My fourth album entitled "Letting Go" was recorded entirely in Cleveland, Ohio at Suma Recording Studio. I had rented an A frame style cottage that sat on a cliff overlooking the Grand River. The cottage was owned by Suma and was located on the property within walking distance to the recording studio itself. It was there that I wrote the most heartfelt and emotional songs that I had written to date. "Letting Go" was my first theme album. All of the songs related in one way or another to one central theme which was the suicide of my best friend, Bernie. I had written all of the material for this album as a way of dealing with that tragedy. For this project I handpicked Cleveland's finest musicians and had my old friend, Christopher Paul, come up from Nashville to join us on acoustic guitar for the session. The musicians were as follows: Acoustic and Electric Guitar - Christopher Paul, Frankie Starr, Electric Bass - Eddie Cash, Paul Hamann, Drums - John Piascik, Piano and Organ - Greg Hurd, Strings - Tom Ameen, Mandolin - Bill Lestock. The background vocals were Jenifer Comai, Tonja Schleichen, C.C. Jordan, J.T. Hairston, Carla Pippens, Alfreda Scott, Donna Pickard and myself. There are a couple songs on this album that are particularly powerful and still very emotional for me to hear to this day. The first being "Release Me" which was a poem written by my late friend that I turned in to a song for the album. Another one is "Knowing That You're Gone", a song that truly captures the total emptiness and despair I felt after losing Bernie in such a tragic way. One of the last songs I chose for the album was the song "Bernie". I had written it for him years earlier when he was in the Army and stationed in Germany. He told me how he and his buddies would sit around in the barracks and play that song over and over while drinking German beer. I found a demo tape of that recording in a suitcase filled with Bernie's personal belongings after he had passed away. I thought that it was only fitting that we include it on the album. As difficult as this album was to record at the time. I truly believe it started the healing process that followed. Ironically, it would be nearly two decades before I would record another album. The day that my friend Bernie died was in many ways the day the music died for me.
