All Your ?'s Answered Here! (maybe... :)

Many people have been asking me lately what I’ve been up to, how I spend my time, and what is in the future for me musically. So here is a short answer for those of you with limited attention spans (or kids), and then a longer answer if you have an extra 5 minutes and a dose of curiosity. It’s like a choose your own adventure blog. (that’s not a bad idea actually...hmmm....)

short form:
I write with other people 2 to 3 days a week and spend the rest of my time working on my own music and trying to be the best wife and mama I can be. Yes, I plan to release more records, yes I plan to tour again, and no, I haven’t dropped off the planet just yet.

long form:
I’ve been playing music in one form or another for the last 10 years. In fact, 10 years ago this summer I signed a record contract with a label here in Nashville, and after 2 years of traveling back and forth I moved here from Iowa in the spring of 2002. In these “Nashville years” I’ve written many (many) songs, recorded some of them including 1 record that never released from the label, 3 independent records, a live record, a few EP’s and side projects, and a Christmas record. I’ve toured solo, with my husband (who came into the picture in 2003, married in the beginning of 2005), and with several other artists and bands. I’ve slept in nice hotels, not so nice hotels, vans, tour buses, churches, host homes, and thank God, my own bed. I have loved these last 10 years and feel like this last year of becoming a mother has allowed me the space and emotional rawness to really look back over all I’ve experienced with new eyes. New eyes to see the lessons God has tried to teach me that I’ve been stubborn to learn. New eyes to see the future, with hopefully more courage and more humility.

(picture from a 2005 Shawn Mcdonald tour. look at that gorgeous Gibson guitar...sadly (very sadly) the gibson is in different hands now... so is that shirt. I liked that shirt...)

I have not been traveling much since James was born 15 months ago and I’ve loved this season of “normal” things. Like learning to cook, and waking up to the same landscape every day. Going to church, meeting friends for dinner, establishing routine, it has been a nice breather after the years of just the opposite.

I’m gearing up a bit this summer. I have been writing new songs of my own, revisiting old ones, collaborating with peers and friends, and finding the strength and inspiration to organize some ideas into action. What that basically means is that I hope to have some new songs out for download this fall, I’m working on some new tour dates for the coming months, and I even have a side project that I’ll tell you about soon enough.

thank you for sticking with me during this slower season. I am so thankful to everyone who has continued to listen to my music and supported me during these quieter months. If you haven’t already, you can download a few new (and otherwise unreleased) songs from noisetrade on the right side of this page, or here

and you can also hear a few songs that I have co-written on some records:

“Want To Be Real” with Chris August whose album comes out August 24th, you can hear a sampler, including a snippet of our song on his website. His voice is amazing!

“Change in the Making” with Jeff Pardo and Jenny Simmons from Addison Road. This is track 2 on their fabulous new record called Stories. Jenny and I wrote “What do I Know of Holy” on their last record. Love these guys!

“Love Reality” with Charmaine, it’s the title track on her debut record. She is so unique and inspiring, I really think you’ll love her music!