California Golden Age is a classic sassy blues track with vintage qualities and vibrant warmth reminiscent of an era far behind us now. It featured a Sax solo performed and improvised my Mike Purse. Like many songs I write, this piece has a few different meanings coming from very different directions sharing a common but very contrasting set of themes.

Stylistically this piece was inspired by the pop culture vibes of the 60s and 70s in California. Though many will say that era wasn’t anything close to the way the media has portrayed it, the point is… what if it was? What if the past was EXACTLY the way we see it through the lens of popular films and books. What if that smooth, warm vibe you get from seeing an old movie romance scene on the boardwalk at sunset or that scene of everyone having a great time on the beach or walking down Hollywood Boulevard in the middle of a summer day was what it would actually be like every day? Well, life today would certainly be very different as would people. Human nature prevents things from playing out with such ease in reality. But as an art piece, this song’s purpose (in part) is to transport you to such a mellow, carefree, vintage wonderland. In a world like the one we live in today, going to such a place for even just a few minutes (if only in your own mind) might be the most refreshing bit of downtime you’ve had in a while

The second meaning and inspiration behind this song is a slightly darker one. I have always looked up to the people in generations behind me that put every ounce of effort they had into something they were doing, regardless of whether they enjoyed it or not. These were the people that started with nothing and through hard work and determination they still managed to create a comfortable life for themselves years later. These people valued ethics, integrity, honesty and quality above everything else. These were the people that taught me that old saying “if a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right” which I still carry with me. The inspiration for this record is really the emotional ups and downs, the struggles, the hardships and injustices of working in that class of people during that time. Even though I personally have never experienced nor will ever experience many of these things in my lifetime, I draw the vibe of this piece as well as the improvisational groove from talking to these people and hearing their stories of what living in that particular Golden Age was like.

So grab some headphones or crank the speakers, sit back for an afternoon and dive right into these mellow, cathartic, melancholy vibes.