Knock on Wood

Released in the summer of 2023, Knock on Wood features Greg's increasingly honest and forthright writing at this stage of his development, whether about his personal relationships or about the world at large. Transitive Property, for example, decries the initiation of anti-trans legislation in Greg's home state of Missouri, while Meteor laments the damage that humans are doing to the environment and to each other. Throwback weighs the possibility of change in an ailing relationship, while Count Me Out expresses the deep discomfort of feeling responsible for another's words and behaviors.

One song has an interesting back story: while composing the music to what would become Throwback, Greg's eight year-old son began listening with keen interest and inquired whether this new song had a name. Having not even considered what the subject matter would be about much less named the song, Greg answered in the negative. His son then offered the title "Throwback," and Greg took it as a challenge to organize the lyrics around the "throwback" idea.

As with most of Greg's recent releases, Greg played every instrument on Knock on Wood. These included his Martin D-28, his Gretsch electric 6-string guitar along with a new Ibanez AM53 semi-hollow-body electric, Tobias Growler 5-string bass, Impact GX61 keyboard, and Akai MPD218 MIDI Pad Controller for drums. Greg used Reaper as his digital audio workstation, coupled with Alesis MK2 near-field studio monitors. His interface was a MOTU M2.