Its a collaboration with Cherie Call. One of my favorite songwriters and all around favorite kind of person.
On Sunday she blogged about her side of the back story of how this came to be (read about it Here, and Here), and I thought I'd share a little bit of how it all came to be, for me.
Last Winter, I wrote a song called Stubborn. It was about a child of mine, that is indeed, stubborn. I was excited about this tune and got into the studio to record as soon as I could. While working with Ryan Tilby as the producer on Stubborn, he asked me what my plans were for the future. So I started dreaming some up. I didn't really have a lot of new songs yet. I had beginnings, and a dozen darling ideas in my pocket, but nothing substantial. I did however know that I was inspired by Ryans friend, and one of my long time heroes, Cherie Call. I love the sound, the structure and the heart of her work. and knew I wanted my next album to sound like one of hers. is that weird? Well, at first we thought that maybe asking her to be a guest producer would be the way to do that. and Ryan said, well lets ask Cherie!
So he said he'd email her. and I thought, "cool!"
A few weeks later I heard back from her and she said producing wasn't really her forte, but she'd love to hear and possibly tunesmith my songs, and I was thrilled. How fun to be able to have a little collaboration.
I had just written a song called My Greatest Adventure, and I really liked it. It also happened to be another song for and about my kids. So I thought maybe I should roll with this theme, I was spending my days surrounded by my little ones, why not try and focus on more songs just for them. I have written songs about my kids in the past. Air to Me, is a song on my first album that came to me while pulling my kids around in our little red wagon. but it isn't about a wagon at all. So I thought, I should probably have an actual wagon song. I sat down and plunked out a little diddy on my banjo, sent it to Cherie in a voice memo and asked her what she thought. I needed help with a second verse and didn't know where to go next. She messaged me back a few days later with a darling second verse. It was so fun and fast and I couldn't wait to sing the song to my kids, but honestly I didn't know exactly what we were going to do with this silly little co-write. I've always thought a children's album would be fun, I've always thought collaborating would be fun, and I thought about what Ryan had said, ask Cherie. So I did. and this maybe isn't really all that exciting of a story to anyone but me...HA!
My favorite part of the whole story is that this all happened over a year ago. The beginning of last summer, we met up at Cherie's house (which is 4 hours away from where I live, but is literally just around the corner from Jon Butler's Brothers house, funny!) to just chat about how a whole album collaboration could maybe work. When I got there she was holding her baby girl, neighborhood friends were playing in her backyard, and it all felt very familiar. Rewind a few weeks back, to right after we wrote the wagon song, and after asking what she thought about this project, I found out I was pregnant with baby number four. Now at her house, I told her I was feeling discouraged and doubting if mothering and musicing was still possible. I want to give all of my heart to both and that makes me feel crazy sometimes. She reassured me that my music life was not over, it would just be a little trickier, and messier, but still very possible. I was so grateful to have this hope. and to have this new friend. SO now the plan was to write more songs!
The process was slow and perfect. We were patient with each others busy schedules and the whole buddy system just clicked. The timing was always natural and the writing inspired. The emails and voice memos back and forth were highlights of my week. There are many instances in these songs where we bring up the sands of the desert or the ocean, but also the stars and space and it made me feel like we were entering a whole new place. Exploring new territory as a collaboration. When I had created the google doc titled {an astronaut mermaid collaboration} it just felt like a perfect description. even though it had nothing to do with us... yet.
Now, there is this beautiful painting by Heather Solomon as our album cover and an adorable song to match. We still have a long ways to go to make this long awaited dream a reality. but thanks to so many of you, we are working our way towards the goal. We are one week into our kickstarter campaign. and we are half way there. If you would like to join in on this expedition, check it out here https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2102959376/the-buddy-system?ref=nav_search
I also wanted to share a little bit of a song called My Greatest Adventure. Its the song that made me really want to do a childrens album. I love being a mom for so many reasons. and this song kind of describes a few of those.
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