Ray Lynch Comments:

     Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening was both very difficult to make (even more so than No Blue Thing) and, at the same time, unique in what it achieved. Many were surprised by its "classicism" (or, more accurately, by its classical structures and lyrical/romantic content). Its title is even more uncompromising than the music and serves, I think, as an analogy. Many, far from merely not understanding the title, can't even remember it; and some related to the music similarly, that is, without much understanding (the media critics seemed especially puzzled). Fact is, this album is more difficult, more serious and uncompromising, and less accessible than Deep Breakfast or No Blue Thing; in a word, challenging, like the title is challenging. ("Headlessness", ego-transcendence and the "experience" of consciousness, to which Samraj Adi Da's beautiful poetic phrase refers, is not automatically grasped by many contemporary minds.) But it is worth the effort in my estimation.

Nothing Above My Shoulders but the Evening has a musical depth and emotional richness that both summarizes my classical roots and marks the completion of a chunk of my career.