i wrote & recorded "i don't know," the 2nd track on "tunes for bears to dance to" at home in upstate new york. the house where i grew up is nestled in the woods 8 miles outside our little town, so it felt pretty remote. i tracked the song live to my isight mic, sitting on the porch--around the 2-minute mark you can hear a car drive past. wonder what that person is doing this moment. i still dig the simple ambiance of the track, which was the first one i wrote on mandolin, an instrument i learned on tour with chris bell.

this tune is fairly straightforward lyrically. as a freshman in college, i had yet to declare a major & felt generally rudderless, wrestling with competing urges to devote myself to schoolwork/gainful employment or my more creative socially unconventional endeavors like songwriting & touring (literally wrestling - "you may have me by the tail but i have got you by the throat"). "give the girls a twist and shout" is a metaphor for performing music. "you kids keep your good shoes on" refers to my habit of wearing shoes until they fell apart, while also serving as a metaphor for the perceived parental & social pressure to study & get a "professional" job (where i presumed intact non-hole-filled shoes would be required). i envied classmates who had declared majors & seemed to clearly know their purpose - "you know right where you belong." felt out of reach at the time.

drew & adam's cover fleshes out the song's arrangement but maintains the sorta lackadaisical delivery, riding the tension between asking big questions but feeling like there's time to figure out the answers. love their version & so happy they contributed to the covers album.