Jono Manson Awakens “Only a Dream,” Off Tenth Album

Dreams do come true. 

Peace, love, perseverance, love—anything is possible on Jono Manson’s latest single “Only a Dream,” off the singer and songwriter’s tenth solo album Silver Moon, out April 10. 

Produced by Manson, Silver Moon is part retrospective, from signing autographs like The Beatles with his first band in 1968, to his New York City roots in The Worms and as a mainstay at the famed Nightingale Bar, and on through the present day—all merged with his bluesy, soul-fueled rock and roots.

Pulling in some well-known friends like Joan Osborne, Warren Haynes (featured on the album’s title track), Terry Allen, and Eric Schenkman, Silver Moon was recorded everywhere from Pavia, Italy, Brooklyn, NY, Italy, and Dripping Springs, Texas with Manson finalizing mixes out of his The Kitchen Sink studio in Santa Fe, NM, where the New Yorker has resided for nearly 30 years.

Worldly in its inception, Silver Moon is also universal in its messages, and stretch beyond Manson’s own introspection, on track “Only a Dream.”

If wide awake we live as dreamers do, then who’s to say that dreams cannot come true, croon Manson and British singer and songwriter James Maddock on the single, a sweet serenade that speaks to the present times, and the why it’s worth dreaming just a bit through moving, melodic verses Only a dream can guide us through the darkest night / Only a dream will teach us how to rise above / Only a dream will conjure up a world of love.

Already half-written, Manson brought “Only a Dream” to his longtime collaborator and friend George Breakfast in Cambridge, England, where the duo sealed the track during one of their writing sessions in November of 2019.

“From the beginning, the melody which presented itself, seemed reminiscent of classic mid-tempo ballads of the late 1950s, early ’60s,” Manson tells American Songwriter. “I could hear the whole song being performed as a duet, in parallel harmony, like something by The Everly Brothers.”

Yet, unlike either Don or Phil Everly, Manson says his voice was a bit rough around the edges, so it made sense to bring another singer with a timbre that would complement his, and Maddock was the clear choice. 

“Upon hearing the demo, James called the song an ‘instant classic,’ agreed to get on board, and the picture was complete,” says Manson. “The lyrics carry some serious messages for our times, but I tried to inject just enough cockeyed optimism to let the listener know that, at least in my opinion, there is still hope.”