Most drummers just play the drums. Grant Clark plays the song. Instinctive and versatile, with an ear for arrangements, he played his first paying gig in 1965 at a fifth-grade party, where he made five bucks. In high school, he teamed up with classmate Jeff Root, an aspiring songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and singer. Together, they performed in a series of instantly forgettable bands that ultimately evolved into the promising Boston power pop quintet the Hot Dates in the early 80's. Their single "Tune In To Me" was in heavy rotation on local radio; they got a record deal, paid their dues in clubs all over New England, and opened for national acts along the way. But it's a rough business. The Hot Dates never broke through, and a painful musical divorce ensued. Grant and Jeff didn't speak for another 32 years.

In those ensuing three decades, Grant became a corporate lawyer (a man's gotta eat), but continued performing and doing session work wherever his day job took him: Southern California, the San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia and Washington, DC. Adding congas and Latin percussion to his repertoire, he has performed with artists as diverse as Demola Adepoju (guitarist for Paul Simon and King Sunny Ade); DC-based funk and soul review City Limits (fronted by sax man and poet Ted Onulak); LA salsa luminary Johnny Polanco; Boston North Shore rock and soul stalwarts Madhouse; and New Orleans standouts Henri Smith, Charmaine Neville, and Grammy winner Amadee Castenell.

Fast forward to 2014. Jeff, on an impulse, calls Grant. A conversation ensues: "What's up?" "Not much." And, thus, the collaboration was re-born; this time with the benefit of Jeff's brilliantly matured catalog of classic songs; the kind that are brand new and yet have been living in your pop subconscious forever. Three albums have resulted, with the latest being Endless Blue, featuring a dozen gems penned and sung by Jeff that subtly evoke Lennon and McCartney, the Byrds and Raspberries, and even Antonio Carlos Jobim.