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Thinking With My Heart


With “Thinking With My Heart”, my sixth full-length album (and fifth of original songs), I’ve gone in what I’m referring to as a “country-ish” direction. “Country-ish” rather than “country”? Yeah, some of the songs are fairly clearly country pop or country rock, but there’s also a smattering that are stripped down, in a singer-songwriter/folk sense, and even one that is a throwback to an early Elvis (Presley, not Costello) style. And I don’t have a twang, so there’s that.

The album’s title comes from the first few lines of the first track: “Here I go, here I go again, thinking with my heart and not my head.” There’s a bit of a head versus heart thread that runs throughout. Most of the songs touch on love, unrequited love, or loss of love, but the closing track extends the head/heart theme to life purpose.

Song List

(click title for lyrics)

  1. Here I Go Again (Country Version) (R. Paul)
  2. Ho-hum, Humdrum Life (M. Parker, R. Paul)
  3. All I Need to Know (S. Wanvig, R. Paul)
  4. More Than a Little (R. Paul)
  5. Who’ll Be the First (Album Remix) (M. Parker, R. Paul)
  6. Ghosts (R. Paul)
  7. I Dare You (M. Parker, R. Paul)
  8. I Need Her Tonight (R. Ducharme, V. Michener, R. Paul)
  9. Holding Onto Air (R. Paul)
  10. I’ve Got You (R. Paul)
  11. If You Only Knew (R. Paul)
  12. My Reason (R. Paul)

Credits

Tracks 1, 4, 6, and 9-12 written by Rick Paul. Tracks 2, 5, and 7 written by Michael J. Parker and Rick Paul. Track 3 written by Suzanne Wanvig and Rick Paul. Track 8 written by Ray Ducharme, Vic Michener, and Rick Paul.

Performed, produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Rick Paul.

Cover artwork and photography by Rick Paul.

Related Media

“Here I Go Again”, live at the Karman Bar, Laguna Niguel, California, August 2017.
“Here I Go Again”, live at Campus JAX, Newport Beach, California, April 2022.
“Ho-Hum, Humdrum Life”, live at Campus JAX, Newport Beach, California, April 2022.
“All I Need to Know”, live at Our Place, Lake Forest, California, January 2024.
Official lyric video for “More Than a Little”.
“More Than a Little”, live at Our Place, Lake Forest, California, September 2024.

Story Behind the Song: “Ghosts”

Official lyric video for “Ghosts”.
“Ghosts”, live at Our Place, Lake Forest, California, August 2024.
“I Dare You”, live at the Marlin Bar, Huntington Beach, California, February 2011.
Official lyric video for “Holding Onto Air”.
“Holding Onto Air”, live at Our Place, Lake Forest, California, January 2022.
“Holding Onto Air”, live at Campus JAX, Newport Beach, California, April 2022.
“I’ve Got You”, live at Campus JAX, Newport Beach, California, April 2022.
Official lyric video for “I’ve Got You”.
“If You Only Knew”, live at Our Place, Lake Forest, California, January 2024.
“My Reason”, live at Campus JAX, Newport Beach, California, April 2022.
Official lyric video for “My Reason”.

Release Date: August 5, 2022