December 5, 2019
The Christmas Cheer Project Day 4: Mele Kalikimaka
December 4, 2019
The Christmas Cheer Project Day 3: O Come O Come Emmanuel
December 3, 2019
The Christmas Cheer Project Day 2: Rudolph
December 2, 2019
About six months after I moved to Fort Wayne in 2012, a new associate pastor joined the staff of the church where I was working. It wasn’t long before I had made friends with his wife, Sarah, and two children, Tucker and Tessa. Since then, they have added Trey and Tate to the brood and I always make a stop by their home on any trip through the midwest even if it is just a quick lunch date as I drive across the state between gigs.
I have tried my hardest to indoctrinate the children on the wonders of the great Commonwealth of Virginia and they have tried their hardest to encourage me to become a morning person each time I visit. :) They are some of my favorite littles and when I thought about this Christmas Cheer Project, I knew they would be up for the challenge.
We shot this video back in September when I was out in the Midwest for some house concerts and worship leading gigs.
The Christmas Cheer Project Day 1: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
December 1, 2019
Welcome to The Christmas Cheer Project! It’s a song video a day from December 1st through December 25th, meant to add a little holiday sparkle to the season. Many of the videos include friends- people I have met through my travels….. it feels pretty perfect to make this project larger than just me!
While I cannot always guarantee the highest quality (we shot these videos with an iphone on a tripod and sometimes children are finicky), I CAN promise joy, maybe a few chuckles, and authentic performances. I’m so excited to introduce you to some of these singer-songwriters and musicians, and I’ll be blogging here everyday to share the stories behind how I met some of them. This is gonna be good.
DAY 1:: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas
I shot this video on the screened in porch of my family’s home the weekend of thanksgiving. The house was full of family…. Nana is home from rehab and my brother and his wife and brood of three children were also around…. my dad has collected these plastic figures for just about forever and so I pulled a few down from the attic and haphazardly using a combination of extension cords and power strips, plugged them in. I like the detail of the thanksgiving turkey hanging behind the tree…. we hadn’t yet switched all decor over to Christmas… gotta let Thanksgiving have its moment!
It was a race against daylight, a neighbor’s party starting to ramp up, and the need for family to continually pass through the porch on endless errands to the garage….so I only got one full take in before the heater kicked in on the side of the house and….. the moment had passed. :)
Here’s to hoping your holiday season is off to a great start!
The Bluegrass Project
Tuesday, September 10
He had barely climbed out of the van last Wednesday morning when Tommy Taylor said to me, “I brought some pictures of your grandpa.” And only moments later I found myself flipping through a little photo book of places my grandpa had played music in his later years, upright bass in hand. It was the perfect start to the day.
Earlier this year, my cousin Teresa passed away after battling cancer for the past two decades. It meant a trip down to Grundy where my grandpa (my dad’s dad), grew up in a 2 bedroom house with his 7 brothers and sisters. Teresa was a beautiful and gentle soul and also about 50% of the reason we would visit Southwest Virginia every year or so. I grieved her passing, but also the loss of yet one more connection to the family history. I drove down twice last spring, once for the funeral and then to go back with my dad a few weeks later (he was on a cruise when the funeral was held). That second trip, as we sat on my Great Uncle Bob’s porch, I looked next door to the original family house and thought, “I have to capture this somehow.” And the spark of a dream began to record music from my great grandmother’s front porch, with the guys that used to play bluegrass with my grandpa.
And so we did!!!!! After a few months of planning and coordinating, last week, four “well-seasoned” bluegrass players drove down to Dry Fork Rd to join me for a day of playing music and making memories. It was a combination of my original songs, a cover of the Bluegrass song Jesse James, and several hymns thrown into the mix. We had Quay White on the upright bass (which was my grandpa’s!), Mike Hankins on dobro, Billy Brewster on banjo, and Tommy Taylor on harmonica. My heart is all pitter patter for the alliteration on those last two names alone!
This project, which came together so beautifully, also kept me on my worrisome toes. I didn’t even FIND MY OUTFITS to wear until I was driving toward Grundy….stopping at every Old Navy and Target I could find. At the last Target I went to, I found a sleeveless denim dress (in the clearance section) AND at the last Old Navy, I found a mustard dress with a tiny print of white flowers….whew! I had also bought plenty of other dresses that were all returned on the drive home. Grundy is the kind of place that if you don’t show up with it….and you can’t buy it at walmart…..well, you just won’t have it. I erred on the side of caution and took way more than I needed.
I hired a local photographer….eek! It’s the first time I’ve really worked with someone without previously having known them in some capacity. Emily Rogers ended up being such a delight to work with…. she and her husband run the youth group at their church, she has a cut flower business alongside her photography…. we talked and laughed a lot during our couple of hours together.
My good friend, Brian Rose (of Movoly Productions), drove down to video and capture the audio for us. We rented a little field recorder with 8 inputs and Brian brought his camera equipment and microphones. He also brought his drone and having just peeked at some of the footage, I am so very excited at what we will be sharing soon!
There were a few moments throughout the day that I took a deep breath and thought about where we were. On the porch where my grandpa and his siblings learned to play music. Where my great grandma could throw a rock and hit a dog or kid on the other side of the road. Where stories were told and retold and songs were sung in the evening air. Where my stubborn family lived off the land through the great depression, where young men were sent off to war and somehow made it back home. It’s all held there, the memories, the untold stories, the dreams and heart ache. The loss of babies, the ruins of marriages, the celebration of new babies. In the latter years, the reunions of grandbabies and great grandbabies. And I stood there, for one afternoon, with men I hardly know but feel instantly at home with…. and made new music. I wonder the last time music shook those floorboards and echoed across the holler could have been. I mean, I know now.
Cause we did it. :)
Details about release and all that stuff is COMING SOON….now the real work begins.
I'm On Patreon!
Wednesday, April 10th 2019
I have a bit of an announcement to share.
I have started a patreon page.
Gulp.
Patreon is an online platform that allows creators to continue to create with the help of their fans/friends/family who make monthly pledges. These awesome people are called “patrons”. The creators then in turn, offer up perks and rewards to their patrons to shower them in love and gratitude.
If I'm really honest, this feels a little scary to throw out into the universe. But if I have learned anything over the last seven years of learning to create and write, it’s that I can trust this community that has formed around the music and story. Every house concert leaves me in awe that a host would open up their home and invite their friends over and allow me the opportunity to share in their lives….
SO HERE WE GO! My first house concert happened because I was trying to find a way to play my songs for friends to figure out what worked and what didn’t. Now my dear friends, you all live spread across the country and I can’t gather you all in one space. Which gives us the magic of the internet!
This is the place. I’m sharing the stuff I’m writing, the stories that come my way, and everything in between. I’ve got some BIG dreams to include a new album, more touring, and maybe even start writing some of these stories down….could we write a book?? The sky is our limit!
Lessons in Whole 30
December 30, 2016
Over the last couple of years, I have struggled with migraines and vertigo. So fun. It seemed to worsen when I was traveling- a combination of stress, eating junk, and adapting to a constant ebb and flow of change. I remember sitting in the doctors office with the options to either go on a daily medication or just live with these symptoms. Neither one felt right. Having heard from a few friends about the Whole 30 diet, I decided to use it as an elimination diet. A set of rules that cut out all processed junk, sugar, bread, grains….
Basically you eat meat, veggies, nuts and some fruit.
Here’s what I learned..
1. The crockpot is your best friend…. although the day I cooked my first chicken and I held it in my hands and the full weight of that little dead and plucked body rested on me, I almost became a vegetarian. Then I thanked the chicken for its sacrifice and threw it in the crockpot. Chicken in the crockpot is pretty much the only thing I make for company these days.
2. Melon is not spaghetti squash and therefore should not be cooked in the microwave. Yep, I did that. Mostly because it was a yellow squash shape and was not labelled in English (got it from one of those delivered CSAs) and so I made an assumption and ten minutes later had very hot, mushy melon. I did not eat it.
3. If you don’t set a timer, you won’t remember the carrots and they will roast for 2 hours and be little charred carrots.
4. Hidden gem of a roasted veggie: radishes. Didn’t even know it was a thing until I ended up with a bag of radishes and had to find something to do with them. Chopped in half and roasted they are amazing!
I learned a lot through doing Whole30….mostly that the build up of processed food almost always leads me to migraine trouble. I have learned to avoid foods that have dextrose and maltodextrin listed. Whether it is those specific foods or an ingredient that goes along with those…. WHO CAN REALLY KNOW? I do know that Whole30 even done for a week or so provides a reset. And with all that food prep, I had a great time watching all seasons of Mad Men and White Collar over the last month. :)