Johnny & The Mongrels

True Life - Johnny Ryan/Scott Sharrard– Being self-aware, or at least working on the concept has been a lifetime quest for Johnny. The song True Life is a testament to learning to trust oneself and move through moments when you feel unsure or challenged. Once you do so, you often wonder why you hesitated in the first place. Getting the opportunity to share the vocal work on this track with the incomparable Roddie Romero was also a great joy.



- Johnny remembers, “True Life was originally slated to be a slow Stevie Wonder style funk-shuffle but while in NYC during a writing session with Scott Sharrard, the song took on more of a slinky blues groove that eventually drummer Eddie Christmas brought to life incredibly well in the studio. Then to top it off, after the Lafayette, LA legend Roddie Romero had finished laying squeeze box tracks on the song Music Man for the album, we asked him if he'd be down to duet True Life with me. We spent about 30 minutes rehearsing the song in the control room and then went in and recorded the song in the same two vocal booths Bill McKay and I had used for the song Just Keep Walking. So being able to see each other through the window was fun and pretty helpful to make sure we were on the same page and could also decide who was gonna riff when and all...so fun!”