I didn’t have the honor of knowing Billy Conway personally, but the impact that his musical journey has had on my own personal musical journey is profound. His imprint is forever left as the thumping heartbeat on some of my favorite records in Caitlin Canty‘s “Reckless Skyline” and Jeffrey Foucault‘s “Salt as Wolves“. His uncanny ability to be so incredibly subtle, yet so impactful, with his playing is a phenomenon and testament to an artist in the truest fashion. Always adding to and never taking away from or overshadowing.

Hi-n-Dry records, of which Billy was a key player, was a namesake that produced records for some of my heroes and favorite local artists at the time in Jimmy Ryan, Session Americana and Three Day Threshold. Morphine was a band name, that as a Boston musician, you held on a tall pedestal. The threads of his art and impact were stitched steadfast into the fabric of New England and beyond.

As the liner notes for this record state, Further On: The Songs of Billy Conway is a kind of working wake and a pouring out of their love and grief for their friend and his songs. Celebrating songs that may have been shared with one or two folks, but never given the proper treatment they so fully deserved.

I should live outside these walls I think I should

I can do without alcohol I wish I could

After all is said and done

Nothing’s what happens most under the sun

Just a few things matter at all after all

Billy’s writing style seems to the point, honest and pure. Observations and self reflections. The fact that these songs are now only truly seeing the light of day speaks both to Billy’s humble nature and how an artist can view the art of songcraft as a true medium for their own expression and expelling emotion in a poignant and self healing way. If we all could take a small page from that book when it comes to creation I think we would all be a lot better off.

Songs always have some impact on the listener. A bad song can leave you with a certain taste in your mouth and a great song, written with a bleeding heart on the page, can leave the faint taste of salt lingering on your cheeks. Listening to this absolutely beautiful tribute to a silent juggernaut of the musical community is both heart wrenching and warming at the same time. Fighting back the tears and listening deeply with a smile crossing my face. Somewhere, I am sure he is smiling at his friend’s brilliant tribute and cheering them on.

I wont’ sit here and write “favorite tracks” or anything like that, because each of these breath and move on their own, through the voices of each artist who has tackled one of Conway’s songs. Be sure to listen, buy this record and celebrate the songs, life and impact that Billy has had, and continues to have, on the music community.