So if I’m dad and I want to write a song for my 16 year old daughter, I’d harken back to the sounds of my early days. Let’s see, dad is probably around 40 years old, which means he grew up in the 80s, right? He most likely had a CD collection that included AC/DC and Huey Lewis, as well as Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie and maybe even Spandau Ballet. We decided to produce this song using the sounds from his era. Joe and I had fun with this because we are both closely connected to the music of the 80s.
I could barely get the progressions out before Joe was off creating the sound and pace of the track. He was anxious to include the premiere instrument of that decade; the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Joe had one in his studio and was itching to play it. Then he grabbed his hollow body electric guitar to give the track a smooth jazz feel.
Donnie Honeycutt was the vocalist we invited in to complete the piece. I had worked with Donnie several times over the past years and was confident he would give it the rich, sincere, period voice prescribed for the song.
After wrapping up the final mix, Joe made the comment that “this song could be the next big wedding tune for the father-daughter dance”. I can’t tell you how many people have said that exact same thing to me after hearing our final version of BEST of the BEST.