Song of the Day: David Campbell and John Bucchino's "It Feels Like Home"

David Campbell, John Bucchino — Singer David Campbell and songwriter John Bucchino in the studio.

There’s a new CD I wanted to tell you about called David Campbell Sings John Bucchino. Mr. Campbell is one of Australia’s top-selling singers and television personalities. Mr. Bucchino is one of America’s best musical theater composers and songwriters, best known for The Catered Affair, his excellent production written with Harvey Fierstein from a few seasons ago. If you are someone who enjoys beautiful songs sung beautifully (as most reasonable people are), then David and John’s collaboration will impress you as much as it has impressed me.

David Campbell is the rarest of things: an ungimmicky stylist with beautiful tone and the confidence to trust the music and lyrics he’s singing. The simple, exquisite piano accompaniment by Bucchino lends gives the recording great intimacy and immediacy; it is all that’s required here. In an age of digital bloat, when any track hack with a computer thinks they’re a songwriter and any pole dancer with auto-tune a recording artist, David Campbell Sings John Bucchino feels more like a revelation. I first met songwriter John Bucchino in the mid-1990s, though I cannot remember exactly how, probably through our mutual friend, songwriter Lindy Robbins. What I do remember explicitly is how impressed I was by his artistry and captivated by the haunting beauty of his music. I also remember that John himself was very much like the songs he created: earnest; vulnerable; and so frequently poignant.

I have loved several of the songs David has recorded for many years. “It Feels Like Home” has always been a particular favorite; I have always been touched by its lyrical concept of defining “home” not as a physical structure but as a state of mind we can attain through intimacy with another person. Speaking of intimate connections, on a technical level I have always appreciated how perfectly married John’s music and lyrics are—you just can’t imagine one existing separate from the other. For me this has always been one of the foremost criteria of a well-crafted song. From the moment I heard a lovely singer named Lois Sage sing this song on a cassette tape of a demo John gave me 20 years ago, “It Feels Like Home” has never been far from my heart. Now with David’s new recording I have fallen in love with it all over again.

Here is a small taste of the most excellent CD these gentleman have created. David Campbell Sings John Bucchino is available today on iTunes.