David Ryan Harris played Eddie’s Attic less than two months ago, but his sold-out performance went so well, the promoters asked him to return before the end of the year.
Harris said he agreed on the spot. “I always have a great time at Eddie’s Attic,” he said.
His tour supporting Lightyears is a great chance to share some intimate space and hear an album that takes listeners on a journey that inevitably returns “home.” Many of the themes on this album come from Harris looking into his past and his travels as a musician. Love, travel and searching resound across the album’s 11 tracks.
Harris described the album as “flying without a net” in its representation and interpretation of all the music he’s written over the years. Those who recognize his name as having toured with John Mayer from 2004 to 2012 as a singer and guitarist should feel at peace in the mellow atmosphere of Lightyears, but Harris makes a name for himself here.
The song “Shelter” stands out both musically and lyrically, with lines such as, “Wake up and keep dreaming.” The lyric signals much of the artist’s career and the lyrics, “You are my prayer in times of trouble” could well be spoken to the art itself.
Harris describes his music in one word as “real.”
He said he’s most proud of the fact that he’s still working as a musician, counting his career as his “calling,” he said.
“I surrendered myself to the fact that this was indeed my calling a long time ago,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been given a gift and it’s my job to share that gift with the world. The fact that people use my songs for their weddings or to sing to their significant other or their child or their mother is incredibly humbling and it let’s me know I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Harris said he loves the sense of accomplishment he feels when he starts the day with a blank piece of paper and ends the day with something he can sing for the rest of his life.
“There is something incredibly empowering about the stillness that is required to get your thoughts and emotions to manifest themselves in lyric and melody,” Harris said. “I’m generally not very still, so that journey is a necessary one that I don’t know I would bother taking otherwise.”
Joking about the journey as a musician, Harris said the best piece of advice he’s ever received on tour is “The hotel remote is disgusting.”
If you missed the Eddie’s Attic show Oct. 25, be sure to get tickets to the Dec. 21 show.
Harris made a name for himself in the 80s.