Ready to Fly. Written by Greg Beattie. Performed by Calaveras, an SF Bay Area acoustic trio (the writer, his wife Victoria Blythe and guitarist Dave Decker), with session players Darol Anger, Mike Marshall and Bennie Rietveld. Writer's Comments: Ready to Fly was inspired by a Bread and Roses benefit concert our band Calaveras performed at a nonambulatory senior facility in Mill Valley California. Afterwards, we spoke to several members of the audience. They told us the music brought back memories—of dancing at the Avalon ballroom, of loved ones they had lost, or just of feeling young and alive. Knowing that they were nearing the ends of their lives and would probably never leave the facility, their stories, smiles and tears made a profound impact on me. A couple of weeks later I was thinking of them, and the song nearly poured out of my guitar and onto the page—essentially finished in half an hour. It was as much a gift to me from them as a work of my own.
Greg Beattie has been writing songs since age 12, when he got his first guitar, a $25 Sears Silvertone. He started out playing at coffee houses in Stockton California during college and kept writing songs, culiminating in forming the band Calaveras with his wife Vickie and their friend and guitarist Dave Decker in 1993. The band plays mainly in the San Francisco Bay Area, but songs from his diverse portfolio have captured the Kerrville New Folk prize, the Napa Valley Emerging Songwriter award, West Coast Songwriter’s Association Song of the Year honors and have appeared in TV and movies. In 2005, he won the West Coast Songwriters’ Song Contest in three categories, including the Grand Prize. He writes in any style, including folk, country, jazz, rock, gospel and occasionally just plain bizarre. Between gigs, he graduated from Harvard Law School and is now a corporate attorney helping private technology companies in Silicon Valley.
An upbeat, light-hearted, carribean-tinged romp through Boston in search of the elusive Club Paradise. Male vocal over acoustic conga pop with wild percussion including egg beaters and pots and pans. Tropical Music, Conga
An old English love song about a young man seduced by the beauty of a worldly woman--and the summer roses in her hair. Female Vocal, European Music, English Music
