It showcases a different side of Jerry’s songwriting skills and highlights his signature harmonies. Once we were ready to mix, I suggested (Evil) Joe Barresi, who really brought the record to the next level. In addition to Vince Jones, we had several other incredibly talented artists contribute to this project including Duff McKagan, Gil Sharone, Abe Laboriel Jr., Michael Rozon, and Greg Puciato singing backups and harmonies. Jerry sent the rough mix to Sir Elton who replied that Jerry’s version was beautiful, giving his whole-hearted approval to include it on the album. Vince Jones arranged and performed the piano, keys, and strings and we recorded the song in November 2020. As the tone and feeling of the album started to take shape, Jerry knew he wanted to include a cover of Elton John’s Goodbye. So, Jerry and I, taking our time, spent close to four months recording lead vocals and harmonies, as well as guitar solos and “flavor” guitars that we missed in the studio. Granted, the process includes making sure the cats aren’t meowing during a vocal performance, taste testing homemade salsa (not in the studio), and rolling dice, but when you hear the album, you’ll appreciate that all of these elements are important! Jerry is one of my very favorite artists to work with and Brighten is the fourth album we have recorded together. Needless to say, at this point we have a really effective creative process. Jerry and I decided we could stay safe if the two of us worked in his home studio, so we set up there for tracking vocals and our co-producer, Tyler Bates, would often swing by listen and explore ideas. Then Covid-19 messed up all our plans (along with the rest of the world’s). Between the 5 th and the 8 th, we tracked the drums then from the 9 th to the 20 th main electric and acoustic guitars at my studio Dave’s Room. After several quick bouts of pre-production work, we got into the studio on March 5 of 2020. This involved a lot of time in Jerry’s home studio riff mining and teasing ideas into full songs. Alice in Chains had just wrapped up their Rainier Fog tour and Jerry got in touch and said, “I’m starting a solo record let’s work on demos”. We started working on the new album in fall of 2019. And it’s finally here! Today marks the release of Jerry Cantrell’s solo album, Brighten his first solitary effort since Degradation Trip Volumes I & II in 2002.

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