After 35 years in music, John Michael Ferrari is looking back at one of the most enduring subjects in songwriting: love. His new album, Love Is…, brings together songs shaped by romance, heartbreak, gratitude, lasting relationships, and the ways love changes as life moves forward. Rather than treating the milestone as a look back at his career alone, Ferrari uses the album to reflect on what love has meant across different chapters of his life.
That idea also extends to the way the album is being released. Love Is… is available as a signed and numbered limited edition vinyl, with only 1,000 copies produced. For Ferrari, the physical record gives the project a sense of permanence. It is something listeners can hold onto, return to, and potentially pass down, turning the album into more than a digital release tied to a particular moment.
The songs are built around classic songwriting and a warm, romantic sound, with the arrangements leaving room for the lyrics and melodies to carry the weight. There is a reflective quality throughout the collection, fitting an album created by an artist looking at love through years of experience rather than a single point in time. Ferrari’s hope is that listeners can bring their own memories to the songs and find something familiar in the stories being told.
A major part of that process was his collaboration with Pepper Jay, who produced every song on the album under Cappy Records and co-wrote nearly every track with Ferrari. The partnership helped shape the record while keeping the songwriting at the center. David Buchanan handled the mixing at Beaird Music Group in Nashville, while Cassandra Cooper contributed on the executive and campaign side. The one exception in the songwriting credits is When Love Is Love, written by Ferrari, Pepper Jay, David Easterling, and Sophie Love.
What makes Love Is… fitting for a 35 year milestone is its willingness to look at love as something broader than romance. The album leaves space for joy, longing, memory, heartbreak, and gratitude, reflecting the different ways people experience and understand love over time. Ferrari is not simply revisiting a familiar songwriting theme. He is looking at it through everything he has learned since beginning his career, allowing the songs to carry both the experience of the past and the perspective of the present.
The best way to approach Love Is… is as a complete collection rather than a quick listen between distractions. Whether it is played digitally or on the limited edition vinyl, the album invites listeners to slow down and spend time with the songs. After three and a half decades in music, Ferrari has created a record centered on something that does not need much explanation: love leaves a mark, and the songs we make about it can help us remember why.
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