The Latest News Going on…

New Things:

With a soon-to-be-family-of-four, our hands and minds are full, and we have been transitioning into new ways of thinking and doing, taking a break from our normal ways, shutting out distractions, opening out hearts to new things, and creating new songs together.

One night late on the living room floor, Zach said, let me play and you just sing what’s in your heart.  I was a little embarrassed, but we have been united in our minds more recently.  Three songs from our hearts were born. We have never done that before.

I am returning to an understanding of my purpose and place as a musician and songwriter and seeing more clearly where I have been distracted and diverted from the place it all started–something I knew early on, but lost sight of.  It has been more than refreshing… more like rebirthing.

A little Tom Jackson doesn’t hurt either. He reminded me of what I knew from the beginning, too, when we took our first steps of faith to play in the local coffeehouse years back after hearing him speak.

I am 7  months pregnant, and in the midst of the  diminished IQ of a cloudy brain, even with our circumstances more unsure than they’ve ever been, I am beginning to see clearly again.

“Cry out to the Lord and he will answer you.”

“He makes all things new. “

Amen.

Since moving to Nashville:

I have had the opportunity to write with some new and established writers with a few cuts pitched to a few people. By the grace of God, I’ve found myself in venues where even the promoters didn’t know how I got there, but ended up inviting me back. Strange gigs in strange places have landed me in amazing conversations with amazing people. After one year here, I was about to change jobs to free me up to gig more, and wouldn’t you know…. there was a baby on the way! And then we started having more babies… which has our musical outings down to a few house concerts here and there and teaching some songwriting classes in Spring Hill where we live. (Here is an article about that: http://www.springhillinformer.com/?p=1638).  To everything there is a season. We will see what is in store.

Where I Am Now

Speaking of a Bebo Norman song, he said it is beautiful to see people singing about “the privilege we all share of being able – in mercy – to walk back down roads that led us the wrong way the first time we traveled them in freedom.”

Gosh, it’s been a really long time since a person has captured something in words that I was experiencing right then. This statement was made by Shane Kuhn today about an acute crisis that is coming to a head in his own life.

Mine has been more of a large long swell rather than the acute crisis.

He goes on to say, “The determination and resolve that settles in our spirits to get back to our Father, to glorify our LORD Jesus, or to simply be with ones we Love is a welcome salve to the mutilations of having given up, betrayed in weakness, or Lived selfishly for our own pleasure when given freedom in order to Live sacrificially for the glory of the LORD Most High.”

This is where I am.

Before I got pregnant more than a year ago, I wrote a song that is still one of my most recent.

Say a prayer and wonder where to go
Then again, you know it’s like the ocean.
First it’s there so close, then far away.
Then again it’s not very far.

So you wander through the lonely days.
And it goes so slow… and then you get somewhere.
Oh, it’s not very far!

If I could go back to what I left behind.
If I could go back to oh what I left behind,
I might know where I am now.

First the rain to the root to the sky.
Where am I in the cycle of life?
First the rain to the root to the sky.
Where am I in the cycle of life?

I saw it all from up above today.
Watched all my tiny sand castles get washed away.
And everything that loooked so far away.
Oh, it’s not very far.

If I could go back to what I left behind.
If I could go back to what I left behind,
I might know where I am now.

I don’t think we have to go backward in order to go forward as a rule. Certainly. That would be awful and recursive and a backward way of living. Sometimes we have to trace our steps to get back to roots of things, yes. But Shane says it best. There is often a walking back down the same road we’ve been on in order to get back to where we need to be. And it’s such a bittersweet thing. We had the freedom to do it…. had to do it to learn….. have to retrace our steps to move in a new direction… have to revisit the choices we’ve made in order to restore a new order.

I think when I wrote that song, I was reaching back not knowing why, not wanting to get stuck in rehashing the past, but knowing that it held an importance for me. I struggled singing it wondering if I was allowing myself to be misled. Now I know that I was ‘reaching back’ because my heart was soon to be turning back… to walk back up the long downhill ride I’ve been on. It’s a glorious and terrible thing. But when God is with you… a firery furnace, even death is nothing. This is the road I have been on for the last several months.

I am finally starting to learn how to sing for joy in it.

How ’bout those country songs!

so you’ll get a kick out of knowing that yes, my first co-write is being pitched to Trace Adkins. Who? Yes. I won’t tell the whole story behind this–though it’s quite fun, but there are three of us that worked on it: my friend, Richie Brown, me, and the guy that wrote “it’s 5 o clock somewhere”, Jim Brown!! Is this a hoot or what? (Can I get a hoot hoot?) YAY!!!

Housebuilders

Some housebuilders build because their daddy did. Some for the job security that there’s always gonna be some house building going on. Some do it for the masculine challenge of making stuff. Some for the artistic expression. Some to just be the best and make a name for themselves.

Some are known for outstanding materials. Some are known for cool floor plans. Some for far out artistic stuff. Some for practical tricks that make life easier in their designs. Some for keeping up with the mainstream tastes and trends.

Some housebuilders have a whole philosophy of why housebuilding contributes to society. Some analyze why this plan “works” and this one “doesn’t” in a non-engineering sense. Some just build houses and then go eat the potatoes their wife fixed them and stop thinking when 5:00 pm comes.

I’m thinking there are that many types of chefs and cooks and that many types of songwriters. Every minute I spend of my life doing this, when I could be doing smething else in the world, I spend thinking about what I’m doing and why. Because no one has to cook or build or write a thing. I could go learn sign language and get to sit in the front row of auditoriums backwards or something for a living. But why would I do that?

Everything is a process. One thing always leads to another. There are backroads and detours and changes of plans. And ah! there’s the chutes and ladders. Thank god for chutes and ladders even when we curse them both… hmmm… another blog I guess. We detest the fall and sometimes the climb, don’t we. And darn it, why didn’t we get to make the game ourselves?

Sing Me a Fruit Plate

So a metaphor has been circling me, helping me see some things about music in a new light. When I liken a “performance” to a restaurant, I suddenly get some things that I otherwise have missed over the years. See, I understand what it is that I’m offering people when they come to hear me play. I get the music, and I get the comparisons to other types. Like all music, of course it’s not for everyone. And sometimes it’s acquired: (I hated Tori Amos the first time I heard her–she is now in my top 3, and I have everything she’s ever done. Then there was Sarah McLachlan’s second record Building a Mystery which made me want to sleep the first time I heard it and I couldn’t believe she’d done so many blah songs that just sounded the same–when I love the album now!) Now certaily these realities cause artists to just sort of buckle down and do their thing knowing that all of these responses are coming and going and changing over time, and so you sort of mentally check out from thinking about your audience to protect you from their momentary (and sometimes permanent) disregard. So in that sheltering, I’ve missed some important more precise details from the audience’s perspective which I can see clearly when I think of them as coming to ….my restaurant. (My friend Ruth is going to love this.) And really, this was one of those huge realizations that had me talking rapid fire to my calmly nodding husband one evening as we took an adventurous stroll to … our pool across the street at our apartment complex in Franklin. (a big night on the town you see)

People like a new kind of restaurant; it doesn’t have to be their decor or their style to love a meal outside themselves, and because of hunger and because people like to try new things, they’re intrigued by a menu full of things they’ve never heard of before. That’s fine. So, no, there’s no alarm that my restaurant just ain’t the all-amerian Chili’s. HOWEVER, 2 out of 3 at that smiling table of chatty ladies is secretly looking for the a la carte menu hoping for a burrito, a club sandwhich, a fruit plate…SOMETHING they recognize. Because just in case they’re not ready to fork out some money to try something they might not like, they appreciate the option to order something they do recognize.

Do you think some of the top chefs in the world WANTED to put that blah fruit plate on their menu?

People need fruit plates.

Today I stumbled across the quote on Rancho Loma’s website: “Food is not about impressing people, it’s about making people feel comfortable.” –Ina Garten And though I hear some artists say they’ve always felt their job was to wake people up, I’m gonna side with Ina. Without common ground with someone, your wake up call won’t even reach their ears.

So at my last show at The Hot Spot… I took comfort in this metaphor when I ended up playing a huge variety… from the folky to the rockin’ to the ballad to the CCMish. I felt like a horrible buffet, but I’m breaking in some new thoughts here. I care about my step-dad, Mike, who would be looking for the burger.

So am I writing things to please others? No. I’m just making sure I get one of my fruit plate songs every 20 minutes or so.

I recently heard that the Guns and Roses song “Livin on a Prayer” (oohh we’re halfway there, oh oh! LIVIN ON A PRAYER! Take my hand and we’ll make it I swear… you know it) almost didn’t make the record because lead singer didn’t think it was strong enough. It became like the 80s theme song and is hailed as one of the top 10 songs of the decade. Similarly, without Dolf and Brad’s insistence, I never would have put “on a bus” on my album. Lots of people tell me it’s their favorite.

People need fruit plates.

WNBA

The WNBA (Women’s National Basketball League) considered our song “Have you Seen Her” to be on their upcoming national marketing campaign. Found us on ITunes, liked it, and took it to the drawing board with several other songs. Is that cool or what?! We are one of the top 3 finalists and a team of marketing gurus are whipping up a presentation.  Can you see them? Sweaty pits, loosened ties, there in the boardroom with less-than-perfect coffee?  Go TEAM GO!

writing with richie

anyone who knows denver city knows the unlikelihoold that 2 local kids would end up in nashville first of all, doing music second of all, and then writing songs together third of all. seriously. you have no idea. what a hoot and a blast. when he first contacted me about writing together, i was hesitant, of course. (and so was he, he said) but i mean, come on, man, you just gotta try it, we both felt.

we played the songs about home, caught up, etc. he has some amazing songs making their way out there and has certainly had success with two hits in one year. what? anyway, i’m proud of our local kid–and proud to be writing songs with him.