Behind the Scenes: Washington

For one of my songs (that will be out later this fall), I am looking for a local, pretty red barn for the album cover. Yesterday, I took a bunch of pictures of this barn (after getting permission from a nice lady named Debbie who thought I was the Amazon delivery guy at first and […]

I am leaving for Nashville next week, so I’m thinking I should probably a) finish my latest song and b) come up with a better title.

I had started a song back on January 3 (as we know that seems to be the month when I’m most prolific in my songwriting, for some reason). I had eight measures of a pretty intro and there the song sat. Enter Katie. She came to hang out with me tonight. We somehow ended up […]

Last night was the third and final session in the recording studio for my latest song. Thank you to this great group of people for making it all possible. It was actually the first time I didn’t cry; I was too busy smiling and/or laughing my head off…I was just that happy.

There’s just something about a cello… Brenda played every note that I had written and then did some improvising to harmonize with my notes: together, we made a great team. Then, there’s Michael and Jer setting up microphones and capturing all the magic. Ken? Well, Ken is paying for everything.

Had an awesome time in the recording studio today. (This is the first time I recorded one of my songs in Washington—instead of Nashville—since I wanted to use a local singer.) Yes, I cried halfway through the first take, but quietly, not like my usual sob fest. I can hardly wait to add the male […]

I’m heading into the recording studio in about an hour. I’ve got my music binder and my lucky bear socks. What more could I need? Oh yeah, a supportive husband who a) takes all these ridiculous pictures, b) pays for all my dreams, and c) is my biggest fan. Got that, too.

I’m going to see this guy in an hour. Who is he? His name is Randall and he is my mentor. I wrote about him in chapter two of my first cancer book, recounting how within weeks of receiving my dismal diagnosis, I had wanted to hang on to hope by investing in a $600 […]

I have no idea how to actually write out a cello score, but that’s what I plan on doing today. Oh, I know how the part goes. I can hear it in my head and have it scribbled out as piano notes because…well, because that’s my jam, but I’m pretty sure the cellist I hired […]

Singing. Spaghetti. Selfies. It doesn’t get much better than that. Now that the cello section is done for my latest song, I went over the vocals with this girl. I usually hire singers out of Nashville, but this time, I decided to have Megan do the lead singing. We laughed so hard trying to get […]