These are the stories of everyday joy and pain that came to me over the last few years. An awareness of mortality and the fragility of life has settled in me and all these songs grew from those feelings.  The record came out even better than I had hoped because all the players brought their brilliant skills and their love for this music into the sessions. The songs grew from my basement demos into beautiful pieces of a big, year’s long puzzle. We called this record Paradise Breakdown because it has the feel of beauty and hope running up against pain and loss. The dark humor that runs throughout makes me happy.  I feel honored to have been present for the birth of these beauties.