I was four when Vysotsky died, but his music was always played at my home and around me. I started playing Vysotsky as soon as I first learned to play guitar in 1989, like thousands of other Russian boys. My second or third song was his "If Your Friend" known at that time to every preschooler. I memorized the majority of Vysotsky's catalog and played his songs at various informal gatherings, to relative success.

After moving to the US, I almost immediately began translating his songs into English. My first translations were hideous, just like my English skills. But as my English improved, I kept returning to these translations and improving them as well.  15 years later I deemed some of them worthy of being recorded.

I first attempted recording them with DJ Chkalov in August of 2005. I didn't like both the process and the result. Then in May 2007, my vocal coach, Polina Goudieva, offered me to record in her studio. I took up on her offer. The project was self-financed all the way. Quickly I realized that playing 16 songs in Vysotsky's manner (one acoustic guitar, five chords), so popular at various Russian cultural events, would be boring for the American audience. I decided to change the arrangements, while preserving the melody. Some songs were left as acoustic pieces. Some songs were given orchestral arrangements, similar to Vysotsky's own recordings with Soviet orchestras. Others were completely re-arranged, made into blues, heavy metal, or even genre-bending fusion.

I enlisted all of my instrument-playing friends and hired some professionals. As opposed to "normal" bands that first practice and then go into studio to record, I was going to the studio with an acoustic guitar, and we wrote arrangements on the spot, with one guest musician at a time, leaving very little room for error. There were moments of triumph. There were moments of extreme frustration.  Almost ten months later, in March 2008, I held the "Singer, Sailor, Soldier, Spirit" CD in my hands. You can too.

It turned out that I wasn't done.  In fact, I have acquired some experience in both translating and recording processes.  I was also able to convince Russain blues legend Yuri Naumov to produce the sequel.  The second album, titled "Two Fates", took three years to finish (it's scheduled for release in May 2012).  Like the first one, it featurs an international cast of superb musicians.  Unlike the first one, the production values are ten times the quality.  Parallel to that, I play live shows (acoustic and electric) and record random translations whenever I can (such as my recent performance with symphonic orchestra in Yekaterinburg, Russia).  You can check for news and updates in Facebook page ("News & Events" section).