A Face In The Clouds

CLICK SONGS to sample:
1. A Face in the Clouds
2. Ballerina on the Bridge
3. If I Could Do It All Again
4. A Love Like This
5. Morning Hyde Park (Austin)
6. Ballad of an Abandoned Road
7. Midnight Rain (4th and Colorado)
8. Orchards, Vineyards, and Wildflowers Waltz
9. Walking Mansfield Dam

A note from Marshall:

One afternoon in 2004, I was reading an article with various stories about the wives and children of 9/11 firefighters. One story was about a young boy and his mother traveling on a benefit flight to Hawaii for the families of the firefighters. Apparently the boy looked out the window and saw his father's face in the clouds. He tried to show his mother, but she could not see the face. Everyone on the plane looked, and they could not see the face either. Nevertheless, the boy could see his dad and stared at the face until it was out of view. It was a short part in a long article, but it moved me deeply. I wrote the title track, "A Face in the Clouds," that afternoon. The album would be written and recorded over the next two years.

All my recordings are based on an actual performance of each piece. As with my previous albums, I sketch my music on a small piano in our home. When an idea and arrangement are complete I take it into my studio and record two basic tracks simultaneously. One track for the right hand on one synthesizer, and one track for the left hand on another. With "A Face in the Clouds," I used a new synthesizer and new "voices" on old synthesizers to orchestrate the music. I believe the end result is a fresh new sound leaving my quiet and simple style intact.

Most of the visual imagery for this album came from Austin and the Hill Country of Central Texas. For the past 20 years this has been my home. Its scenery and people continuously inspire me.