[Cover photo credit to Patrick Fore]
Jeff Larson is a veteran singer/songwriter from the San Francisco Bay area now living in Southern California. He’s unveiled the single and video for “Reason To Believe” which arrives ahead of his EP It’ll Never Happen Again, which was created in tribute to the late singer and songwriter Tim Hardin.
The EP, featuring all Hardin originals, was produced by Gerry Beckley of America and is due out March 17th, 2023 as the first release on new Nashville-based label Melody Place.
The video for “Reason To Believe” was directed by Tom Bevins and features a performance by Larson that’s combined with archival imagery of Hardin.
Larson comments:
When selecting songs for the EP, it was hard not to cover some obvious ones. ‘Reason to Believe,’ like other Tim Hardin songs, is more well-known as recordings by other artists, in this case, Rod Stewart’s 1993 version. It’s a song that is “in the air” and familiar to many. I think the goal in covering a song like this is just to associate the lyric to a relationship I had experienced and go from there.
Larson (on lead vocals and acoustic guitar) is joined by Gerry Beckley (piano, acoustic and electric guitars, organ, accordion, strings bass, drums) and an array of musicians including Joachim Cooder (electric mbira, drums, percussion) and Matt Combs (mandola, fiddle) for the EP. It was recorded at studios in Sydney, Australia and Southern California.
Larson adds about his respect for Tim Hardin:
As I have explored Hardin’s catalog, the variety of music genres he covers is also something I admire. I’m not a purist by any stretch. There is a sound I cling to more than others, but it ranges at times. By all accounts, Tim Hardin was hard to define that way–I suppose he is best known as a folk artist, but he could easily drift into Jazz, Blues, County, etc. That’s refreshing and relatable to my own work.
Larson is now working on his next solo album, his first since 2014. It’s due in the Fall of 2023.
