Stop trying to figure it out
It will only bring you down
You know, I used to be the back
porch poet with my book of rhymes
-John Mayer “New Deep”
For as long as he can remember, music was a part of Nathan Veshecco’s life. From his parents exposing him to an eclectic mix of artists such as The Carpenters, The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and U2, to his uncle giving him his first guitar, to his sister’s love of 80s hits, Nathan was constantly surrounded by sound. He always knew he wanted to play music - what he didn’t realize was that the most important thing to him would be the words to the songs.
With the release of his fourth album, Love, With Questions, Veshecco finds himself right where he wants to be. While his earlier releases, Lady, You’re Shady, I Love a Worried Woman, and Alleys, showcased his skill as both a guitarist and a singer, this album puts the spotlight squarely on his writing talent. “Honestly, I feel like I made my first album fourth. Love, With Questions is really the album I wanted to make first, it just took me a little bit of time to get there.”
Veshecco credits his parents with giving him the confidence to make music his career. While playing in high school bands and even hitting the boards in a 10th grade production of “West Side Story,” he first felt like perhaps he should follow in the footsteps of his musical hero, John Mayer, and do some time at Berklee College of Music. While he got accepted there, he didn’t attend, opting instead to record his first record while taking classes at a local community college. Three albums later, Veshecco went to the other Berkeley – University of California at Berkeley, with an eye towards studying political science. But the pull toward his first love proved too great, and Nathan couldn’t deny he was meant to be making music. Leaving school once again to follow his muse, it was his parents who instilled in him the value of not wasting time doing something he wasn’t passionate about. “I’ve got a ticking clock inside of me that I am constantly aware of. I get fidgety when a song or a melody comes into my head and I can’t tend to my song writing because I am paying attention to the ‘real world.’ My parents allowed me, and encouraged me, to devote my time to what I wanted to do, and music was it.”
Heading back into the studio for album four, Nathan’s original plan was to make an immaculately produced soul album ala John Mayer’s Continuum, George Michael’s Faith or Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On. However, that plan required a live band, and while Veshecco has worked with an amazing array of studio musicians, including Bernard “Pretty” Purdie (James Brown, Louis Armstrong, Aretha Franklin, The Rolling Stones) and Wilbur “Bad” Bascomb (James Brown, Jeff Beck), it dawned on him that he could finally make the record he wanted to, acoustically. With the goal of re-producing his live sound at acoustic gigs, Nathan set out to make a stripped down album with heart. While Veshecco has many influences – the previously mentioned John Mayer, Steely Dan and The Beatles to name a few, he was also inspired by love this time around. “I began a new relationship around the same time I started recording. It motivated me to write a new batch of songs, and it clicked that these songs would be rightly served with an acoustic guitar or just an electric guitar. I wanted to explore what I could do with a couple of instruments and a couple of voices instead of a big production. Almost everything you hear on this album is me, but it isn’t meant to be an ego exercise by showcasing myself; it was more about the idea that there didn’t need to be more than me on this album.”
Despite the fine musicianship displayed, Nathan singles out the written material showcased on Love, With Questions as the record’s greatest strength. While he produced the disc, played guitar throughout and sings his heart out on every track, it's the songwriting he's most proud of.
On this CD, Veshecco conveys snapshots of a young man's transition from meeting someone new to falling in love. "I wanted this album’s progression to mirror a new relationship. The second track, and first single, “I’d Die” is that sunny pop song, the last big thing on the album before I get really stripped down acoustically. “I’d Die” is the ‘I’m single and looking to impress you’ track, and then each subsequent song is stripped down, simple and intimate, just like the feelings you have when you’re falling in love.”
Veshecco, always a very personal songwriter, uses his own recent journey down the path of a new romance as the map for Love, With Questions. “The album, to me, is in two parts. The first side is about the worries and uncertainties you have in a relationship, when you don’t know how things - or if things- are going to work out. The track ‘My Toast to You,’ at the midway point, is the moment of confidence, clarity and relief, where you realize that you really want to be with this person. The second side is about knowing that you’re falling in love and that you have become invested in this new relationship.”
From the melancholy “I’d Be Here” to the gorgeous pop melody of “The True Moon Moves You” to the amazing cover of Spring Awakenings’ “The Guilty Ones” with singer Taryn Sprenkle, Nathan Veshecco’s Love, With Questions delivers emotional, smart songwriting backed by gorgeous melodies. While the album opens with a question (“I have a Question”) and ends with a question (“I Still Have Questions,”) that’s not to say that he hasn’t learned a lot about himself in the making of this record. “I think a lot, and I’m always struggling with the lessons of life. From working on this album, I’ve learned to seize the day, to live for the moment. The day we recorded ‘I Still Have Questions,’ I came to the studio not having any plans to record another track. It was a gift from the Muse, and it was a great moment that made me realize something, which is to let the music lead me.”
As the listener, we are thrilled that he has.
NATHAN VESHECCO DISCOGRAPHY:
Lady, You're Shady – July, 2004
I Love A Worried Woman – June, 2006
Alleys – October, 2007
The Love Jerk (iTunes single) – November, 2008
Vocoder (iTunes single) – December, 2008
Love, With Questions – June, 2010