What's the new CD called, you ask? "Don't Ask". Who's on first? "Don't Ask". Before I tell you more about the CD, however, let me introduce you to my collaborator, Bill Braun.

I've known Bill for thirty years. I first met him when the band he was in joined me on the road to tour behind "Breezy Stories". Along with Veyler Hildebrand, Vince Melamed, and Eric Jones we took the world by mist. I've played at different times live and on record with Veyler; written a lot of good songs with Vince; and have learned a couple very important things about guitar from Eric.

Bill and I started writing together in the Eighties. I don't even recall how we started. I think he surprised me one day by playing something from bits he'd been storing on tape. I don't even know now if I was even aware he played keyboards, having thought of him only as a drummer. These were the first days of synthesizers, drum machines and computers. I think the first song we wrote was a blues called "Don't Tell Me", but somewhere in that period we wrote "Someday", "Along for the Ride", "Call the Nomads" and others. He comes out of a completely different musical direction than I do and it can be very freeing to have someone driving the music so that you can ride the lyrics without having to fight the same ruts on the guitar. One of the most beautiful pieces Bill wrote on keyboard became a wonderful guitar song: "Pieces of the Rain", which is on Runnin' From The Devil.

Bill is a very private person and is currently building a house in the Rocky Mountains. For years he lived a hermetic life in the hills of Hollywood in one of my favorite houses. He hasn't played in public for many years, unfortunately, but he still writes the most interesting pieces. He'll often have a bunch of things that as he plays them they call out as verses and choruses and bridges, and they have the wonderful ability to evoke pictures that demand explanation. In song, music is the question that begs the answer.

This collection of songs, "Don't Ask", has been growing since the Nineties and a year ago I finally got Bill to transfer them to a digital format so that they could be remixed. I think in the transfer process Bill became re-inspired with them and he has deconstructed and reconstructed them into their present forms. The real test for me is repetition and time. I not only haven't grown tired of them with repeated listening, but I continue to find new things in them. I hope you'll feel the same.

More about Bill Braun >>