Stay Here with Me

We’ve all been in that dark, despairing place that multi-talented singer/songwriter DeeAnn sings of on her soulful, deeply passionate new single “Stay Here with Me.” We thought we had met the mate of our dreams, only to question everything when he or she walks away, sometimes without reason or warning. No matter what we’ve been through, we remember how it felt to be with this person who changed our life and we’ll do anything to have just a little more time.

Co-written with the Buffalo based artist’s longtime producer, renowned bassist RiShon Odel, the song perfectly captures those raw, plain-spoken feelings from the start, when DeeAnn sings: “I don’t want to live this life without you by my side/Ever since you walked away, I’m slowly dying inside. . .Every time I see you, I want you more and more…” The chorus finds her simply asking her loved one to “Stay Here With Me,” adding depth to her emotion with lush, dreamy scatting - just one of the remarkable tools in her vast artistry - that reminds us that sometimes it’s just hard to find words to convey the depth of all we’re feeling.

Recorded live at Red Booth Studios in Rochester, NY with a full band and string quartet, “Stay Here with Me” was originally released on DeeAnn’s 2019 EP Stay Here, but now makes the perfect follow-up single to her remarkable 2023 breakthrough album It’s My Time. There were a lot of possibilities to choose from, including any of the beautifully arranged standards and originals from her latest collection. She chose “Stay Here with Me” because it’s become a much-requested staple in her live performances at Buffalo hotspots like Sportsmen’s Tavern, PAUSA Art House and the historic Colored Musician’s Club.

DeeAnn could never have imagined it at the time of recording, but the concept of “Stay Here with Me” extends beyond the realm of romantic longing as an expression of her grief and enduring love for her son William, who passed away in a motorcycle accident at 23 not long after she and Odel had completed most of the tracks of It’s My Time. The poignancy of some of the lines in the second verse apply powerfully to her and anyone who is mourning a loved one: “Baby please don’t tell me this is time for us to part/Can’t you see without you slowly it’s breaking my heart.”

“With God’s help, William has given me the drive to keep going in all of my endeavors, from bodybuilding to music,” DeeAnn says. “He appreciated my focus on training my body and keeping it strong. On days when I would make excuses for not working out, he would say to me, ‘No excuses, Mom. Just do it.’ A friend of mine burnt that expression into a piece of wood so I would never forget it. In life, if you don’t ask and don’t try, the answer is always no. If you don’t ask, you’ll never know if someone gives you a chance. William’s spirit and life force is still with me. Between him, God and my 24-year-old daughter Gracie, I find the strength to keep on going.”

When DeeAnn returned to finish It’s My Time, she added several new, very personal songs, starting with a heartrending, gospel-influenced version of “You Are My Sunshine”, a song she sang to William to put him to sleep when he was a child. Odel’s sensitive yet rousing and inspirational production features members of the Buffalo Philharmonic String Quartet (Roman Mekhulnov). Another original tune she added, the soulful ballad, “A Little Romance,” is a homage to the “angels” who helped her during her lowest points.

The singer laid the foundation for her newly burgeoning career with her cleverly titled 2017 collection Desperately Seeking DeeAnn, which was produced by contemporary jazz bassist, RiShon Odel (Brian Culbertson, Najee). When her father, popular Buffalo area jazz performer Frank DiMeo, learned she was finally embracing what he felt was her destiny as a jazz singer, he was thrilled. Though she had previously sung pop and country professionally, he was the one who introduced her as a little girl to the music of Ella Fitzgerald and his favorite, Sarah Vaughan. DeeAnn invited him to sing two duets with her, “Unforgettable” and “Fly Me to the Moon.”

Hailing from a small steel town outside of Buffalo, DeeAnn was raised in a musical family, learning standards that would eventually become part of her repertoire. In addition to the smooth vocal stylings of her father Frank, she was inspired early on by Buffalo Blue Note legend, DoDo Green and attended multiple jazz jams. During her early days as a pop/rock singer, she won Best Female Vocalist at the Buffalo Music Awards two years in a row. Her later success as a country artist earned her placements on numerous radio CD compilations, resulting in airplay throughout the U.S and Europe. When she returned to music as a jazz-blues singer in the mid-2010’s, she won Best Female Blues Vocalist at the Buffalo Night Life Music Awards and Stay Here won Best Jazz CD from JazzBuffalo.org.