Personnel: Jim Brickman (piano); Rebecca Lynn Howard, All 4 One, Tom Douglas (vocals); Bruce Gaitsch (acoustic guitar); Jay Joyce (electric guitar); Rex Schnelle (guitar, bass, drums, background vocals); Bruce Watson (guitar); Tracy Silverman (violin, electric violin, viola); Peggy Baldwin, John Catchings (cello); Thea Suits (flute); David Grow (keyboards, programming); Michael Rhodes, Jorgen Carlsson (bass); Shannon Forest, David Salinas (drums); Caito Marcondes (percussion); Beth Nielsen Chapman, Will Wheaton, Perry Coleman, Darrell Brown, Chris Willis (background vocals).
Producers: Jim Brickman, Tracy Silverman, David Grow, Rex Schnelle.
Recorded at Brick House Studio, Studio City, California; Gutlab South and ATV Studios, Nashville, Tennessee; Howling Music Studio, Malibu Lake, California; The Coloring Book, Brentwood, Tennessee.
Jim Brickman continues to build on his growing reputation as one of America's foremost romantic songwriters with this mostly instrumental, piano-driven set. Consisting of the kind of soothing mood melodies often heard as linking music on NPR, SIMPLE THINGS is by turns melancholy, reflective, dramatic, and upbeat.
The title cut, also one of the few vocal tracks, displays the flexibility of Brickman's style; uncomplicated and refreshing, it spans R&B, pop, and country, as well as being exceptionally catchy. With titles such as "Devotion," "Serenade," and "A Mother's Day," (the latter of which is as knee-deep in sentiment as any Victorian ballad) Jim Brickman continues to carve out a niche for himself as an aural Hallmark card for the 21st century.
