Smitty: Yes, absolutely. I love that. You really have developed a serious love for the Brazilian sound, haven’t you?
AG: I have, I have. When I went to music school at New England Conservatory in Boston, that’s when I first sort of started listening to some of the Brazilian greats, you know, João Gilbertoand Elis Regina, Tom Jobim. And then I had such a thirst for it that I had to go down and see for myself, and one of the brilliant songwriters on our album, Bryan McCann, is a professor in Brazilian history and he actually wrote a book called Hello, Hello, Brazil, which is on the history of Samba and Bossa Nova. And so Doug and I went down to Brazil and spent a bunch of time in Rio and a bunch of time in Bahia with him as our guide to the cities and to the world of music down there and I came back a changed person. And for some reason people have—all kinds of music seeps into my soul, but Brazilian music, it just captures me and captivates me and inspires me and it’s just, I don’t know, something about it that is more special than any other kind of music that I’ve been exposed to.
Smitty: Yeah, well, I think that Brazilian music has that effect on a lot of people, including myself.
AG: I hope so, I hope so. Sometimes I feel like it’s underappreciated.
Smitty: Oh, oh man, I have not been down there but I hear that if you get that experience it’s something you’ll never forget.
AG: It really is. I mean, the world of music down there is everywhere. It’s so much a part of daily life down there. It makes me sad that we don’t push music as much in the States as they do in Brazil. It’s just part of family life and street life and beach life and club life, and it’s sad and chaotic and fun and exciting and mournful, and it’s just everywhere. It’s in the streets, in the clubs, everywhere you go, and when we were down there, we saw brilliant music five times a day in the streets, in the clubs, in Bahia, in Rio, and you just get this sense that music is such an important part of their heritage and their culture that I sort of wish I grew up with that a little bit.
Smitty: Yeah, yeah, it’s a beautiful thing, it really is. Yeah, and speaking of beautiful things, this record is just fantastic. Talk a little bit about the word “echo” and why that is the title. I’m sure it’s special for you.
AG: It is. Originally the title came from, I mean, the third echo comes from a Greek/Roman myth about a beautiful nymph who is forever in the forest calling out for the love of her life, who is Narcissus, who is this young boy who’s in love with his own reflection and he ends up turning into the Narcissus flower, and she’s forever in the forest calling after him and the echo just rings throughout the forest. So I think that it started from there and Bryan McCann wrote this song called—he wrote the lyrics to this song called “Echo” coupled with the music by Jon Cowherd, who was also the producer of the project.
The song really talks about how no matter what transpires in a loving relationship, whether it’s successful or whether it’s a failure, that feeling that you have will always linger on, and some of the lyrics are “When love ends, sometimes the notes linger on. When love dies, sometimes the echo lives on.” And I just think it’s so poetic and so true to what most of us experience in loving relationships and it sort of has dual meaning in music as well because obviously we want this record to echo through people’s heads and for people to remember it, and hopefully they will.
Smitty: Absolutely. And I’ve never thought of Doug as a Narcissus, okay? (Both laugh.)
AG: No, he is not, and that part’s a little bit of a stretch obviously because we have a very successful romance and he’s the most giving, loving person I know, but I think the beauty of somebody continually calling out after her loved one and, yeah, I think it’s just very poetic.
Smitty: Yeah, well, the entire record has that intimate overtone. It has a very relaxed feeling throughout the record that when I said I was in a mood, it does put you in that kind of a mood that you really think about those things that you care for a great deal.
AG: Mm.
Smitty: And the lyrics really support that throughout this record.
AG: Well, that is in great tribute to Brian McCann and Doug Graham, who are just beautiful lyricists, and I think that sometimes people spend a lot of time trying to make lyrics clever or smart or dramatic, but I think that both of them are very much able to capture the simplicity and sincerity, and I think it’s really difficult to write love songs—true, honest love songs—but I think both of them in their lyrical presentation were able to do that and that’s not an easy thing to do.
Smitty: Yeah, why do you think it’s so difficult? Do you think that it’s because true love is getting to be a rarity or is it just something that we don’t express openly that well as a whole as a generation?
AG: Oh my Gosh, I think there are so many reasons. I think one is that people are very scared to be that vulnerable.
Smitty: Yeah.
AG: I think that people are terrified of saying something that might come across as sappy or cheesy or, you know, people are scared of being judged and it’s really difficult to open up your soul and write it down on a piece of paper and have somebody sing it to the world and be judged for it. Also, I think that they’ve been able to capture this real honesty in writing a love song. That is rare because putting yourself out there and being vulnerable is not something most people want to do. When you say things so directly and so literally in a love song, that’s exactly what comes through and is out there for people to judge.
Smitty: I agree.
AG: And to your other point, I think that true love is very rare these days. I am very, very fortunate to have such a great partner and we’ve been together since we were kids and we couldn’t have a more unique or special relationship and we’re fortunate that we get to play music together, but I think that a country where the divorce rate is over 50% and people don’t always find that and so it’s not that easy to write about successful love stories.
Smitty: Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree.
AG: Hmm.
Smitty: You have really captured the whole theme of true love with this record and I must say that “Echo” is a great song, a fantastic track. One of my favorites is “Butterflies.”
AG: Mine too.
