Spring - 2016 On A Journey, Creation of the song

The song "On A Journey" started in 1979. I was studying music and art at Western Washington University, in Bellingham Washington. I wrote the melody and lyrics to the song, and then brought them to a friend and pianist Carl Amberson, who was also studying music at Western. Carl helped with the chord changes of the original version. In my last quarter at Western, with the late Denny Reynolds on bass and vocals, his brother Gregg Reynolds on vocals trumpet and acoustic guitar and myself on sax and harmonica started a band called Aurora. Gary Herman played drums and Jamie Pullar (Dickie Betts, Willie Nelson) sang and played guitar. The band ended up having several different incarnations. I toured with Aurora for two years in the Northwestern US and Western Canada.

While "On A Journey", after over thirty years of countless life changing experiences, last year in the spring, I started putting together a new band in the Northwest with my brother Jerry Cooper on drums and Jamie Pullar on guitar and vocals Full circle Jamie and I finished writing the song, in June of 2015, during the course of practicing for a gig at Simiane Cellars in Ukiah California. My northern California band recorded the basic tracks at John Simon's studio, j. Dog Studio (David Sanborn, Spirogyra, Little Richard) in Sebastopol, which is about two hours north of San Francisco. John also played keyboards on the song. Steve Valverde played bass, (Quicksilver, Starship), my brother Jerry played drums, Jamie played guitar and sang. I directed and played harmonica on the composition.

After listening to the song for a couple of months I decided to give it some final touches, choosing Ira Ingber (Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Frank Sinatra) to play acoustic guitars and mix the song In his LA recording studio. My good-friend and trumpet player Jimmy Hale, a southern gentleman from Georgia, sang on the final version of the song, capturing the vocal range and sense of feeling I was striving to achieve.

If one were to ask me, what the song "On a Journey" means to you?
(My response), Every day is a journey and the people we know and love are what helps us to define ourselves. My ultimate goal would be that the song might allow the listener to remember the importance of our friends and family and as sung in the song that "we must live life day by day".

Brian Hanish: Photos and one sheet layout and disc cover.
Jack Mijdecki: Guitar, Lead sheets and LA Musical Director.

Special Thanks: Paula Samonte, Simaine Cellars, John Beatty,
Ed Reinhart " The boggie-woggie man," Steve and Cindy Valverde, Marcy Stafsky,
Roger Lifeset, Scott O'Brien, Steve Boynton, Terry Nelson and Mike Phillips.

© (p) 1979/2016 Cooper Sound Waves Music (ASCAP)
All Rights Reserved: for information contact: CooperSoundWaves.com