Basics
Everything I Am, released in 2025, is a collection of songs recorded and released as singles between 2018–25. Half of the songs were remixed and all but one remastered for the album. (Original singles are still available.) The collection includes ten original songs and four favorite covers. More details and notes below. Album available in digital formats only.
Total playing time – 55:17
Produced and arranged by Doug Howell • Words and music by Doug, except “Up on the Roof,” by Gerry Goffin and Carole King; “Amelia,” by Joni Mitchell; “Let’s Start Over,” by Chris Barton; and “Hard To Get,” by Rich Mullins
Duet on “Let’s Start Over” by Chris Barton and Doug • Background vocals by David C. Glaser and Doug • Electric and acoustic guitars by Daniel Leonhardt • Soprano saxes on “Do You Ever Dream of Me?” by Mark Kieme • Lead vocals, keyboards, bass, drums and other instrument realizations by Doug
Recorded, mixed and mastered by Doug at Hawksnest studio, Hilo, Hawai‘i, Summer 2018–Spring 2025 using Digital Performer by Mark of the Unicorn, with Izotope Ozone • Painting by Kathryn Ann Mays, used by permission
Playlist
Here’s a sort of “album story” to give you some insight into why I chose these particular songs for the collection. Click on each song’s page link to see lyrics, reviews and more notes about the significance the song holds for me. Thanks for listening!
[ Part One ]
- Up on the Roof (Gerry Goffin/Carole King) – I opened many, many concerts with this song, mostly at colleges or other secular venues. I’ve always thought it was the perfect opener, inviting listeners to climb up the stairs to a private, holy, safe place where wishes and prayers could be shared freely. My hope is that it will serve the same purpose here.
- Speak Your Heart – And now that you’re here, there’s only one ground rule: speak what’s in your heart. That’s why we were put on this earth, after all. And that’s all it takes to change the world.
- No Strings – When it comes to relationships, nobody wants entanglements, or responsibilities. Trouble is, nothing works right without them. Love’s not just a feeling, it’s acting what you say. It’s the gold behind the paper.
- There’s More – And while we’re on the subject, what is a relationship all about anyway? What does it really mean to be one with someone else?
- Nothing on You – Once in a while in life, we catch a glimpse of what it means, of how precious love is—and some are lucky enough to experience it. Nothing can compare.
- Amelia (Joni Mitchell) – But because human relationships are made up of human beings by definition, they’re never perfect. Things don’t always work out as we hope. Sometimes we end up in an empty motel room, our dream of flight crashing all around us…
- Let’s Start Over (Chris Barton) – But one nice thing about being human is that there’s always a new day, which will dawn—eventually. We can learn from our mistakes. And maybe, just maybe, we can start again.
[ Part Two ] - Keep This Heart Tender – Some days, all it takes is a falling leaf. Others, nothing seems to make us see beyond our to-do list. Oh, Lord, never let me get hardened to the beauty around me, the people passing by, and most of all your love…
- I Would Not Be Me (Without Your Love) – Your love! It’s everywhere, in the trees, in the Disney birds, the bees and the babies and the breezes. It carries me down the road with a song, and with a friend. Without it, I’m nothing; without it, I can’t even be me!
- Oh, September – To everything there is a season, and when a season of love comes to an end, it can seem as if there will never be another spring.
- A Song Without You in It – And you’ve been gone for many seasons—years now! Why am I still writing songs about you (three albums’ worth so far). This is ridiculous! This has got to stop!
- Do You Ever Dream of Me? – But sometimes I still can’t help wondering… When the lights go down and things get quiet, when sleep comes to carry you away, do you ever dream of me?
- Hard To Get (Rich Mullins) – Life is just plain hard to figure out sometimes. We’re afraid of being left by those we love. We wonder why you seem so far away, Lord, when we need you most. Why is it so hard to simply be who you want us to be? What are you trying to tell me right now? Are you still here, leading me, even when I can’t see you?
- Everything I Am – Well, after all these experiences and joys and disappointments through all these years, here I am, at your table again, Lord. Where else can I go, anyway? You have the words of eternal life. So here I’ll stay. Here are all my dreams, here are all my dashed hopes, my aspirations, my frailties and mistakes. The good, the bad—everything I am. I give it all—because I need all you are.
Album Notes
It gave me a wonderful sense of accomplishment to release the Jimmy & Me Revisited album last year, partly because it was a large project that had taken a long time to complete, but also because I felt the music now truly lived up to its potential. It felt finished, finally, and I could move on. Not to mention the fact that it gave me a nice excuse to record another of Jimmy’s timeless songs.
Just as it was with many of the original Jimmy recordings, there’ve been other songs over the last several years that I thought didn’t quite live up to their potential—some that could benefit from another look, now that I knew a little more about what I wanted from them and how to get it.
Being a grateful citizen of the era when album was king, I started thinking maybe it was time to create a “larger story,” too, with a broader, deeper message than could be communicated through a stream of singles. Maybe I could gather a collection or two out of the songs I’ve released since launching out on my “retirement calling.”
Releasing singles is easier in many ways, requiring less time and money than an album both to produce and to promote. It also encourages regular audience engagement and lends itself to posting more frequent updates on music and social media channels, which offer rewards in the form of favorable algorithms that place your songs before even more listeners.
However, albums offer the chance to paint a broader artistic vision, showcase a wide range of styles, and allow a deeper sort of engagement—telling a richer, lengthier story with more context. And in that wider context, it’s possible to include what have traditionally been called “album cuts,” songs that may not have a catchy enough message or melody to make them good candidates for single release, but might still become favorites for many listeners. I for one can relate to that, as I almost invariably end up liking the album cuts more than the singles on most albums.
So, here we are. I’m calling this album Everything I Am, after the title song, which I wrote in 2013 as a sort of “life song” for a special concert that never took place. I’ve included 14 songs; the most recently written is “Speak Your Heart,” 2020, the oldest “Keep This Heart Tender,” written in 1972 while I was at the University of Michigan. The rest fall somewhere in between.
A lot has happened in the 50-year span during which these songs were written, to put it mildly. If you’re interested in all the sordid details, you can get them in my “Retirement Career—or Calling?” blog post. I wrote that post to help make sense of all the things going through my mind as I geared up for a new phase of making music full time after my 20-year sojourn in high tech. It helped me take stock of where I was in life, deal with some insecurities, and gather the perspective—and courage!—needed to embark on a big new learning curve.
Through it all, then and now, music has been a constant, a North Star. Just like the love and faithfulness of God, without which there would be no music to begin with. And although I’m no stranger to writing music to please a client or fit an occasion, this collection is more personal: the songs gifts from God that challenged me, comforted me, and helped me deal with all the ups and downs, glories and failings of “one beggar telling another where to find bread,” as a preacher friend of mine used to say.
When we come to the Lord’s table, we’re called to bring all that we have, all that we are. If we don’t give everything, we won’t receive all God has to offer. The Lord can only fill an empty hand.
we start out with nothing
and that’s where we end
we lose track of all we held dear
all we can seem to hold on to
are the things we can somehow leave here
It’s never easy to do, but the rewards are eternal.
Music Notes
I’ve included four of my favorite covers in the lineup, from influencers Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Rich Mullins and Chris Barton. Chris and I sing a duet on her song, “Let’s Start Over.” (We’ve worked together on quite a few projects, so be sure to check out her YouTube and other streaming channels.) Of course, you’ll probably hear echoes of a few other influencers along the way, too.
You’ll also hear Dan Leonhardt’s genius guitar playing on eight of the tracks. We were bandmates in Good News Circle days, and his electric and acoustic interpretations never fail to take my songs to new heights. He just seems to know what a song needs. So even though I thank him each and every time he helps me out, I’ll say it again here: Dan, I’m forever grateful for your time, creativity and dedication in helping each song cross the finish line. You can follow Dan at Away with Words on Facebook.
The cover art was created by Kathyrn Ann Mays. Thank you, Kathy, for allowing me to use it for this album! Dear friends since my early traveling days, Kathy created this painting for her husband Jon’s ordination, and then gave a print to David to celebrate his ordination. It hangs in our music room as a constant reminder that no matter how little we have to give, God can turn it into a miracle.
Mike Kuzma, my one-time producer, and I used to sit for hours on his living room floor listening to songs in different orders, trying to find the perfect sequence for an album, so both the music and the message flowed easily and made sense. When I recorded We Are His People with Good News Circle, Bill Cole from Light Records produced it, and he had his own method for sequencing albums. As I remember, he placed songs according to a formula that took into account a song’s tempo, feel and message, and applied it consistently across all his projects in a way that seemed to work well for him and his audiences.
For this collection, I depended on past albums and the “album story” I shared with you above to figure out a sensible order. I thought of the collection as if it were an album with two sides or parts—predictable given my age, history, and love for albums, I suppose!
I started out with an introduction song, a this-is-who-I-am track, much like Singer in the King’s Service did through its title song. In this collection, that is obviously “Speak Your Heart.” But here it made sense to precede it with “Up on the Roof,” since that song is an invitation to listen and participate, and in effect turns the whole album into a sort of personal concert—especially because I began so many of my live concerts with that song back in my traveling days.
For part two, I started with an up-tempo, up-message song like we did on I’ve Been Freed, followed by a drivin’-down-the-road-song, which fit “I Would Not Be Me…” perfectly, since that’s exactly what it was!
It made sense to me to end the album with a couple of songs about how to make sense of all the rest, if that makes sense. Not the best of sentences, but hopefully you get my meaning. And to end with “Everything I Am,” and make it the theme of the whole collection, seemed like a foregone conclusion, especially keeping Kathy’s beautiful painting always in my mind.
Ever since my Bluer… days, I’ve been known as sort of an outlier, including songs about human love and exposing all my doubts and rantings and ravings as if they were as sacred as the songs of praise, an approach that did not endear me to the Christian music industry much. As Mark Allan Powell put it in his Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music, “What is most noteworthy—especially for the time period—is that he wrote songs that departed from the standard ‘I’m so happy in Jesus’ vein and dealt with harsher realities of Christian living, [portraying] the need for Christians to stand firm in the face of trials that cause them to second-guess their commitments. Harmony magazine reassured its readers that Howell was not ‘backslidden.’ The artist, in their words, evinces uncommon honesty in describing ‘the joy of being a Christian’ as well as ‘the pain.’”
It’s really very simple: I sing as I find.
In the end you can’t pin any life down to a list of songs, or accomplishments, good works, bad works, feelings, moods, relationships… None of that really defines us, who we are. It’s true of God, too. There’s no formula to learn or set of rules to follow. The Pharisees took that approach, throwing in a few of their own rules for good measure, but then Jesus showed up and turned their whole world upside down.
They were trying to be true to the letter of the law, but in the process—and the pride that inevitably came with it—entirely missed the point. There really is this spirit thing, this most important love thing: hence music, color, philosophy, poetry, art… All trying to express the inexpressible. Which is exactly what I have always tried to do through music, too, only none of us can. All we can do is try, the way pilgrims have been trying for untold centuries, and then lay it all down on the altar with a prayer and an open hand.
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