Fixed to a piece of furniture, with his own thoughts, left alone to deal with every facet of his world unraveling simultaneously, Daniel Rodriguez nearly wasted away.
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In a moment of despair, Rodriguez took all his woes gathering from the conclusion of his band Elephant Revival and the goodbye to a fourteen-year lover and succumbed to his inner dialogue. It worked counter to what you may think and served him well, riling his inner strength and motivation to write “As I Am.”
“‘As I Am’ is a song about renewal and having the ability to reinvent yourself or just plain be yourself within a relationship,” Rodriguez told American Songwriter. “It’s about growing through adversity like a flower growing through the cracks of concrete. It’s about making it all up as you go along and writing a brand new song.”
The new single resonates a kind of cool-and-calm sixties folk vibe with tambourine, twangy electric guitar, and feminine vocal harmonies. Aligning with Rodriguez’s original idea for the song about transformation and learning to reinvent yourself, is a similar echo in the instrumentation and adaptations inserted by collaborating artist and producer for the record Darren Garvey, which illustrate a rawer side to Rodriguez’s music and style as a solo artist.
Rodriguez’s new song is just one of many to come from his forthcoming solo debut Sojourn Of A Burning Sun. The songwriter also released a solo EP shortly after the separation of Elephant Revival titled, Your Heart The Stars The Milky Way, which received radiant reviews from media outlets Boulder Weekly, Marquee Magazine and others. Rodriguez’s early solo material earned him tour opportunities with The Lumineers, Mandolin Orange, John Craigie, Josh Ritter and several other talented acts.
Rodriguez recorded Sojourn Of A Burning Sun with Garvey, also a previous bandmate in Elephant Revival, at Grace Design studio in Lyons, Colorado. Conceptually the record started with base formations built from acoustic sessions. Garvey and Rodriguez would continue the songs from there, utilizing Garvey’s many talents as a multi-instrumentalist and impromptu producer. To give the songs more color, Rodriguez invited Mandolin Orange’s Andrew Marlin and Greensky Bluegrass’s Paul Hoffman to contribute to the forthcoming album.
Rodriguez, an established musician, with twelve years of ongoing experience in Elephant Revival and six records said goodbye to that adventure in 2018 with a final show and perfect send-off at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Yet to conclude his career and embarking on a new adventure as a solo artist, Rodriguez will also serve as a leading artist on the newly founded BMG label Renew Records.
“As I Am” can be streamed everywhere tomorrow and you catch it early today on American Songwriter. Rodriguez’s previously released EP Your Heart The Stars The Milky Way can also be listened to on Spotify.
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