit really. I had mapped out the arrangement in my head for “Streets of Pain.” Lukather helped me a lot. There was Randy Jackson, Steve Lukather and it was just the power trio. ![]() Are you kidding?” Two weeks later, he walked into A&M Studios, which is now Henson Studios, in the big Studio A. It’s a rocker.” He said, “I’d fuckin’ love to play on your record, man. I’ve written a bunch of songs.” He said, “Well, if you need a drummer or something.” I said, “Dude, don’t say that without meaning it, because I’d love to have you play on it.” He goes, “Really?” I said, “Dude, I’ve got a song in mind right now that I’d love you to play on. I said, “Well, I’m just starting my third album and I’m going to start recording in a few weeks. He was so nice and charming and really complimentary. You never know, because were huge at the time I was really doing well. So we were saying, “Hi, how’s it going!” Tommy was so charming and so nice. Heather and I had met years before, even before I had a record deal, briefly. Sitting next to us were Heather Locklear and Tommy Lee. They put us in one of those celebrity VIP boxes. My first son was born and I was just trying to be home and be a husband and a dad. I toured 30 months out of three years and I was finally home. I had gotten off three years of touring between my debut album and Repeat Offender. We didn’t really know each other until working together. Listen to Richard Marx Perform 'We Are Not Alone' But I wanted to just focus on these four slots for this one. I think I could do a fun album of that with a lot of guests and cool production. So then, I thought, “Well, what would be really cool is to do a multi-genre double album.” The only thing I left out, which is the music I love the most, was sort of an R&B-influenced thing and that is something that I do have in my back pocket, doing an album that would be somewhat of an homage to Earth, Wind & Fire, the Brothers Johnson and the ‘70s R&B that I loved so much. I miss your rock stuff.” That was a factor too. They’ll go, “Man, I love that new record, but I really wish you’d do another rock record. But honestly, I thought, “Why the fuck not?” What’s the worst that could happen? People who don’t like me, won’t like me more? Īlso, one of the things that did factor in were comments that I’ve gotten from mostly guys who are fans and are supportive of me. It had everything from “ Playing With Fire” to “ Hazard” to “ Keep Coming Back” – which you know, all on the same album, it was kind of crazy. I’ve always had some diversity on the albums, especially Rush Street, I thought was really schizophrenic in a good way. As you know, there is this sort of unwritten rule that as a singer and as an artist, you kind of need to somewhat stay in your lane. In fact, if anything, it’s a really nice thing to have such a schizophrenic resume as a songwriter. But in writing the book and covering all of the different genres I’ve written, worked and produced in, it sort of made me think, “Well, I’ve certainly managed to get away with jumping from genre to genre as a songwriter, without any kind of slap on the wrist.” For instance, I’d toyed with the idea of doing a real country-influenced album, because I’ve written so many country songs with different country artists and songwriters. I’d dabbled with the idea of spending some years doing an album of this kind that was different than what I’d done before. I think the writing and the finishing of the book was a catalyst and a component of why I ended up doing this project. It gave me time to finish my book, which came out a year later. We were just about to start the tour for it and then everything went to shit. I had just put out the last album, Limitless, and it was received really well. Well, you know, obviously I had a lot of time to sit around and think during the pandemic. How did the idea develop to do this record? He shared the story behind his new album while also digging into a few past collaborations.
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