Zero drummer Greg Anton was going through a rough time in his personal life in the late-1980s. Grateful Dead lyricist and longtime Anton collaborator Robert Hunter picked up on Greg’s issues and infused some of those emotions in the words for “I Will Love You,” a song featuring music penned by Greg Anton. Today, Anton released a version of “I Will Love You” recorded in the late-1980s.
Anton is joined on the “new” “I Will Love You” by vocalist Isabel Tercero, pianist Nicky Hopkins, guitarist Steve Kimock and bassist Liam Hanrahan. “A poignant love ballad and most unusual Hunter lyric. I’ve often thought that many people would find it hard to believe that these are Robert Hunter lyrics,” Greg explained. “The verses are classic Hunter oblique poignancy, but the choruses are a straight shooter at the heart.”
“I Will Love You” was recorded at the Zero Music Barn in California’s West Marin County. Greg Anton shared more regarding the new version and the genesis of the song:
My dear friend Isabel Tercero from Nicaragua is a cigar-smoking master musician, the freest of spirits with a truly enchanting voice and a gigantic heart. As always, Nicky Hopkins knocked it out of the park on piano in one take. (I showed him one time through a verse and chorus, he said ‘roll the tape’ and played the song like he’d been playing it his whole life). Steve added his stylistically unique slide guitar, Liam laid down the perfect fat ballad bass and for you audio nuts, the drums were recorded with one Sennheiser 421 microphone that Kimock adeptly pointed into the center of my back while I played.
Of interest regarding the songwriting process: most songs that Hunter gave me had multiple verse/chorus/bridges that we mixed and matched. (One example; when I gave Hunter music for the Zero song ‘Chance in a Million’, he gave me 6 or 8 verses/choruses, maybe more. The final version of the song is 3 verses, one chorus and a bridge.
With the song ‘I will Love You’, I played Hunter the music on his piano, the next day he sent me the words, we didn’t change one word or one note.
The track is latest collaboration between Anton and Hunter, who passed away in 2019, from Greg’s vault. Additional songs featuring lyrics by Robert Hunter are coming from Greg Anton later this year. Stream “I Will Love You” below, which Greg suggests you do while reading the lyrics:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/i-will-love-you/1549394870?i=1549394871
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Greg Anton Shares ‘American Spring’ Single Featuring Lyrics By Robert Hunter
Greg Anton shared a new single, “American Spring,” featuring words from the late great Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter.
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