Cliff Eberhardt News

The High Above and the Down Below was a long time coming.  After several years recovering from a severe car accident, which resulted in 2 back surgeries and months of physical therapy, Cliff returned to his writing renewed with a fresh perspective on the music he wanted to make.  “I wasn’t trying to write to fit into a specific genre or to please a label or manager or anyone else but me,” he says.  “After my accident, I realized it’s not about where you are going but where you are that matters.  These songs are about where I am now.”The opening song “The High Above and the Down Below” is about just that.  “Don’t waste your time on nursery rhymes, try living while you’re here,” Cliff’s bluesy voice cries.

Recorded live in the studio at Wild Sound in Minneapolis, the whole project  has an organic feeling that veteran producer and Red House executive/President Eric Peltoniemi was striving for.  Keeping Cliff’s singing and playing uncluttered by overdubs and harmony vocals, he handpicked some of the Twin Cities’ finest jazz musicians to back Cliff —keyboardist Rich Dworsky (Al Jarreau, A Prairie Home Companion), bassist Gordy Johnson (Maynard Ferguson, Chuck Mangione) and drummer J.T. Bates (Michel Portal).  The group had such immediate chemistry that the tracks were laid down in a week, many in just one take.  The results are The High Above and the Down Below, the album that fans have been waiting for and the one Cliff has always wanted to make.  From the melancholy notes of “The Right Words” to the sweet optimism of “After the Rain Falls,” the record is a timeless collection of songs that speak to everyone no matter where they are on the unpredictable highway of life.

“One of the most talented musicians on the solo acoustic circuit... full of well-crafted songs and rich, emotional vocals.”
—Seattle Post Intelligencer

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