Angie Aparo's Declaration of Independence

Head shaved clean and sporting a faded Neil Young & Crazy Horse T-shirt, Angie Aparo ambles about the stage at Chattanooga, Tenn., club Rhythm & Brews. He and his band set up their equipment for soundcheck against a backdrop of faded brick and black-cloth tapestries. An American flag hangs haphazardly in the corner and as the drummer taps his snare—slightly muted by what looks like a white bed-sheet—a resounding echo bounces around the club’s vaulted ceiling. After they finish, Angie and I cut through the back door into the noisy, non-descript bar and grill that shares the other half of the building. Fresh off a tour with Squeeze’s Glenn Tillbrook—and in the middle of one with singer-songwriter Teitur Lassen—Aparo isn’t the type of guy you’d expect to have have penned a tune that became a pop-country mega-hit for Faith Hill.

“Faith covering ‘Cry’ didn’t affect me much [as an artist],” Aparo says sipping a sweet tea. “On the business end—a little cash and the shows got more recognition. But I didn’t write the song specifically for her. I kind of keep my songs for me and I don’t mind if they’re covered, but I view my career more as—make my records, document my life and if stuff spills off of it, that’s cool.”

Aparo’s new independent release, For Stars And Moon, is a beautifully arranged album of piano and acoustic guitar-anchored tunes that call to mind the later, more organic Beatles recordings. After his mutually-agreed upon release from Arista, the songwriter says he’s looking for a new label but is in no hurry. “I don’t really care,” Aparo says, his smile accentuating the tiny wrinkles around his eyes. “If you sign a record deal, it’s two to three years of your life. Whether it goes or it doesn’t, you lose that much time.”