MP3 Guyton Maurice - 20 Questions

Unbridled honesty,wicked wit, soulfulness & sexiness create a complex, satisfying song cycle about loves lost, found, chipping apart & unexpectedly fusing together.

10 MP3 Songs
POP: Piano, ROCK: Acoustic



Details:
For the cover shoot of his new album, Atlanta singer-songwriter Guyton Maurice and friends lugged an actual piano out into the wilderness on a bone-chilling day. Later, when heâs asked if it wouldnât have been far simpler just to Photoshop the instrument into the image, the pianist looks genuinely perplexed.

Maurice isnât someone who often considers sacrificing authenticity in favor of an easier path.

That same level of purity embodies Mauriceâs new collection of songs on his latest album, â20 Questions.â The ten tunes (and one bonus track) take listeners on a romantic trek thatâs equal parts Tunnel of Love and Love Canal.

The singer uses his four-octave instrument to address more complications of the heart than Dr Phil can get to in a week.

Throughout â20 Questions,â Maurice uses unbridled honesty, wicked wit, soulfulness and sexiness to create a complex, satisfying song cycle about loves lost, found, chipping apart and unexpectedly fusing together.

If you were handed a complimentary CD when you checked out with a new love at the Wal-Mart of romance the last time you fell in love, this would be the soundtrack.

Frustrating, indifferent uncommunicative lovers are analyzed (along with an infectious pop hook) in â20 Questionsâ while âWhere the Wild Horses Doâ sensuously conveys a far cozier coupling on a beach.

On âPossibly,â Steven Mooreâs Spanish guitar and a breezy bossa nova beat all but beg for a top down cruise, cranked at full blast. Lyrically lurking beneath the sunniness, however, is the prickliness of a romance in full bloom.

With the help of Moore, jazz trumpeter Joe Gransden, bassist Neal Starkey, percussionist Jennifer Lowe, violinist LaTanya Peoples and others, Maurice colorfully adds to the piano and voice palette he originally established on his 1999 debut recording, âFallen Angel.â

âIt was important for me to have creative input from musicians I respected,â Maurice explains. âStill, it was a little embarrassing to articulate to Joe what I was looking for on âAlways Always Always.â Finally, he just looked at me and asked, âOh, you want me to sex it up?â and I said, âThatâs it!â â

Like his revealing piano and voice cover of Cherâs âBelieveâ on âFallen Angelâ (who knew there was an actual song beating beneath those studio vocal effects?), Maurice uses his trademark style to interpret a fresh take on U2âs âWith or Without Youâ for â20 Questions.â
After stripping away the dated 1980s production values and slowing down the tempo, Maurice discovered the wistfulness and longing buried beneath.

âI like choosing covers that I can put my own style and twist to,â says Maurice. â âWith or Without Youâ was originally based on guitars. I was fascinated by the idea of rebuilding it with a piano and replacing the electric bass with a bowed stand-up bass. It just puts the song into a different driverâs seat.â

Maurice is cagier when attempting to explain the zany, manic musical merry-go-round that is â10:22 (P.M.).â

â10:22 is a bit of a cartoon in itself. Letâs just say it was inspired by a very intense love affair that was just as animated as the song and it affected me deeply,â he hedges. âAnd yes, some aspects of the song are quite literal. But Iâll leave the details up to the listenerâs imagination!â

Like any engaging game of â20 Questions,â Mauriceâs latest recording leaves listeners with far more tantalizing questions hanging in the air than actually answered.
Just like love itself.

-(best selling) author anonymous