“Getting Ready to Get Down” was the last song of the many that I wrote for Sermon on the Rocks. I wrote it (for the most part) on the back porch looking at an apple tree and alternating coffee, bourbon and ice water.

For me, the early stage of the writing process is far from precise. I have bits and pieces of lyric stuff in my mind and I have a guitar or a keyboard and I just start banging blocks together, waiting for a fit.

I was working on something else entirely, just staring off into space and strumming away like you see in movies, when the first half of the first verse bounced into my mind.

“Mama got a look at you and got a little worried…”

After this long writing songs I ought to know a juicy first line when I hear one. Really good first lines don’t come along every day, so I dropped the song that I was working on and spent two afternoons on Get Down.

When I was done I wasn’t sure exactly what I had. Was this a song for Sermon? If not, what was it for? I recorded a demo of the song and sent it off to Trina Shoemaker, who was making the record with me. Her feedback convinced me that the song had a place.

Two months later Sam Kassirer, Zack Hickman, Josh Kaufman, Matt Barrick and I were in the studio recording take after take until we felt we’d found the right fire. I was expecting it to feel good, but as the arrangement got tighter and tighter I realized we had a real gem. It is a pleasure to have this be the first song folks hear from the record. I consider the album to be pretty adventurous and wild, and I think Get Down really gets the party started.

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