ALBUM :: TIME WILL TELL
“Bold, original songs that would sound good on
any rotation of FM-quality hits.”
- GH Music Review
This all-original, 14-song album was released independently by Sean Lewis in October 2023. With notable influences of John Mayer, Jack Johnson, James Taylor and Tom Petty, the 14 tracks span some thirty overall years of writing.
The six-panel CD package is available at live shows, while the full album or individual songs are available on-line via Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora and Amazon Music. See below for more about the album story.
Complete Time Will Tell
song lyrics available here.
ALBUM STORY
Here's the quick rundown on how and why Time Will Tell came to be.
When you play guitar for fifty years, you're bound to come up with ideas of your own. Snippets of melodies, chord progressions; lyric sparks and phrases, maybe even complete verses; interesting rhythms and more. They start to accumulate in your head... then on pages and even scraps of paper... then also maybe on various types of recording media -- cassettes, thumbdrives, CDs, computers and phones. The big question, of course, is what to do with those ideas.
Well, for far, far too long, I did very little.
In December of 2022, anticipating the upcoming completion of my 64th trip around the sun, I realized that, after all these years, I had accumulated a pretty extensive library of ideas over the many years -- some of them seeming to be worthy of further development. Should I finally, actually, truly, do something with them? Well, the proverbial stars finally aligned; the will to actually create something of my own overtook all the procrastination, laziness and negative thoughts, and I decided to begin working on a recording project that would, at the very least, place a star of my own -- however faint and tiny -- in the vast galaxy of original recorded music.
One factor in this reversal of mindset had to do with The Beatles and their song When I'm Sixty-Four. Knowing that I'd be turning 64 in August of 2023, and having always been a huge Beatles fan, I reflected on all the past milestones I'd passed with very little musical creativity to show for it (turning 40... then 50... then... well, you see the pattern). That song and that title has lingered in the back of my mind for some time. It was part of the magic that permanently etched itself into my young mind when I first heard the Sgt. Pepper album -- an exact moment I still vividly remember. Now, it just felt like something big should happen in my life "when I'm sixty-four." That fast-approaching number was like a constant reminder to wait no more -- to stop the procrastination and get down to it. (I'll also add that the album title and title song, Time Will Tell, is a bit of a nod to the more than thirty-year fermentation period of original material of which this album is comprised.)
I'd like to think that this musical effort would still have happened without the spark of When I'm Sixty-Four (thank god it wasn't called When I'm Eighty-Four). I'd also like to have found the wherewithal to have taken this step 20 or 30 years ago. But as 'they' often say, It Is What It Is. I'm quite glad I finally made it happen -- and of course, I'm hoping anyone who hears it finds at least a few moments of something they enjoy in it.
Thanks for listening.
– Sean
ACCOMPLICES
Time Will Tell wouldn't have happened without the input, commitment and work of engineer/producer Jeff Foray of Surf Shack Studio, percussionist extraordinaire Marc Montagnino and mastering engineer Evan Schiller of Seattle's zulusound.
I met Jeff some years ago when I played bass on a mutual friend's recordings at Jeff's Surf Shack studio. We later worked on three of my original songs -- Whisper Something, A Million Miles Away and Blue Sky Pie -- that we recorded and produced in 2014 (see the Songs page for more info on those). Jeff's a fine performing jazz guitarist in his own right, but he's also an admitted audio nerd -- definitely the kind of guy you want on the team. He contributed in many ways to the fine-tunings of this effort, and his encouragement and support on this project, and regard for his craft, are very much appreciated. Thank you, Jeff.
I tracked Marc down through a mutual friend and was elated when he agreed to be a part of this project. He has to be one of the busiest drummers in the PNW, not only being one of the Seattle area's top percussion instructors, but also playing and singing in (at latest count) six or seven outstanding and very much in-demand tribute bands (one of which has him out front, doing all the lead vocals). It was great to have him involved in this project. Thank you, Marc.
I was also really happy to work with multi-talented old friend and co-worker Evan Schiller of Seattle's zulusound. Evan's an accomplished and extremely talented recording/mix engineer, musician, soundtrack composer, mastering engineer and producer, and I was quite fortunate to have him handle the mastering of this album. Thank-you, Evan.
Again, thank-you, guys. It was great to work with you all on this project.
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