Crisis of Confidence

Producer: Jim Reilley, Recorded: Cartoon Moon Studio and Jamie Dick’s, Mastered: Alex McCollough True East Mastering

Song by Song

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar: Mike Waldron, Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Ken Coomer

Engineer: Gabe Masterson, Mix: Alex Saddic

“Crisis of Confidence” traces a life shaped by fear, responsibility, and the quiet weight of unrealized dreams. The song moves through snapshots of youth and adulthood, showing how early anxieties evolve into deeper doubts about identity and possibility. Formative moments — watching after siblings, middle school, failure and college burnout — snowball and become a mind always bracing for impact. As the years pass, the narrator learns to shrink their hopes to fit the life they feel trapped in. It’s a reflective, aching portrait of someone who longs for change but has been taught to expect disappointment, capturing the heartbreak of losing faith in oneself.

Fields of Kansas

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Jamie Dick

Engineer: Jamie Dick, Mix: Alex Saddic

“Fields of Kansas” is a haunting account of immigrant‑frontier settlement. What begins as a hopeful journey toward land and legacy slowly reveals the cost of survival in a harsh, unforgiving sea of the unknown. The hope of generational bounty met with reality of fear, scarcity, and violence. The town’s isolation, the failed harvests, the empty church baskets, and the dangerous side hustles hint at a life lived on the edge of collapse. Even love becomes a shield against the inevitable. In the end the perils of an ocean they crossed pale in comparison to the tide they now face: pain of loss, sacrifice, and a legacy shaped as much by darkness as determination.

Bless Your Little Heart

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar: Mike Waldron, Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Ken Coomer

Engineer: Gabe Masterson, Mix: Alex Saddic

“Bless Your Little Heart” is a biting, tongue‑in‑cheek breakup anthem about a relationship that should’ve ended long before it did. Through a series of chaotic memories — emotional outbursts, petty arguments, bad habits, and red flags stacked like boxes in an overflowing garage — the narrator realizes the partnership was doomed from the start. The humor is dry, the resentment is simmering, and the tone walks a tightrope between exhaustion and liberation. Beneath the sarcasm lies a darker truth: sometimes the most damaging relationships are the ones we stay in out of habit, not love.

Blue Hydrangea

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic and Sam Woods, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Keio Stroud

Engineer: Adam Ollendorff, Mix: Josh Hastick

“Blue Hydrangea” is a lush, melancholy portrait of unrequited longing, using an old maw maw’s gardening tip as a metaphor for desiring release from heartache. The narrator keeps circling back to someone who offers just enough hope to reopen old wounds, leaving them wilted and colorless. Romantic daydreams clash with the reality of one‑sided affection, turning every meeting into a reminder of what will never bloom. The imagery grows darker as love becomes something invasive — a vine that chokes rather than nurtures. It’s a beautifully bitter meditation on wanting someone who can’t, or won’t, return the feeling.

Eli and Ellie

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Ken Coomer

Engineer: Gabe Masterson, Mix: Alex Saddic

“Eli and Ellie” traces a lifelong bond between two kids whose friendship quietly grows into an unshakeable love. Through vivid, small‑town snapshots — bike chains, bus stops, summer letters, and makeshift homes — it follows Eli and Ellie as they navigate loss, distance, and the fragile hope of building a life together. What begins as a childhood promise becomes a decades‑long partnership defined by loyalty and quiet resilience. As the story comes full circle, the song reveals itself as a gentle, heartbreaking tribute to choosing someone again and again, all the way to the final moment.

Caroline

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley

Engineer: Adam Ollendorff, Mix: Josh Hastick

“Caroline” captures the thrill of two kids tiptoeing around a small town that thinks it knows everything — that in-fact knows very little. They become the subject of whispered rumors, yet the fun lies in how wrong (and unintentionally innocent) those rumors are compared to what the two were actually up to. The story dances between sunlight and moonlight, between being seen and almost‑caught, with a wink that says the town’s suspicions don’t even scratch the surface. It’s playful, nostalgic, and delightfully sly — a secret shared between two kids who were always one step ahead of the gossip.

3-4 Time

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Adam Ollendorff, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Jamie Dick

Engineer: Jamie Dick, Mix: Alex Saddic

“3-4 Time” is a tender portrait of a couple learning to move through life together, treating every milestone like a dance they’re still practicing. From the spark of attraction to the chaos of raising three boys — and the surprise of a fourth — the story celebrates love that grows stronger through missteps, exhaustion, and uncertainty. The waltz becomes a symbol of their partnership: imperfect, steady, and always shared. Even when life feels overwhelming, the narrator chooses devotion over fear, promising that no matter how they stumble, they’ll never face the rhythm of the world without each other.

We Were Young

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Ken Coomer

Engineer: Gabe Masterson, Mix: Alex Saddic

“We Were Young” explores the fragile line between memory and reality, asking whether the past was truly as beautiful as we remember or simply softened by youth. It moves from childhood weightlessness to the ache of adult love, tracing how time transforms both our bodies and our certainty. As the narrator revisits old feelings and lost moments, they confront the fear that cherished memories might not withstand the present and the rigors that wait for us tomorrow. Yet the song lands on a quiet, mature acceptance: what once felt perfect wasn’t magic — it was youth — and rediscovering that truth brings its own kind of relief.

Vacations and Letters

Music and Lyrics: Patrick McCormic, Vocal and Acoustic Guitar: Patrick McCormic, Electric Guitar and Pedal Steel: Adam Ollendorff, Keys: Eric Fritsch, Bass: Jim Reilley, Drums: Ken Coomer

Engineer: Gabe Masterson, Mix: Alex Saddic

“Vacations and Letters” is a memory‑rich tribute to a family member whose joy, imagination, and warmth shaped childhood in unforgettable ways. Through snapshots of wrestling memorabilia, backyard adventures, bubble‑bath beards, and bed-time stories, the narrator recalls someone whose presence made the world brighter simply by being in it. The curse of having a relative with Down syndrome is the oft unspoken knowledge that we will outlive the beaming ray of light in front of us. Which is not an indictment on the situation as much as it is a celebration of the fleeting, singular way they move through life — with innocence, humor, and a kind of magic adults rarely keep. Though Benjamin’s time was short, the love he gave was enormous, leaving a legacy that still glows in every remembered moment.