THEA: Some of you may be familiar with the incredible rock and soul vocalist/bassist Glenn Hughes; I have long regarded his as one of the greatest voices of our time. He’s as fantastic a soul singer as he is a rock singer (take a listen to his cover of “I Was Made To Love Her” with Stevie Salas).

We had the pleasure of meeting him at one of his shows, and it was my privilege to be able to tell him that I thought so. So I crossed that off my bucket list.

Glenn, like a great many people, has struggled to overcome addiction. In his case, the struggle was quite public.

This isn’t his story, but he is the person who inspired us to write the song.

One of our favorite Glenn Hughes songs is called “Talk About It” (“I don’t want to talk about it” is the hook), so I suggested to Chad that we write the song about someone who is at his breaking point, and wants to talk about it…to God. He doesn’t know if he can change, but he just wants to talk about it. He knows he needs God, and he finds himself ready to take his first, small step.

I suggested the hook and title.

As usual, Chad took the topic and ran with it. What you’re hearing here is about 75% lyrics he wrote before I made my changes and suggestions.

This song was going to be done in a rock style, until we did it in a rock style. We instantly knew it wasn’t working, so I asked Chad to try it as a Take Six (or Brian McKnight)-style ballad. And just as quickly as we knew when it wasn’t working, we knew that this was.

THEA: My older brother Terry, to whom I was very close, passed away in 2023. This is just a personal story (written mostly by Chad) about him. He had met a young woman at a wedding when he was working on his doctorate at the University of Iowa; she was the love of his life, and as she was packing in preparation to move to Iowa City from her home in New York state to be with him, she suffered a seizure that claimed her life.

He was of course devastated. I was living in Seattle at the time, and I can still remember his call, the exact words he said to me.

I delivered the eulogy at his funeral and I mentioned that he was finally with her.

We have hidden little references to my brother in a few songs: In Another Song or Two, on the last hook, we changed “that old guitar” to “this old guitar”—because he sang the John Denver song of that name so beautifully; in Open Line Friday Night, the trucker asks the DJ to play “Country Roads” so he can sing along - because all the attendees at Terry’s funeral joined me outside afterwards to sing it as we surrounded the vehicle that carried him.

It’s a bit out of our usual zone but…that’s the story behind it.

Chad?

CHAD: I loved your brother. It was an honor to tell the story.