Less than a year after the release of his critically-acclaimed breakthrough album Countin’ The Miles, Jesse Daniel is back as Son of the San Lorenzo. Today, the rising singer/songwriter announced that his fifth studio album will be released on June 6 via Lightning Rod Records, featuring a collaboration with Charles Wesley Godwin and instrumentation from Charlie McCoy, Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist Peter Keys and SteelDrivers banjo player Richard Bailey. Daniel also released the album’s first single “My Time Is Gonna Come,” a hopeful and soulful California-inspired track. It finds Daniel recounting the brightest and darkest chapters of his life – imbuing his version of the Bakersfield sound with the cosmic country and Southern rock he grew up on.
Son of San Lorenzo is now available for pre-order, including standard forest green vinyl and a deluxe version autographed and pressed on redwood burl vinyl, available exclusively through Bandcamp and Jesse Daniel’s website.
About the new single, Jesse Daniel explains: “When I was writing this song, I thought a lot about my life. It has been a pretty incredible journey and as I sat there, I thought back on all the work it’s taken to get to the point I’m at. All the road behind me and the road ahead. In the past, I’d anguish over the outcome or success of what I was doing, and it often took the love out of it for me. This song is essentially a realization that music, art and life are more about the journey than they are the destination. It is a confident letter to myself that with this newfound mindset, the best of life has just begun.”
Recorded live to tape at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, the 11-song collection offers up a candid accounting of Daniel’s remarkable journey, from his early years hitchhiking in the shadow of the Santa Cruz Mountains to his tumultuous adolescence and battles with addiction, to the people, and music, that ultimately saved his life. Taking shape while he was on the road last year, the album expands on his sound in a way that wears its influences on its sleeve, embracing the past and keeping its gaze fixed firmly on the future both sonically and thematically. It’s only fitting for an album about his life to incorporate his own personal soundtrack from the California country of the Eagles and the Flying Burrito Brothers to classic rock like Led Zeppelin and the Allman Brothers.
“I wrote, arranged and produced this record myself. I also took on much of the sonic direction, including percussion, rhythm and lead guitar, harmonies and more, which I think is a really important piece of the puzzle given how personal these songs are. I felt like I was finally ready to stop running and face things head on with this record,” Daniel says. “I felt like I’d matured enough to go deeper than I ever had before, to try and understand how I get here and where I’m headed.”
Last year marked a turning point for Daniel’s career, beginning with creating the theme song to comedian Dusty Slay’s Netflix special Workin’ Man that was released in January. He then released his critically-acclaimed album ˆ which garnered praise from Billboard, Texas Monthly, Cowboys & Indians, Bandcamp, BrooklynVegan, Whiskey Riff, No Depression, Holler and many more. The album went on to debut in the top 30 on the Americana Radio Chart and led to a tour supporting Godwin. To close out the year, he released a duo of collaborative singles with Benjamin Tod which was followed by a co-headline tour.
“I’m the Son of the San Lorenzo, and that story needed to be told,” he reflects, “but once it’s been told, it’s time to move on and tell the next story. Then, do it again. Repeat. Until the end.”
An autographed version will be available at BandCamp.
Jesse Talks About the Songs on the Album
1. Child Is Born:
“I chose ‘Child Is Born’ as the first song on this album for a reason. Birth is symbolic for beginning in both the natural and spiritual realm. This song is about the importance of healing your soul in order to break old patterns that don’t serve the betterment of future generations.”
2. Son of the San Lorenzo:
“Son of the San Lorenzo” is a song about my life. It’s about growing up in a small mountain town in the San Lorenzo Valley and the winding road that led me away from those simpler days of childhood. It covers my struggle and victory over addiction, and the insatiable appetite I had for adventure, which drove me to leave my home in pursuit of a career as a singer-songwriter. Those mountains shaped who I am as an artist and they will always be home in my heart.”
3. He:
“In my adolescence, I was a juvenile delinquent. Labeled a ‘habitual truant’ by my school, I was off the rails and aimless much of the time. Nobody knew what to do with me, whether my parents, school or the local police. I’d hitchhike up and down our main road, going from one small town to the next in search of some way to mask what was going on inside. In hindsight, I can see now that what I really needed was guidance… so this song is essentially about providing my younger self with that guidance if I were able to go back in time to do so.”
4. The Ballad Of Love Creek:
“The house that I grew up in was up a steep mountainside in the redwood forest. Down the canyon a ways, a stream called “Love Creek” ran behind our home. Its history dates back to the 1850’s, when a California Ranger named Harry Love purchased much of the land touching the water, with the bounty he had earned by taking the head of notorious outlaw Joaquín Murrieta. It was also the site of the state’s deadliest landslide, as well as a grisly murder. As a kid, I’d spend entire days playing in that creek and exploring the rubble of the abandoned homes from the slide of ‘82. I wrote this song in the tradition of a classic murder ballad – partly truth and partly fiction… but there is a heavy spiritual energy in that place and I always felt like I was in the presence of it.”
5. One’s Too Many (And A Thousand Ain’t Enough):
“‘One’s Too Many’ is written from the perspective of someone who has been through the ringer of addiction and has come out the other side with a hard-earned wisdom. This person is sharing their experience with someone who is still in its grips, offering a hand out of the suffering. It covers a lot of the elements of recovery, and reveals the pitfalls that await us should we choose the dark side instead.”
6. Jodi:
“To me, love songs are the hardest songs to write. It takes raw honesty and unabashedness to bare your soul in that way. If the love is not sincere, it has a way of showing. “Jodi” is my letter to the woman who has been by my side through it all, in the most honest and sincere display I could create.”
7. Mountain Home:
“This is a reminiscing, or romanticizing, of the past. How you can go home, but you can never truly go back to recreate the past. All we are left to do is bear the imprint of those times in their reflection on our daily lives. To savor the bittersweet memories and move ahead.”
8. Time Well Spent For A Man:
“This song was written by Northern California songwriter Nick Foster. It is an ode to father time. To me, it’s also about focusing on the meaningful things in life. On our deathbed, we’ll remember raising our children, our spouses kiss, time spent doing what we loved, as opposed to how many hours we logged in the office etc. I loved the message of this song and felt compelled to record it. Charles Wesley Godwin came to mind with the subject matter… he’s a family man and an incredible songwriter himself. His vocals really helped add to the depth of the whole thing.”
9. Crankster:
“The ‘Crankster Gangster’ is a well known archetype, at least on the west coast. Shaved head, handlebar mustache, scarred up old prison tattoos… these are all hallmarks. A lot of the people I ran around with in my addiction were older prison cats like this, so this song is an observation about what that lifestyle can do to a person. Methamphetamine will make you go nowhere, but you’ll get there fast.”
10. My Time Is Gonna Come:
“When I was writing this song, I thought a lot about my life. It has been a pretty incredible journey and as I sat there, I thought back on all the work it’s taken to get to the point I’m at. All the road behind me and the road ahead. In the past, I’d anguish over the outcome or success of what I was doing, and it often took the love out of it for me. This song is essentially a realization that music, art and life are more about the journey than they are the destination. It is a confident letter to myself that with this newfound mindset, the best of life has just begun.
11. The End:
“‘I read Rick Ruben’s ‘The Creative Act’ around the time I wrote this song, it really made a big impact on me. One of the things I liked most about it was the idea that we should create, regardless of what the outcome might be. To create for the sake of creation. To tell the story that needs to be told. This was the focus of this song and it really is a perfect way to close out this album. I am the “Son of the San Lorenzo” and his story needed to be told… but once it has been told, it is time to move on and tell another story. Then, do it again. Repeat. Until the end.”