Making Music Into a Scrapbook

Creating incredible memories while making music.

(I want to thank Alex Karan for his thought-provoking writing that led me to write this piece.)

I’m not sure how other songwriters are about listening to their own music. I have trouble with it. If I was an actor I’m not sure I could watch myself performing. God knows I don’t like watching videos of me playing. Blech.

I’m not saying that is a healthy relationship to have with my music. It’s just the truth of it for me.

It’s never going to be as good as I want it to be. Part of my journey has been less about seeing my work as perfect so much as embracing its imperfection.

Martha Graham labeled that feeling as “divine dissatisfaction.” I think that phrase is almost scarily appropriate.

One of the things that makes it easier for me to revisit my work is when someone else was involved. I absolutely love to have another artist bring their perspective to my songs. I have been blessed to have some really talented people lend me their creativity.

Cello on the song “Good Man.”

Violin on the song “Say It Like You Mean It.”

Drums, bass, guitar, and backing vocals on the song “You Will Break On Me.”

On my first album, I had an instrumental, Green Circle, that I wanted to fill out. I got the idea to put out an open invitation to friends and family to come in and participate in creating a group vocal for the chorus of the song.

I didn’t really have a plan for the chorus, figuring we could figure it out with the group. As it turned out, a family friend who happens to be a Grammy-nominated songwriter came up with something awesome for the group to do and that’s what we recorded. It worked out better than I could have imagined. Simple, but cool. You can hear it here.

I wrote another instrumental, Bluesy Twosey, for my second album. I was able to make that one even more special. I had my daughter play trombone and her friend play the trumpet. And I had more friends and family in to sing on this one, too. The picture at the top is of this group. You can hear the Bluesy Twosey here.

I wrote a song about my grandmother, Grandma’s With The Band. She was such a source of love in my life.

Friends of mine who knew her played bass and drums on the recording. I had family come join me in the studio and sing backing vocals. Some of them I hadn’t seen in years, coming from out-of-state just to participate. You can listen to that here.

Incredible moments were spent in the studio, pulling in the loved ones in my life to share of themselves. Helping me grow an idea into something so special, better than I could have made it by myself. A shared experience that we can revisit whenever we want. (And that I can share with you.)

Those are the songs I can listen to. Each one a sonic scrapbook.