This EP of 5 songs took me 14 years to finish. Why? I had to be comfortable with putting the past behind me, I guess. I'd like to dedicate this album to my son, Charles Pasquale Pucci. In May 2000, we lost Charlie 8 months into the pregnancy due to pre-eclampsia. It was devastating, and I still think about it a lot, always thinking about what life would have been like watching that boy with the long legs and dark hair grow up.

Part of my grief response to this event was musical, of course. I wrote a number of songs. This EP, "The Silent Land", is now and finally the result. Two of the songs, "Autumn Breeze" from my 48th release, SNAPSHOT (AUGUST 2001), and "Today You are Coming Back to Me" from my 57th release TEALIGHT SOULS (May 2002), were previously released. The other three songs I just couldn't get around to finishing until now. Make of that what you will.

For the song "Charles", the released version is pretty much the way it's sounded for over a decade, buried on my computer, it just never fit on a release until now. "Baby Boy" I knew was a special song, but by the time I realized I needed to remix it, I'd decided to do this tribute album to Charlie, and projects sometimes get stuck on the back burner. "Remember" needed some extra guitar bits to be added, and a mix done, for a long time it was just a framework of a song.

I'd like to mention my friend Brian Hutton in regards to "Remember". He was there for me to talk to when I was processing my grief, and he suggested I take Christina Rossetti's poem to heart. It has helped me much over the years, and I additionally always think of Brian as man of integrity whom I respect greatly. "Remember" became the source of the album title, THE SILENT LAND.

My friend Gina McKenzie took the cover photo. She is a passionate photographer with a great eye for the beauty in a landscape, be it great or small, and her almost-daily postings on Facebook of her latest work has caused me to hit the "like" button likely 100s of times! She knows that my highest praise for one of her photos is, "Hey, this should be a CD cover!", and she's gracious enough to let me use her work for that purpose. THE SILENT LAND won't be the last time you see one of Gina's photos representing one of my albums, I hope. Gina is also super cool because I met her at a concert by THE CHURCH, she has great taste in music!

Finally, October is the National Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month. I know other people who have lost children too early, and I'm sure many of you do too. Life can be such a challenge, it'd be great if we can eliminate as many tragedies as possible from our existential experiences. Please consider supporting charities that help fight birth defects and other pregnancy issues.