Still Alive — With New Tunes

Aloha!

I’ve been away for a while. Not actually away — but otherwise occupied. Just finished a new novel, which I’m now shopping to agents (if you happen to be an agent, get in touch: Dshifl@aol.com). The long-suffering Peach and I also moved my parents in nine months ago; my dad’s doing hospice at the house. He’s hanging in there.

I plan to resume writing Alive Without Permission this spring, so stay tuned. Meantime, I have a new collection of songs, called “A Simple Thing.” The songs are sung by Buttafly Vazquez, who had a vocal scholarship to Julliard at age 15 and went to the Professional Performing Arts high school in New York with Alicia Keys.

How did I meet her? In a bar in Richmond, Virginia. Which is a reminder to visit bars as often as possible.

The songs include “My Beautiful Friend,” a jazz ballad featured by the New York Times in a standing feature on the Great Depression; “A Simple Thing,” a majestic rumination on enduring love;  “Autumn Love,” a latin-flavored meditation on romantic dissolution, and “Darlin’ — a murder/suicide song you can dance to.  If you’re looking for a song about patching up a shaky romance, there’s “Somehow,” which starts out grim but develops a smile halfway through. Here’s the musician lineup: Buffafly Vazquez, vocals; Matt Boon, bass; Jim Mohr, mandolin; Giustino Riccio, percussion; Jonathan Greenberg, trumpet and flugelhorn; Dave Shiflett, guitar. I wrote all the music. CD cover design, Evan Davies; technical support, John Girimont.

In an unprecedented move, I’m going to try to recoup the recording costs for the project. You can listen to the songs at my website — www.daveshiflett.com — and if you’re interested in downloading them the five-song collection is $4.99 (the price of two pints of quality beer at Joe’s Inn 3-6 weekdays, or one pint at other times) while singles are $.99.

Many thanks for your support and hope you like the Buttafly songs.