EP Video Diary: Round 2

So guys, lots has happened between tracking drums (when I last documented)and today, Seth has built the tracks and for the last couple days I've been putting final vocals down. Today was the last day (at least for me)... but there still is a lot left to be done! However, I wanted to share with you a little bit of what went on today and give you a little taste of what the final product is going to sound like, which by the way I've titled! This may come as no surprise to you but I've decided to name my first project: "To Begin With, Everything". It just made sense... :) 


Anyways, enough of my rambling, I hope you enjoy the video and I can't WAIT for you to hear it all once it's done!!! EEK! Until then... 


All the love, 


C

Speaking without words

Sometimes I just feel like songs say so much more without words. 

The EP: Recording Diary

I'm keeping a video diary (I keep re-typing the word diary.. I keep thinking I'm spelling dairy. Ugh.) of the process, everything that goes into recording my EP. I want to remember everything about this time in my life! So excited for you all to hear the finished product, however, I want you to be able to see everything that goes in to making a project like this. 

Special thanks to Tommy Harden for playing drums on this... so very talented and I'm lucky to have had him play for me! 

Inception

Definition: (noun) the beginning, as of a project or undertaking.

No, this is not a grammar lesson, and no this is not a review of how good Leo looks in his latest movie- but while I'm on the subject- he looks dreamy (appropriate adjective if i do say so) and has ever since the Growing Pains days. I digress... but speaking of dreams, I've been thinking about mine lately. Everyone says "Dream big!" And I've been like, "Ya! I'm gonna!" What if what I thought were really big dreams, are turning out to be quite narrow and small. I've begun a project- written an EP, and will record and finish it late September. That's pretty cool I guess. Now, where do I go from there?? Well I could bore you with marketing plans, tour dates, blah blah blah (all of which I will implement) but really, where is this really going to take me in life? Answer: I don't know. 


Uncertainty comes with the territory of creativity. I watched a video, a 20 minute speech, that Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) gave about creativity and its source... the genius behind our creation. To consider that genius or creativity is not ours to claim, but just on loan from a higher power. I completely agree. However, say God shows up one day- totally blesses whatever you are working on, in my case a song or an album. Say it's my opus, my "Continuum"- How do you follow up with something after what everyone has considered your best work? Now, clearly I'm not at that point in my career. Yet, I still think about it... what happens after my best work is done? Is my dream over... what's the point in trying to do better than my best (or what everyone perceives to be my best work)? Answer: I don't know. 

I do know, that it is worth showing up to work everyday especially it being something I love to do, to keep on creating with the hopes that God will bless my efforts beyond my small-minded dreams. What are my mere attempts at music could be something great with a little genius on loan. I'm in the inception phase of my dreams, I'm dreaming up something small and hoping God has a bigger plan within this dream. All I can do is show up everyday, ready for anything- open to every opportunity.


I'm not scared to dream or to want for fear of failure OR success... this is just the beginning. 


All the love, 


C

Life: A Cheat Sheet

"People want to be liked. We all crave attention and affection and we all reject shame. When we get embarrassed we send a thug version of ourselves to the forefront to do our fighting for us. We’re at the top of the food chain just under fear. We don’t want to be in a relationship to hear the words “I love you,” we want to be in a relationship to say the words “I love you.” We want to feel needed, and exceptional and we hate feeling insignificant. We want to ace a hearing test. We are binary creatures; if we’re the plaintiff, we want to win every dollar. If we’re the defendant, we want guard every penny. We want to make more money than last year. We don’t want to get cancer or die in our cars and we want the same for our loved ones. We go out on weekends to try and have sex while trying not to get punched in the face. We drink so we can be ourselves and not mind it so much. We’re desperate to be understood. We want to know someone else has felt it, too. We hate being judged unfairly. We want to make the person we heard wasn’t all that into us change their minds and admit they had us wrong. We want sunny skies with a chance of killer tornadoes, just to keep music sounding good. We take hours upon hours to admit to self consciousness. We don’t know exactly how to pleasure each other. We just want love. In any and every form.

See? It’s simple."

I won't tell you who wrote that because it will ruin how you interpret it... that said, life is simple. Sometimes I feel like we need a cheat sheet to remind us that this life is made up of little moments and we forget that they matter. It all comes down to the need to love and be loved. Let's live this thing right. 

All the love, 

C

The Plight to Write

C.S. Lewis, what a guy... what a life. I was reading about him today just for poops and giggles found out he belonged to a literary club "The Inklings"- members included Tolkien, Hugo Dyson, Charles Williams, Dr. Robert Havard, Owen Barfield, and Nevill Coghill, among others. Ummm... cool. Just cool. I got to thinking though, Nashville is kind of the same... So many great writers in this town get together, they have a community.  


In a town where there are so many songwriters, it's fun to get to write with other people. However, as neat as it is when great minds join forces and create timeless songs- it's just as important to write by oneself. That said, I've been writing alone lately and it's just not going as planned. My fear is not of a blank page, because as a writer (I wrote for the paper in college- news, opinion, life & arts, interviewed Barbara Bush) I could write 10 pages of nothing and not think twice about it. My fear is 2 verses and a chorus, saying something in a poignant way and saying it like no one has said it before and making it sound all pretty and stuff. It's hard... 


C.S. Lewis is a genius of a man and has brought me inspiration at different points in my life- I've read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe more times than I would like to admit. His book The Screwtape Letters rocked my world, and Mere Christianity is also mind blowing. But one quote of his I came across hit me today- "If you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without even trying to."


Just what I needed to hear... As I prepare and write for the EP I am going to record at the end of this summer, I will have songs that I write with other people but also something I've written on my own. Whether it's been said before... we all feel the same at some point in our lives, humanity is our core and thats what brings us together, that's how we relate. So off I go... another day and another attempt, maybe I'll have a video blog next time so you guys can hear what I'm working on. Until then.... 


All the love, 


C

Bonnaroo: What I found when I was lost

I have spent the last 4 days amidst a hot mess, literally, also known as Bonnaroo. Though it was the longest 4 days of my life, (the portapotties alone were an issue not to mention the general heat index) it was like a resurrection for me. For 4 days, I battled the fiery sun and dehydration and returned alive and inspired. 


Before my trip to Manchester, TN... I have to admit, I felt a little lost- which is ironic considering I spent majority of my time wandering a field with landmarks such as "This Tent" "That Tent" and "The Other Tent". I watched the sea of people, inhaled copious amounts of petuli, body odor, and somehow found myself back to where I started dreaming exactly 1 year ago. Music and performances by Stevie Wonder, Kings of Leon, Jay Z, Mumford & Sons, The National, Phoenix, Norah Jones, and many many others inspired me with their passion, creativity and originality. The key to a good song or good performance is not only talent, but honesty. The root of all creation is truth and realization followed by love. I've always known the root of good music, but after being in Nashville for a just a year, my vision was muddled by external worries that a business perspective can create. 


On June 8th, I had a conversation with someone in the music business that I admire- Tom Douglas, a very successful and talented songwriter. I went into the "meeting" with an elevated heart rate, shortness of breath, aka mild anxiety knowing I had no answers, no confidence in myself as a writer. As we got to talking- I realized, the nature of being creative and the nature of being a writer is scary. It's a vulnerable place to be and I'm not the only one that feels that way. I may have left that conversation with more questions, but I gained a small hint of the voice I've been searching myself for. 

All this to say, I'm still searching. I'm still a little bit lost. But it's like wandering the grounds at Bonnaroo, whether I'm at "This" "That" or "The Other", the heat, the smell, the music, the heat... did I mention the heat?... it was all in search of a voice. Some voices were better than others, but in the end, everyone was out there because they love music. So that's why I'm out here in Nashville, I love music. 

More to come soon... All the love :) 

C