Greensky Bluegrass guitarist Dave Bruzza has announced he will release his debut solo debut exclusively on 45rpm vinyl which will be available during his Unsafe at Any Speed shows set for this May. The album entitled, Heart of Santa Cruz, sees the cofounder of the nationally-touring, genre-blasting bluegrass band deliver two highly thought-out and polished surf rock songs.

“I decided to pick two of the songs and go the distance with them and release them in an appropriate format, a 45rpm record. This format makes the most sense for these two songs. Just like the ones kids would buy in the early 60s but with a modern flair to it,” said Bruzza in a statement. “The subtle crackle of the finished product just adds to the recordings and complements the music in such a way that wouldn’t be heard or felt digitally, it is the best way to hear and experience these songs.”

Like many touring musicians Bruzza took the free time offered by the pandemic to explore and experiment with the recording process, and although he was familiar with recording gear he was curious as to why and how groups like The Ventures, The Lively Ones and Dick Dale sounded the way they did. “I was fascinated by the reverb and simple force of the music, so I asked myself ‘Why does it sound like that? How did they go about recording this?’ After some research, I read how they would place microphones to capture the songs and started conducting my own experiments in my apartment in Denver. That just opened the door for me, and I was making new songs every day!”

Bruzza plays all the instruments featured on the record and overdubbed them himself, they were remotely mixed with his old friend Ian Gorman who is the owner of La Luna Recording and Sound in Kalamazoo, Mich. the record was cleaned up by engineer Anna Frcik in Colorado.

“I have never made a solo record before; I have always worked in groups, so this [is] a special moment in my life as a musician. I have always wanted to make a record by myself, it was just something that always had been intriguing to me being a multi-instrumentalist,” concluded Bruzza in his statement. “And I never thought in a million years that it would be surf rock music! So here it is, my first solo release Heart of Santa Cruz. Written, performed, and recorded by me.”

Dave Bruzza’s Unsafe At Any Speed tour will kick off at Otus Supply in Ferndale, Mich. on May 12. Learn more here.