Optimism can be elusive, unless you’re listening to this song.

Gratitude and good fortune sleep together inside the soul.  Whether listening to this tune during a gloomy day full of disappointment, or during a stroll on a glorious Spring morning, you’ll feel awakened into thankfulness before we reach the Coda.

Sometime during the recording and mixing process, Drew mentioned “Lucky Dog”.  I had been wondering how I’d portray this song in a video, and there was the answer.  We’re dedicating this work to everyone who rescues dogs and gives them their “Lucky Dog” smile.  Making it even more enjoyable, I asked my Route1Views team members to send me heartwarming shots of their smiling rescue dogs and reached out to other friends who had adopted canines.  I spent time in Venice Beach and on Route One meeting and photographing new 4-legged friends and the people who give them a home.  This trip includes many of the SPCAs and shelters from Maine to Rhode Island along Route One where you can adopt a pet!

We’ve written some tearjerkers during the 7 years we’ve been writing music together, but this isn’t one of those.  This tune has a jaunty melody made for marriage to the upbeat style of stride jazz.  With echoes of Ragtime and elements of Swing, vintage meets contemporary as it might in a Route One speakeasy. In this recording, Drew plays his 1923 C.G. Conn “victor” model cornet at one of the finest recording spaces in the Delaware Valley, replete with all of the digital bells and whistles to make it sound its finest.  No pops and scratches from a vinyl 78 here!

Okay… one, two, three.. get happy!!

Written by Drew Nugent and Peter Evans, 2021 at “The Barn” in Wynnewood, PA

Recorded and mixed at Silvertone Studios, Ardmore, PA

Alfred Goodrich, Engineering and mix

Drew Nugent: Coronet, Piano and vocal

Skip Rohrich and Michael Jerome, Percussion

Bob Rawlins, Clarinet

Jim Stager, Bass