I've been working on a record with the band Tommy and the Whale as a bass player. It's been an interesting and rewarding experience. I love what we do as a band. I love the songs we produce. It's accessible. It's fun. It's just good music.

However, I've been thinking about the thievery involved. We steal the Memphis pocket, the Motown horns, the layering of post-Beatles McCartney, the twang and thump of the golden years of country. Though it's extremely difficult to pin us to one sound or a single influence, the elements we love from the past 50 years of popular music are obviously present.

The questions raised, at least in my mind, is there validity to our music? Is it original? The collective musical mind of the Whale is a Frankenstein of the rock and roll we have come to love in our time on this planet. It seems to me that all music created in this day and age is directly derivative. Is that how it has to be? Is there some grander goal, some new sound we should be searching for? Or is brilliance simply found in combination, the sum of the thefts arranged in a new way?

Tallest Trees is a blatant theft of African-American tradition; blues, soul, spirituals, rock, all twisted together in a way that is hopefully fresh and interesting. But I want more. I want to define a sound, such a grand goal for such a meager musician.

Is it possible to create a sound free of influence from other sounds. Is there something new under the sun? Could it be listenable and accessible?

Now, obviously every genre evolved from another. Someone pushed the boundaries of funk and r and b to develop hip-hop. Some one sped up the blues and country to develop rock and roll. And to be at the forefront of these genre clashes was the stuff of legends. Is there another way?

Questions. Possibly unanswerable questions. But don't the musicians out there owe it to themselves and humanity to search for something pure? Or shall we continue to copy and mock the greats, who also were copiers and mockers?

Purity and Honesty in sound, what a thought! What a goal! Impossible? Someone at some point made a new sound not yet heard by mankind and it influenced the world. Shall we strive for that again or is it too difficult?