Clay Stafford Presents
XO the Album

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About the Album

Growing up, Clay Stafford and I each and separately had two passions: words and music. Personally, I read everything I could get my hands on, and — with the hubris of youth — wrote fiction and poetry nonstop. As for music, I listened to every genre and decided, also at a young age, to become a singer-songwriter, following in the footsteps of my idols, like Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Paul Simon (did I mention hubris?). Clay followed a similar path, performing in multiple bands, composing for film and television, and even minoring in music composition and arrangement for contemporary music and orchestras!)

My goal was not to be a superstar but to be a working singer-songwriter. Alas, it was not to be — because, of course, it’s not enough to be a good wordsmith; one must be a stellar performer to succeed in the business. And the phrase singer-songwriter carries two indispensable components. The second part — writing — I was pretty good at. The former, not so much.

When I began writing novels, years ago, I was always looking for the opportunity to incorporate lyrics of mine into a thriller. I experimented with this in a short story called The Fan six or seven years ago, and then went all out and wrote a number of original country-western/pop lyrics for my book XO, or updated some of my early lyrics. Some of the lyrics simply add flavor to the novel (about a stalker of an attractive and popular country singer); others contain actual clues to help the reader figure out who the villain is.

I wanted to hire musicians to create the music to one song — Your Shadow, which I wrote the lyrics in the spirit of Every Breath You Take, which could be a love song, could be a stalker song. I was then going to have someone record it and I’d offer it free as a download or for streaming, accompanying the book. I was surprised, to say the least, when Clay Stafford, my friend and the head of the great production company, American Blackguard in Nashville, suggested setting all of my lyrics to music and releasing them as an album.

I debated five seconds and said, “You bet!” A partnership was formed.

The album of these songs — lyrics by me, music by Clay and Ken Landers, produced by Clay, and sung by Treva Blomquist — has now being released.

Thinking back all those years to my early days as a musician, I can’t help but hear echoes of one of my favorite songs from back then: Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

— Jeffery Deaver
#1 International Bestselling Author