A Note From Gary

First, let me say thank you to all of you who have sent kind and supportive messages to our family, and to so many of you who have supported Gary Sinise Foundation with the purchase of the vinyl recording of Mac Sinise Resurrection & Revival. It was Mac’s wish that, with any sales of his album, all proceeds from the vinyl would go to the Foundation to help support the mission he loved so much. The album continues to sell, and the digital release is doing well also.

Shortly after Mac’s death on January 5th, 2024, I began combing through his files, his Dropbox, his iPad and iPhone. I found letters he’d written to family, thoughts he wanted to get down on paper hoping they would be discovered later. Videos he’d made and kept for us to see should anything happen. Beautiful things that he meant for us to have.

I also discovered music that he’d written and tucked away. Some of the compositions I had heard before, like the music he’d written during his time at Gary Sinise Foundation for the documentary Always Do A Little More. But then I also found additional music he’d written for the Foundation videos that was never used. Beautiful music hidden away in his files that I had not heard. There were songs he’d written and recorded in college and after college.

And then there were charts, sheet music he’d written within the past few years for tunes that were in his head but never were recorded. With some of those I even found voice memos on his phone. Mac singing into his phone the melodies that he was composing in his head while lying in his hospital bed. And more.

So, with the discovery of so much more music I had a thought. I reached out to his producing partner on Resurrection & Revival, his pal Oliver Schnee, with an idea for another “Mac Music Project.” I played a lot of the music for Oliver. He loved it and was immediately on board to work on a second album, Resurrection & Revival: Part Two.

And here we are.

(August 22, 2024, at Ocean Way Studios, Nashville Tennessee)

There is such tremendous variety in the music on this record. Mac had a love for many different genres and while he was an exceptional drummer, his time at USC’s Thornton School of Music allowed him to explore many other musical interests: Songwriting and composition, film scoring, conducting, singing and more. He was taking piano lessons and guitar lessons for his writing. There are songs on this record dating back to his college days, recordings of his originals like “Angel’s Theme” and “Vampire Attack” where his songwriting and drumming skills come into play.

In 2013, while in the Pop Music Program at USC, “Gunslingers of Zanthia” is a song he wrote with his pal Shane Fogerty, son of John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. On this homage to the Ennio Morricone scores from the old westerns of Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone, Mac does vocals on the song with Shane on guitar.

(Mac pictured here singing “Gunslingers of Zanthia” during a Pop Music performance at USC)

And another Mac vocal on this record is a cover he recorded in 2015 after college, of the old Nat King Cole classic, “Nature Boy,” written by Eden Ahbez. Mac plays all the instruments as well.

His time at USC was very special to him. He made great musician pals in those days, and along with Oliver working on this record, I invited some of those pals to come play on the final song Mac wrote called “Quasi Love”. In the spring of 2023. He came up with the melody, wrote some lyrics and a preliminary chart, and then teamed up with Dan Myers of my Lt. Dan Band to get it started. After Mac died, I discovered it in his files and asked Dan to finish it up so we could include it in this wonderful compilation of songs for Part Two. We recorded “Quasi Love” at Ocean Way Studios in Nashville on July 29th, 2024, surrounded by photos of Mac we’d spread throughout the studio.

He was right there with us.

I got to play bass along with his USC pals, AJ Novak, Brandon Woodward and Scott Heiner on drums and percussion, former Mac bandmates Alex Morgan and Jake Hays on guitars, his dear friend Lia Woodward lending some vocals on the chorus, and the entire Lt. Dan Band joining in for the session, all playing our hearts out for Mac. It’s a great, fun rockin’ song.

(July 29, 2024, at Ocean Way Studios)

There are jazz selections on this record as well. A sweet ballad that Mac wrote on piano for a music theory class project back in 2012. Recently, a friend had found a recording of Mac playing the song on piano and it was forwarded to me. I was so grateful to receive it. Another lovely Mac melody, perfect for a jazz quartet.

I asked my piano player/music director Ben Lewis to do an arrangement for this and he did a beautiful job. As it was untitled, (all it said on the file was “Theory Project”), I decided to call it “Mac Theory.” And as an intro to the song, we incorporated a bit of Mac’s original piano recording from 2012.

I also asked Ben to do an arrangement for another song Mac wrote last spring, a big band swing tune he calls “Sweep Sweepin’.” Even as he struggled with cancer in his final year, he was always creating. “Sweep Sweepin’" and “Quasi Love” were written last year while in his wheelchair or lying in his hospital bed. And as an extra treat, both these tunes begin with the voice memo recordings of Mac singing the melodies into his iwhatPhone as he was creating the songs.

Mac loved movies, and back in 2017 I asked him to compose some music for the documentary film Always Do A Little More that my Foundation video team was making.

He wrote and recorded all the music himself on his various programs, and when I played Mac’s original recordings for Oliver, he flipped.

I asked him to go to work transposing and expanding this music as he’d done with Mac on the first record for “Arctic Circles” and some of the other compositions. We tied it all together in a suite, the “Always Do A Little More: Suite.”

“The Veterans” is also a composition Mac wrote for the film. We decided to let it stand on its own, with some beautiful new writing and arranging from Oliver.

I also found a chart Mac had written for a song he simply titled, “Piano Tune #1.” A lovely piece with a note he’d written at the top of the chart that read: A La Heaven Can Wait. As said, Mac loved movie music, and he was a fan of the Dave Grusin score to the Warren Beatty film Heaven Can Wait. After I found the chart, I asked Ben Lewis to play it for me. Beautiful. Oliver did the arrangement following Mac’s notes and Ben is featured on piano.

“Tree Frog” is a cool composition Mac wrote for the Foundation in 2017 with all his various computer programs, creating all the sounds. Again, I had never heard this one either. I guess Mac may have been watching a nature show with tree frogs hopping around when he came up with it.

And as he did on Part One, once again, Mac plays harmonica.

This time on a beautiful, sweet version of the old western classic “Home on the Range.” Oliver had recorded him playing it in 2023, but it didn’t make it onto the first album. They created a nice arrangement, and it is included in Part Two, featuring our pals Dan Myers and Levi Britton of Stolen Silver.

And also included on the record is another Stolen Silver arrangement of Mac’s 2012 song called “Eyes of Marigold.” The ballad version is on Part One, and we have their up-tempo version on Part Two.

One of Mac’s college compositions is the hauntingly beautiful, “Waltz for Addicts.” The music video for this piece has been featured at Mac Sinise YouTube for some time, with Mac conducting the ensemble. This was such an important piece for Mac, inspiring his friend Lia Woodward to write a script for the animated film Luna and Lars, also at Mac Sinise YouTube. Take a look at these and other videos here:

Also in college, Mac had a wonderful collaboration with the great female vocalist/songwriter Lou Roy. They were good pals and after graduation they recorded two songs that are on this album. The first, Mac’s “Just for Now,” with Mac writing the lyrics and creating all the music and Lou contributing her amazing vocals. The second, a bluesy rock tune they wrote together with Mac producing called "Sweet Savior.” I asked Oliver to lend a hand with his arranging skills on both, so we added a few elements to each while maintaining Mac’s original recordings. Two really great songs. And Lou also sings on “Waltz for Addicts.”

(August 22 at Ocean Way Studios)

Mac left us these beautiful musical treasures and discovering this music motivated me to bring it all to life. I suppose working on his music has kept me busy and feeling close to him. Like he’s right here encouraging us. This project has certainly helped me to manage the pain. A blessing for sure.

I know in my heart that Mac is happy to share it with all of you. You can preorder it now and we will begin shipping after our official launch on November 10, Mac’s 34th birthday. And once again, just as Mac wanted with his first album, all proceeds from sales of the vinyl for Resurrection and Revival Part Two will go to the Gary Sinise Foundation to support our mission.
There are 17 original compositions plus two covers on this double vinyl album. 19 total. Mac left us these beautiful musical treasures and discovering this music motivated me to bring them to life. I hope you will enjoy this music like we do.

Thank you, Mac, for your heart, your love for all your family and friends, and for creating this beautiful music that we will treasure always. We miss you so.

- Gary Sinise,
Proud Father of Mac Sinise