For a guy involved with hit records by everyone from the Backstreet Boys to pop star Mandy Moore and rock outfit Shinedown, Tony Battaglia has no commercial expectations for his first solo album.
"I wanted to get this stuff off my chest, if for no other reason than to do it," says Battaglia, 60, who will celebrate his solo debut, "A Liar's Broken Heart," with a musical variety show on Thursday at The Abbey in downtown Orlando. "If I didn't do this, I was going to be very unhappy."
In reality, Battaglia — who is billing himself as "The Relic" for this project — admits that he was unhappy at the time inspiration struck for the 11-song album. He was reeling from divorce and wanted a way to share intense feelings with the people he loved. In the album's liner notes, he states that the songs were recorded "for what's left of my family."
Later in the credits, he thanks those who were "distractions and disappointments" for inspiring the music "by being everything you said you're not."
Lyrically, the material is equally blunt, a contrast to exceedingly pretty musical tracks that form the foundation of compact, well-crafted pop and rock songs. The way threads of organ, guitars and voices are woven together, it's hard to imagine that the project was executed in the producer's Altamonte Springs home.
Even in emotional distress, Battaglia could still rely on the musical and production skills honed in the studios where he worked on tracks such as "Backstreet's Back" and Moore's "Candy."
"It took a month or two to do it," Battaglia says of his album. "I'd write a song and track it. I'd get up at 5 in the morning, open up all the windows and sing my heart out. I live on a lake and I'd hear birds chirping in the recording and I'd say, 'Man, that's the way it is.'"
Battaglia's studio ensemble included an array of talented Orlando musicians, some that Battaglia has collaborated with as producer.
Beth McKee, whose "Next to Nowhere" CD was produced by Battaglia, added accordion. Jessy Daumen, who has worked with Battaglia on some yet-to-be-released songs, played violin and mandolin. The lineup also included multi-instrumentalist Dan Walters on piano and Anthony Manzo on backing vocals.
The idea was to keep the instrumentation rooted in the fundamental elements of guitars, bass, drums and piano, an idea inspired by Battaglia's post-divorce playlist.
"I was listening to Jackson Browne a lot," Battaglia says. "I was trying to understand how this guy connected with people through songs like 'Fountain of Sorrow' and 'Late for the Sky.' I wanted to hear a guy who wrote a song first."
At the CD release show, Battaglia's songs will share time with comedian Mykl Herlihy, torch-song piano man Michael Lamy, blues guitarist Henry Black, singer-songwriter Emily Kopp, a Manzo dance performance and a partial reunion of the Snooks, a revered Orlando rock band of the 1970s and '80s that featured Battaglia in his younger days.
The album and the show have helped Battaglia shake his sorrow, he says.
"I think it has helped me," he says. "And I've realized there are a lot of people who live with these emotions every day. It's something that has been pushed to the bottom of people's lives and they are not so easy to talk about it, what really pains them.
"But I believe it's the best medicine."
jcabbott@tribune.com or 407-420-6213
The Relic
What: Tony Battaglia CD release show for "A Liar's Broken Heart"
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15
Where: The Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive, No. 100, Orlando
Cost: $10
Call: 407-704-6103.
Online: abbeyorlando.com
