Jefferson blog, May 2020:
The song “OK” was from a batch that I was initially writing for Chris when she and I first started writing together. Back then, I was thinking that she was gonna sing everything and be the star, and I was gonna play guitar or drums and be her co-writer, standing in the shadows. (She had other plans.) I started writing a bunch of songs for her to sing. “OK” sounded like one better for me to sing, so I set it aside, only to pick it up years later when Chris and I were the LOVE LOVE that everyone knows and (hopefully) loves. I recorded it mainly with TJ Wenzl (which is also true of “How Lonely” & “Fire”—TJ and I were in a groove and making some special magic sauce over at BKitty for quite a while… Yes yes yes, things were rolling). Chris T and Makala came in and did their beautiful bits on those songs, and they are some of my favorite things and moments.
The other half of the album was equally special, recorded at Woolly Mammoth with Sir (wonderfully crazy person) Dave Minehan. We’d never worked with Dave, but we all hit it off instantly and had a BLAST. We moved right on in and for a time made Woolly our LOVE LOVE palace. Dave helped to make things sparkle and shine the perfect amount. What a joyous time.
This album marks a very special time in the life of LOVE LOVE. It is the fourth effort released by the group, and in many ways, it is our best. There is magic here that I can’t explain, and I love that. Nay, I live for that. Makala and TJ fell in love during the making of this album, moved in together, and then made a baby (due in September). Three drummers—our main man Chris Michaels, TJ, and me— we all got to play on the record. And Mike laid down some of his solidest bass playing to date. Oh, and by the way, Chris T and I got married during the making of this record.
Though strange times are here—politically, socially, personally—this joy-of-an-album makes me smile every time I listen to it, even though during its recording, mixing, and mastering phases I’ve heard it a thousand times. Elizabeth Steen’s and Jeff Cox’s contributions to it are vital and nearly make me weep.
I hope this record makes everybody smile. And cry and laugh and whatever else you wanna do. Everything will be ok. The “OK” that is the title is both very personal for Chris and I and universal for all of us. We are moving forward, and we must find joy in the wonderful humanity and God-nature that is all around us, in the now.
