hey everybody,
My gratitude is BIG. together, we are getting closer to the goal of solo record numero uno! thank you so much.
I was in Nashville last night singing “This Kiss” with Pam Tillis and Kim Carnes. We were there to honor our friend Beth Nielsen Chapman who was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. The experience made me think about songs, how they are put together and what makes them resonate. While some of my songs on the solo album are written in my usual manner (ala acoustic guitar on lap, scribbling ideas, finding chord progressions, looking for puzzle pieces), others are not.
Lyris wrote the music tracks for a couple of the songs, and I filled in the words and some of the melodies. She and I have spent many hours poring over songs/tracks with the ultimate goal of weaving musical commonalities in and out of the songs.
Will that thread be Lyris’ violin parts? The mandolin genius of Sierra Hull? The classical guitar (which is showing up in several songs)? My electric guitar sound? How big an influence is Yelawolf?
Wanna know who’s playing drums? Will Calhoun and Sput Searight. You might want to look them up on YouTube. I did! (even though I knew who they were :)) And Jennifer Nettles is set to sing.
I can’t give away too many secrets or there won’t be surprises left when the record comes out. But, it’s going to be a feast. The question is, how much will the musical arrangement inform the crux of the song? In order to find out, we do our pre-production due dilligence. It’s like making models before you build the building. more video/audio updates soon!
x emily