"No rules, no limits," is how the multi-talented artist describes the songs in his liner notes for the new collection. "I don t recall ever reaching quite as deeply or confidently into my inhibition pool."
The title track is indicative of how anecdote and imagination yield inspired results. "I was building a workbench with a carpenter friend," Connick explains, "and my lack of any knowledge about carpentry left me feeling so inadequate. It led me to think about other things that every man should know, like how to change a tire. Then I began thinking about what everybody should know how to do, and that's to love."
"'Come See About Me' is a song about a guy who's heartbroken that was inspired by a line Kim Burrell sang on 'All These People' [a song about the abandoned Katrina victims from Connick's 2007 CD Oh, My NOLA]. It was tough for me to sing, because the thought of watching the one you love move on is so painful. Just the idea of it hurts, and it took me a few tries just to figure out how to sing it."
More immediately personal feelings underscore "The Greatest Love Story," a song for Connick's wife Jill that includes both "inside" allusions ("Jill's from Texas, which is why the pedal steel guitar is in there") and a direct reference to Connick's late mother Anita.
Connick is quick to credit his collaborators, including guest soloists Branford Marsalis (whose soprano sax enriches "Let Me Stay") and Wynton Marsalis (extending the reflective mood of "Being Alone" with his trumpet) and longtime Band regulars Jerry Weldon on tenor sax and old friend Jonathan DuBose, Jr. on guitar on "I Love Her." He gives special credit to guitarist Brian Sutton and the Nashville musicians assembled for several tracks. "Those Nashville guys are deep," Connick marvels. "Before they play a note, they ask, 'What are we playing about?' And they like to play with you when you sing rather than laying down tracks before you sing, because they want to understand the sentiment of each song. They really helped me capture 'Love My Life Away,' a song about a guy dying from a disease who is facing the plodding nature of his life."
The range of these songs is vast, touching upon love and loss, celebration and sorrow, tragedy and hope. With Every Man Should Know, Harry Connick, Jr. triumphs once again, with a depth of feeling that signals another milestone for one of the music world s most multi-faceted artists.
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