Title: Bubba-San's Bait Shop & Sushi Bar
Artist: Bubba-San
Label: CD Baby
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 880547705251
Genre: Folk

Why did I do this album? Because I'm 52 years old damn it, will probably be dead or disabled within 20-30 years, and I just don't care what people think anymore. Call it a bucket list item; the Novel is next. However, the gravitational pull that sucked me into this project is much more visceral than a checklist. As my fellow songwriters know, we don't write songs because we want to or even because we like to; we write songs because it's something we have to do. And once they're written, songs need to be shared to take flight. After writing my first song at age 14, and another 60 or 70 over the next 35 years, I've finally decided it's time to share a few of them with someone other than my family or my dog, Buster. My love for writing and storytelling began at an early age when my sister read me Bible stories as water dripped from the leaky roof of our Plantersville, Mississippi home. The first song I ever sang was likely The Ballad of Davy Crockett as I ran around the backyard wearing a coonskin hat, crooning about how Davy killed a b'ar when he was only three. My passion for storytelling was further nurtured by listening over and over to albums by Bill Cosby and Johnny Cash. In the third grade I was so obsessed with the "Man in Black" that I was sent to the principal's office for singing A Boy Named Sue during class. Later I immersed myself in literature and Mark Twain, Ernest Hemmingway, and William Faulkner showed me how the written word could transport you to another time, another place, and another perspective. Lewis Grizzard's southern musings made me consider journalism as a career for a time. Then came Jimmy Buffett. I figured if a guy from Pascagoula, Mississippi could write songs about sobering up at the Krystal and make a career out of it, I could too. It just took a little time. Like 35 years. It also required a lot of practice and a little help from my friends. But now that I've gotten going, I'm not looking back. I played my first open mic less than 18 months ago and now I've produced an album I'm quite proud of and have a second one in production. I like every song on this record and I hope you'll find at least one or two that you like as well. See you at the Bait Shop & Sushi Bar and thank you for listening. Bubba-San Somewhere in Costa Rica, June 2014 The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. Mark Twain The stories behind the songs: Redneck Riviera Lyrics and music by Mark Towery For years I wanted to write a song about the Redneck Riviera that runs from the Florida Panhandle across LA (Lower Alabama) thru the Mississippi Sound and terminates at some waterside tavern just this side of New Orleans. I'd just never found the right vibe. Well, the vibe hit me full in the face like a humid gust of sea air through a high rise condo patio window when, in the summer of 2013, my daughter and I spent a long weekend in Panama City. Just six months earlier we had been on the beaches of Ipanema in Rio, and I couldn't help but note the contrasts between the two destinations. From Leblon to Copacabana, locals and jet setters mingled in syncopated relaxation. On the Redneck Riviera, tattooed girls that knew their way around a plate of cornbread sat oiled up on lawn chairs, pickup trucks jacked up high enough that you could walk under them were parked at the Waffle House, and Lynyrd Skynyrd was blasting from the speakers at the tiki bar next to the pool. Three days of tenacious thunderstorms put a damper on my fly fishing plans so, stuck in the concrete block condo, I pulled out my Martin D-28 guitar and as they say, this one wrote itself. Love You Like That Lyrics and music by Mark Towery Romantic love is not always romantic or sensual. Sometimes it's the everyday acts and experiences that make it lasting. Call me sentimental, but you are not really a songwriter until you write at least one 3.5 chord sappy love song. For June. Professional Student Lyrics and music by Mark Towery Pro Student is certainly not the first song I ever wrote but it's probably the first one I felt good about playing in front of other people. The song came from my Daddy's admonishment not to make a career out of college. He believed in providing his kids with a 4-year college education and after that you were on your own. So I wrote this between classes at Mississippi State University around 1980 and it's held up pretty well. Charm of New Orleans Lyrics and music by Mark Towery I did have a couple of girlfriends from the New Orleans area, but I don't think this song was really about any one of them in particular, or any woman at all. It was more a matter of a songwriter taking an idea and building a song around it. This is one of my older songs, probably written 20 years before Katrina. I guess New Orleans actually did change a little then, but it's still a 'friendly dungeon of sin.' Hop on a trolley car on St. Charles and join the musical journey through the French Quarter. Tom Sawyer and the Lawyer Lyrics and music by Mark Towery Contrary to some peoples' interpretation, this is actually a love song from a unique perspective. Love is sometimes painful and it's a poet's job to find the sweet humor and tender irony in the situation. And let's face it - the world needs more songs about lawyers. Etu Fay Lyrics and music by Mark Towery Sometimes songs are born out of a really painful or heartfelt experience. Other times you are sitting in a bar and hear someone say "Etu Fay,' and think to yourself, 'what a great title for a song!" Then you write it just like you are following a recipe: take a little Cajun cookin', add some Shakespearean tragedy, mix in a little lost love, and you've got a song. Melancholy Cocktail Lyrics and music by Mark Towery While this song is about being broken-hearted and drinking alone, the first verse is actually about eating alone which, when you think about it, is an even lonelier activity than drinking by yourself. It's particularly lonely dining alone in a 5-star white table cloth restaurant that just calls out for a beautiful woman to be smiling at you across the candlelight. Although I wrote this song on the guitar, I always knew it secretly wanted to be a piano song. Ryan Almario gave it the treatment it deserved. Suzuki Ain't Made For Water Lyrics and music by Mark Towery The song kinda tells it's own story. It began when I was filming a fishing television show with Roland Martin on Lake Sidney Lanier just north of Atlanta and my new Suzuki outboard seized up for no explainable reason. It culminated when Suzuki said for the last and final time that it was not their fault. Thank you State Farm for my new motor. As for Suzuki, well I hope you like your song. That's my Girl Lyrics and music by Mark Towery This one was written a few years ago at a beach house in Ft. Morgan. I remember watching my daughter walking along the shore at sunset and realizing she was now a grown woman with the world at her hand. She graduated from medical school while we were making this album. So, this one is for Dr. Charity. Blue Moon Lyrics and music by Mark Towery My youngest daughter was born on a blue moon just before the millennium. In case you may not know this, a blue moon is when a full moon occurs twice in one month. Apparently, blue moons only happen twice a year once every hundred years (or so the song says). Further to the story, before my daughter was born, my wife and I were taking an after-dinner walk with some friends and I was carrying their young daughter on my shoulders when I turned to my wife and said 'I want one of these.' A few months later, I got my wish. This song is for Leah Lynn. Jack of all Trades Lyrics and music by Mark Towery This title came from another expression from my Daddy who, like me, was a Jack of all Trades. I've always managed to be a really good amateur at a lot of things (including music) but never mastered a trade to the point of professionalism. When I start approa

Tracks:
1.1 Redneck Riviera
1.2 Love You Like That
1.3 Professional Student
1.4 Charm of New Orleans
1.5 Tom Sawyer and the Lawyer
1.6 Etu Fay
1.7 Melancholy Cocktail
1.8 Suzuki Ain't Made for Water
1.9 That's My Girl
1.10 Blue Moon
1.11 Jack of All Trades
1.12 Mississippi Saxophone
1.13 Occupational Hazard
1.14 Bubba-San's Bait Shop ; Sushi Bar

Audio Sample:
All soundclips are provided by Tidal and are for illustrative purposes only. For some releases, the tracks listed may not accurately represent the tracks on the physical release.