In an earlier period of my life I was way into the music of Todd Rundgren. I always appreciated that this artist could write lovely pop gems like “I Saw the Light,” “Can We Still Be Friends?” and “Hello, It’s Me,” and be the same artist that wrote some loud rockers like “Black Maria,” “Utopia Theme,” and “Bang the Drum All Day.” One rocker in particular really caught my ear: “Determination.” It was driving, with terrific rhythm and lead guitar parts. I loved and still love it.

I’d been playing around with the main guitar theme for about a year, and it just couldn’t find a home. Then one day I sat down with my Dolphin Gray Strat and played the lick much more up-tempo. Suddenly, the homeless lick became a “verse” (funny to talk about verses in an instrumental piece, but that’s how Fett and I describe it.) Once that locked in, the “bridge” appeared.

The name, “Catch and Release,” stemmed from what I thought was a very “tight” verse, musically, transitioning into a much more “open” bridge. The verses make me feel “caught,” and the bridges “release” the tension. Maybe you’ll see what I’m talking about, but even if you don’t, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

    Catch and Release

    ©2025 Ned Andrew Solomon

    Recorded at Azalea Studios, Nashville

    Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

    Acoustic & Electric Guitars: Ned Andrew Solomon

    Bass and Percussion: Fett

    Drums and Percussion: Ron Krasinski

    Videography: Bernie Lynette

    Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

When I was initially playing with the main guitar theme, I was accompanied by – inspired by? – the Jimmy Buffettesque, RP Chester feel and rhythm that “anchors,” no pun intended, the melody. This particular RP track had the option of adding an actual – emulated? – wave, moving over the beach in some Margaritaville locale. So, the title, “Wave Lullaby,” seemed to fit the atmosphere perfectly.

But then, when it came time to record it, we decided, inexplicably, to remove the faux wave sound. Maybe we were thinking it was too corny? You’re asking a man with advancing dementia to remember what we were thinking? (Side note: future listeners will hear this same corny faux wave sound on an instrumental I wrote and recorded, the corny-titled, “Liquid Sunrise.”)

There’s a conversation between artist and videographer at the end of the video, where they consider how short the song is. It’s pretty humorous, and completely unstaged. Here’s the best part: the song was about 30 seconds shorter before Fett suggested we repeat two sections! It was barely a ditty! Hmm…”Wave Ditty?”

Wave Lullaby

    ©2025 Ned Andrew Solomon

    Recorded at Azalea Studios, Nashville

    Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

    Acoustic & Electric Guitars: Ned Andrew Solomon

    Bass: Fett

    Drums: RP Chester

    Videography & Commentary: Bernie Lynette

    Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

When I first brought this song to Fett near the end of 2025, he told me, “I could never play that song.” I suppose it has a fairly complex finger-picking pattern that I play with a pick, but it wasn’t complex to me, because I had been using this technique for about 60 years. It was 2nd nature to me, automatic, muscle memory stuff. But ask me to break it down, or teach it to someone else, and I’m lost. I used to joke that I had to come up with my own originals, because it was too hard to learn someone else’s!

Of course with anything that you’re passionate about and have spent years practicing, some things come easily; they’re in your wheelhouse. There are countless things that Fett does behind his magical sound board where I’ve said the exact same thing: “I could never do that.” I’m in awe of drummers, but I cannot coordinate more than one limb beating at a time.

Winter Waltz is a folk song with classical leanings, buoyed by Ron de la Vega’s gorgeous cello part. I heard Ron’s cello on this the minute I completed writing the song. Fett’s lovely bass part establishes the groove, with some very subtle percussion for an additional flavor.

I have tried my whole musical life to not repeat myself. I probably could have written a hundred more songs if I didn’t make an extra effort to change things up, try new rhythms, explore unique chord progressions. “Winter Waltz” is as different as they come.

    Winter Waltz

    ©2025 Ned Andrew Solomon

    Recorded at Azalea Studios, Nashville

    Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

    Acoustic Guitars: Ned Andrew Solomon

    Bass & Percussion: Fett

    Cello: Ron De La Vega

    Videography: Bernie Lynette

    Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

It may come as a surprise to some that my greatest musical influence is, and always has been, Joni Mitchell. I have deeply steeped myself in her compositions and recordings since I was 14, and I have owned or listened to all her albums (19 studio albums, plus live albums, and compilations).

When many people think about Joni Mitchell, they’re familiar with her first two groundbreaking releases A Song to a Seagull and Clouds – both beautiful, folk albums – or her wonderful radio hits, like “You Turn Me On, I’m a Radio,” “Help Me,” or “Big Yellow Taxi,” to name a few. Those who have followed her music throughout her career recognize her jazzy and jazz years – accompanied by stellar instrumentalists from both coasts, and even a short stint with techno pop, produced by one of her biggest lifetime fans, Thomas Dolby. There’s a reason she was able to attract long-time collaborators, like Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorious, Wayne Shorter, Larry Klein, Tom Scott and the L.A. Express, and why the often-ornery Charles Mingus worked with her to put lyrics and vocals to some of his challenging compositions.

Besides giving me a lifetime of incredible music listening, Joni Mitchell has heavily influenced me in four distinct ways: my rhythmic and sometimes percussive guitar style; her lyrics and lyrical structure; her vocal phrasing; and her unusual chord voicings. So, in light of her many contributions to my entire original catalogue, I wrote this song for her. It may not sound like Joni Mitchell to some listeners, but believe me, she’s in there. Thank you for that, Joni.

Thank You, Joni

Music Copyright 2025, Ned Andrew Solomon

Recorded at Azalea Studios, Nashville

Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

Acoustic Guitars: Ned Andrew Solomon Bass: Fett

Piano: Dave Hoffner

Cello: Ron De La Vega

Drums: R.P. Chester

Videography: Bernie Lynette

Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

Reasons Why has been around for a while now. When our oldest two daughters were born, and then adopted into our family, I used to sing this song, acapella, to both girls when they were babies and then infants. We would sway slowly back and forth on a bench swing in the backyard of a house we were renting in Nashville. As a sleep-deprived new parent, the goal was to charm the girls into sleep, before I got there myself.

But that wasn’t what inspired me to write this song, given the chronology of events. I wrote this song for Gina, about twenty years before I met her. It constantly amazes me how so many of the songs I wrote, pre-Gina, have wound up telling our exact story. (That very same Gina sings beautiful harmonies on this track.) She and I have been twin flames since time immemorial, it seems.

I also dedicate this song to a long list of wonderful people, living and dead, who inhabited my life for some reason that I wasn’t privy too. I am eternally grateful to all of them.

Some of you may recognize this song from my First CD, A Step Along the Way. A couple of years back we added a gorgeous cello part by Nashville session player extraordinaire, Ron De La Vega. As with all things, there was a reason why Fett suggested Ron DLV for this session. It would wind up being the first one of many majestic Ron Legacy Music Project contributions.   

Reasons Why

Music and Lyrics Copyright 2012, Ned Andrew Solomon

Recorded at: Azalea Studio, Nashville, TN

Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

Acoustic Guitars & Vocals: Ned Andrew Solomon

Cello: Ron de la Vega

Harmony Vocals: Gina Lynette

Videography: Bernie Lynette

Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

Verse 1:

There are reasons why

There are always reasons why

Why we do what we do

Verse 2:

When they first appear

It may not be clear to you

Why we do what we do, but

Chorus:

There are no accidents

God thinks things through

That’s how I met you

Verse 3:

There are reasons why

There are always reasons why

Though they’re hard to explain

Verse 4:

Like a cloudless sky

And a sudden summer rain

We needed that rain, cuz

Chorus:

There are no accidents

God thinks things through

That’s how I met you

Instrumental interlude

Bridge:

I live my life in moments

Day by day

That’s where I was

When you were sent my way

Verse 1 repeats:

There are reasons why

There are always reasons why

Why we do what we do

Verse 2 repeats:

When they first appear

It may not seem clear

Why we do what we do, but

Chorus:

There are no accidents

God thinks things through – well, yes, He does

There are no accidents

God thinks things through

That’s how I met you

That’s how I met you

Fall Samba is one of the earliest – maybe even the second? – songs I composed after I relearned to play guitar in 2023. I’m assuming it was autumn when I wrote it. (That’s one of the things about my particular dementia characteristics: the passage of time has become very blurry. Gina bought me a clock that shows the day of the week, the time, and the date in huge numbers and letters, and this is extremely helpful for navigating through a single day, but a day ago could seem like a week ago, and vice versa. Retirement with its many less demands contributes to time fuzziness, too.)  

The non-lyric vocals toward the end of the song came about much later in the creation process. I kept hearing it whenever I played the strictly instrumental version, so I tried my best to replicate what I was hearing, with some echo-magic from Fett.

Like several of the songs written in this latter phase of my life, Fall Samba has a soulful, Latin beat, which I’ve said before harks back to my love of the old song, “Mixed-Up Shook-Up Girl,” as performed by Willy (Mink) DeVille. I can’t help it. It’s in my blood. So please feel free to do your best moves with my music in the background; it was entirely intentional.

Gratefully,

Ned Andrew

Fall Samba

Music and Lyrics Copyright 2023, Ned Andrew Solomon

Recorded at: Azalea Studio, Nashville, TN

Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

Acoustic & Electric Guitars & Vocals: Ned Andrew Solomon

Bass & Percussion: Fett

Drums: CP Chester

Videography: Bernie Lynette

Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

When I was growing up in Harrison, New York, we lived about a mile from the train station. I didn’t sleep well as a kid, anxious about all sorts of things. But nothing calmed my anxiety, at least temporarily, like the quiet night-time sound of the train passing through. I have always considered trains to be these soothing, but powerful marvels of technology.

In 1985 I went to see an intense action movie called Runaway Train. After the engineer has a heart attack, the train barrels down the track at faster and faster speeds.

These two memories infused this instrumental, “Train Time.” Once the song kicks off it’s kinda relentless, especially with Ron Krasinski’s almost-insane drumming, and Fett’s propulsive bass part. When I was writing songs in my 20s and early 30s I wrote several rhythmically driving, just-this-side-of-going-off-the-tracks songs, like “Day of Rest” and “A Step Along the Way,” which some of you may be familiar with from my first CD. But that kind of song hasn’t flowed from wherever, into my brain, and then into my fingers, in a very long time. It was a welcome surprise for me, and I hope you enjoy it too.

Thanks for listening.     

Ned Andrew

Train Time

Music and Lyrics Copyright 2025, Ned Andrew Solomon

Recorded at: Azalea Studio, Nashville, TN

Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

Acoustic & Electric Guitars: Ned Andrew Solomon

Bass & Percussion: Fett

Drums: Ron Krasinski

Videography: Bernie Lynette

Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

“Give Me a Second Chance” fell into my lap one afternoon; not fully gelled, but close. I find this song interesting, to me, because it begins with a thematic lead section that reappears twice more in the song, but has no rhythmic, chordal playing under it. I think it works; you’ll have to judge for yourself!

If you pick up an album by Stars of the Lid (a personal favorite!), or many other exclusively instrumental acts, you might get the impression that the performers pulled their song titles out of thin air/left field/their tuchus. Here are a few examples: “Dust Breeding,” “Gasfarming;” “The Mouthchew,” – all beautiful songs but definitely some out-there titles, that really don’t represent, to me, the tone or feeling of the song.

Naming instrumentals can be challenging, especially when you’ve recorded an entire album of them. Sometimes for me it’s based on an emotion provoked by the melody, or a recognition of when or where it was originally created, or maybe the driving tempo of the piece. (See: “Train Time, a future LMP release.) For most of my instrumentals I grab the first fully-formed (a judgement call for sure) title that enters my psyche while playing it. In this case, the title, “Give Me a Second Chance,” showed up loud, and quick, and clear. As the song progressed, it absolutely took on a “pleading” quality; you can (I can?) almost hear the husband or wife (substitute any gender or marital status) saying, “Oh, c’mon, Baby. I’ll do better next time!”

Thank you for reading this lengthy explanation. As long as you listen all the way through, click “like” or “subscribe,” or share this video with your own communities, you can call these songs whatever you like.

Give Me a Second Chance

Music and Lyrics Copyright 2024, Ned Andrew Solomon

Recorded at: Azalea Studio, Nashville, TN

Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

Acoustic & Electric Guitars: Ned Andrew Solomon

Bass, Organ, & Keyboard: Fett

Drums: RP Chester

Videography: Bernie Lynette

Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

“A Thing That Lasts” came together in a very unusual way. I was having some funky fun, playing around with a Lenny Kravitz- inspired rhythm. Once I established a “verse” and a “chorus” (I put these terms in quotation marks because having verses and choruses in my instrumental compositions is usually only obvious to Fett and I), four lyric lines appeared from left field. I wasn’t planning on writing a song with lyrics, and I certainly hadn’t considered writing a chorus about doing something meaningful with your time. As often happens, a concept that surfaced months, and even years ago, suddenly has relevance in my current situation.

I was also inspired by (ok, maybe I stole?) the guitar line in Tom Cochrane’s “Life is a Highway,” a favorite song – and songwriter.

Upon hearing my song, a friend of mine made an interesting observation: it is not essential to make something that lasts, as in for eternity. I couldn’t agree more! I was trying to convey the importance of doing meaningful work. I had my adult children in mind, and people who chase money and material things, and ultimately myself as I concentrate on important things in my remaining days on this earthly plain. The past isn’t worth perseverating over, and the future is completely out of our hands. Being present, in the present, is where I want to spend my time.     

I hope this resonates with you.

Gratefully,

Ned Andrew

A Thing That Lasts

Music and Lyrics Copyright 2024, Ned Andrew Solomon

Recorded at: Azalea Studio, Nashville, TN

Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

Acoustic, Electric Guitars, & Vocals: Ned Andrew Solomon

Bass & Keyboard: Fett

Drums: Ron Krasinski

Videography: Bernie Lynette

Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette

Lyrics:

Why should you think about the future?

Your head is buried in the past

There ain’t no time like the present

To make a thing that lasts

To make a thing that lasts

To make a thing that lasts

To make a thing that lasts

Why should you think about the future?

You’re so embedded in the past

There ain’t no time like the present

To make a thing that lasts

To make a thing that lasts

To make a thing that lasts

To make a thing that lasts

Some of you might think the “Something Old” in the song title refers to me, or maybe even you! But, although that might be true, it actually has a different, very logical meaning. The “something old” refers to a riff that I have been fooling around with since my 20s. The “something new” part refers to all the other stuff I threw in to make this song longer than 36 seconds. I am always surprised when a riff or melody line finds its soulmate after such a long period of time! And, because this song started its creative journey four decades ago, it is one of my proudest accomplishments. In a similar vein to the previously released Now You Tell Me, it has a jazzy feel – and since I am not really a jazz player (certainly not an in-the-moment improviser), “jazzy feel” is as close as I can get. I do, however, have a special place in my heart for the recording, compositions, and performances of Pat Metheny, so I’m certain his influence has touched this one, too. (I also hear a hint of the great Vince Guaraldi here too, because who doesn’t love the Peanuts gang!)

The song also represents my slow but steady evolution as someone who creates and then lays down a lead part. For most of my life I have told people, “I am not a lead player. I am a rhythm guitarist.” Now, trying to catch up all these years later, I continually try to stretch myself to see if I can improve. The recorded result represents hours upon hours of practicing a handful of bars over and over again. Part of it is to convert the part into muscle memory; part of it is to simply help me remember!

I feel blessed that this recording features the amazing Dave Hoffner on piano, and the always-innovative Fett on bass, adding on to his many talents in the engineering, mixing, and producing departments. The remaining layers of acoustic and electric guitars are my contribution.

I hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to give me your impressions, and if you really like it, maybe consider “sharing it” so I can build on my subscriber list?

Thank you!

Ned Andrew

Something Old, Something New

Music Copyright 2024, Ned Andrew Solomon

Recorded at: Azalea Studio, Nashville, TN

Recording, Engineering, & Production: Fett

Acoustic & Electric Guitars: Ned Andrew Solomon

Bass & Percussion: Fett

Piano: Dave Hoffner

Drums: RP Chester

Videography: Bernie Lynette

Executive & Video Production: Gina Lynette