Nature's Way

My plan for the album was to do 5 cover songs that I played live at the Whisky A Go-Go and 5 songs that I wrote myself. Normally I won't cover bands that I hold sacred and too complex like Spirit. My original song line-up did not include Nature's Way, instead I was going to do Battle of Evermore by Led Zeppelin as I always had favorable audiences for it. I took it out to California to have Johnny Echols play on it as I thought a cool lead guitar would be amazing over it. When I cover a song for an album I listen to the original over and over and was having a hell of a time getting a proper backing track for Johnny. Apparently the dozen or so times I played it at the Whisky was not even close to the original with my "Laurie" chords added in. So I thought maybe Johnny could just play along to that actual record then I could recreate all the other parts. Upon further investigation - the Mandolin part, the main and only real instrumental part on the original recording goes in and out of tune. Johnny came up with some cool licks like he always does over anything no matter how challenging. This one however when I brought it back home to mix and recreate parts just didn't work for me, so I bagged the track all together. So now I need another song that I played live at the Whisky and thought of Nature's Way, but really didn't want to do it because I was scared. Scared I would really suck, also so many people have covered it - including Firefall with Mark Andes! How could I ever try to do it? The song ended up being way more complex and nuanced than any version I ever tried to play when going back to Spirit's original recording - a real testiment to the progressive songwriting of Randy California. The harmonies alone ended up being the hardest ones I've ever done in my life, trying to capture both the vibe and complexity. I worked harder on this song than anything else in my life, I spent close to a month everyday reworking parts. Even after all that time I still wasn't sure - as who could ever compare to the original. I added violin and harp because there's no way I could capture the cool lead of Randy's - I don't have the chops for that. Anyway, I cover songs because I love them not that I think I'm great or anything. And I LOVE THIS SONG - and of course the legendary album it comes from! That album is one of the few albums where every single song is fantastic! Nature's Way remains timeless, like it was written for today. Thank you Randy California! I am playing all the instruments on this version. I also share a birthday with drummer Ed Cassidy. Thanks also to the radio stations playing this cover, WCNI FM in New London, CT; Woody Radio; Deep Nuggets Radio & KSSU in Sacramento, CA.