Breathing

A sound clip from the title track.

My Michele

Michele & Me at the Gardenia in LA

Working with Michele Brourman has been the greatest joy of the whole recording project. I first became aware of Michele through her song My Favorite Year. Not long after that I saw her in person for the first time. She was playing for Amanda McBroom at the Barns of Wolf Trap.  Out onto the stage came this tiny woman who sat down at the piano and morphed into a seven foot tall piano goddess. I knew right then that this was someone I wanted to work with one day.

Fast forward to a Sunday brunch on the Upper West Side of Manhattan not too long ago with me, Michele, Amanda and Laurel sitting around a table at Isabella’s sharing omelets and sweet potato fries. At one point in the conversation Amanda looks across the table at me and says “You have to come to LA and sing and Michele will play for you.” After a stunned second where I had to restrain myself from leaping into the air and shouting “YES! YES! YES!” I gathered my wits and said with all the sangfroid I could muster “I would like that very much”.  

Michele does many things well, she composes, she plays, she arranges, produces and has flawless musical taste. It would be easy to be intimidated by her, but she’s also one of the warmest most supportive presences I’ve ever met. This is not to say that she isn’t a tough taskmistress. She doesn’t coddle and she will push me until she’s gotten everything out of me that she knows I’m capable of and then some. Every singer should have a Michele in their corner.

Beach Music

Being a typical chick singer, I lean toward the dark side. Give me a rip your guts out love ‘em and leave ‘em ballad and I’m ecstatic. Left to my own devices I’d sing fifteen ballads and a comic song.  Luckily, I work with people who frequently remind me that singing a song of unrestrained joy is very satisfying.

My friend Laurel Massé brought me Joni Mitchell’s Night Ride Home. I spent my high school years in a beach town, and so I have always been certain that magical things can happen on a beach at night. Joni paints with lyrics the picture of the perfect night with the perfect person.

Michele B. suggested we make another guzinta by adding Anne Caldwell and Jerome Kern’s Once in a Blue Moon.  Written sixty-five years before night ride its wistful tone and hopeful lyrics feel every bit as contemporary. Our clothes, and cars and means of communication may change but our desire to connect with another person never does.

Together we have a story of how true love is rare and wonderful thing, and given enough time and faith it will arrive.  I think I may have been forever cured of my chick singer ballad bondage!

A Thousand Words & Then Some

I married into a very creative family. My mother in law is a doll maker and illustrator, my sisters in law, Heather and Laura are fabric and home décor designers, and my brother in law Isaac happens to be a wonderful photographer and graphic designer. And there are several other siblings, spouses, offspring, and assorted cousins all of whom possess oodles of creative talent both visual and musical.  I knew when I started this project that Isaac was the man for the job of designing the packaging for the album. Not because we happen to be related.  In fact, working with your in laws can cause you to seriously doubt your sanity, but because I knew his work and I knew he could give me the look I wanted.

The vision that I had of the artwork for the album was of a feeling of faded grandeur. I am entranced by the idea of beauty in decay.  I was born in Louisiana, and raised between there, Mississippi, Alabama and Virginia. My very first memory is of my mother taking me on a tour of the old plantations along the Natchez Trace. TennesseeWilliams, Truman Capote and Harper Lee number among my favorite writers, and it’s long been my secret dream to play Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire. I love nothing better than a brooding sky on a humid day and the overgrown ruin of a once magnificent structure.

Just up the road from my house are the remains of an old mental hospital. Many of the buildings have been torn down and the ones that remain have slid into a state of decline. I love this place, it reminds me of those places I knew growing up and I’ve always wanted to do a photo session there. When I told Isaac about it and about the feel I envisioned for the cover his eyes lit up and I knew for certain that I was in good hands.  He intuitively knew what I wanted and was just as determined as I that we get it. Even the weather saw fit to cooperate with us. Most people would not be enthused about an outdoor shoot in alternately rainy, Windy and icy thirty- eight degree weather, but I thought it was perfect.  

By the way, all the photos that have accompanied this series of virtual liner notes are by Isaac from that session. You can see more of his work here.

Love and Breathing

The first track on the album is what Michele B. calls a guzinta: two songs sung in their entirety back to back so that one song guzinta the next.  This is different from medley which is bits of many songs (often far too many, but usually at least three) strung together into some sort of cohesive whole.  A guzinta is more like a two act play. Each song tells a different part of the same story that when put together becomes a seamless whole.

I’ve always thought of the Breathing (Amanda McBroom & Michele Brourman) and So in Love (Cole Porter) guzinta as a story of resistance and surrender. The first song is about resisting the pull of the one you cannot help but be drawn. Even though this is the last thing you want or need you are consumed by both the desire to let them in and keep them out at the same time. By the end of the song you are powerless to do anything but surrender. So in Love picks up where you have reached the place that no matter what happens you cannot be moved. The decision has been made and there is no going back now.

The honesty of the lyrics astounds me. There is no coyness, no flirtatiousness only (to steal a line from another famous Amanda McBroom song) endless aching need.  From Amanda & Michele's I breathe in and you are there as necessary as the air to Cole’s …taunt me, and hurt me, deceive me, desert me, I’m yours till I die a soul is laid bare before you.

What's in a Name?

Choosing a title for an album can be a bit tricky. I know, you’re reading this and thinking “How hard could it be? She just picked the very first song on the album and stuck it on there”. Actually, no. At first I thought I'd let the interwebs decide, but the more I looked at the list of possible names the more my eyes and heart kept coming back to Breathing.  

Breathing is the title of the wonderful song written by Michele Brourman and Amanda McBroom that starts off the album, but it’s a lot more than that. It is the most essential part of singing. The breath you take at the beginning of a song is the one that matters the most. It’s this intake of air that shows you the way in, which centers your mind and your body in the emotional space of the song. It’s just the tiniest of pauses but without it you feel unmoored, and as if you have forgotten something of great importance.

Life can be that way too. I tend to rush headlong into my day so determined to accomplish something that I forget to stop and breathe. It’s surprising how in such a small moment everything can become so clear. When I remember to breathe I remember to focus on what’s important and let go of the trivial.  Someone, no one seems to know exactly who, once said “Breath is spirit. The act of breathing is living.” Breathing brings me back to who I really am and all the possibilities of who I can be if I only allow myself to let go.

A First Day and a giveaway

 Breathing officially arrives today! To have your own copy, you don’t even have to leave the comfort of the chair in which you are currently sitting.  Just click on over to  CD baby  and you can download it, or get a copy of the CD with all its nifty artwork. Of course, if you’re looking for that personal touch, you can always drop me a note  and ask me to send your CD signed by yours truly.

The next week will be one of much celebration here on the blog. First of all, I’ll be doing a series of virtual liner notes for the album. As pleased as I am with the gorgeous packaging of the physical CD, there just wasn’t quite enough space for me to share some of my thoughts about the individual songs, or to give you a peek behind the scenes at some of the people who made this project happen.  For the next week or so I’ll be putting up a new post each day, devoted to the whos, whats, and whys that went into Breathing.

Ahh, but wait -  there’s more! I can’t very well bring out my first CD without doing a fantastic giveaway, can I? I thought not. So, here’s the deal: I am overjoyed to be the very first person ever to record  Michele Brourman’s ode to wretched excess, Sometimes More is More. I'm so overjoyed, in fact, that I’m making it the theme of my giveaway game.  Post your favorite story of wretched-over-the-top-extravagance (in two hundred words or less), and I’ll send to the writer of my favorite one a personally signed CD (or download card) AND a $25 gift card from one of my favorite places for sinfully excessive treats. I discovered The Meadow when I was visiting Portland, Oregon over the holidays, and was thrilled to learn they have an NYC location on Hudson St.  If ever there was an occasion that called for a decadent chocolate moment, the release of one’s debut recording is definitely it!

There are just a few little rules though. As I mentioned, the stories should be no longer than two hundred words, and they must be personal. I don’t want stories of Saddam’s palaces, Imelda’s shoes or Dolly’s wigs, I want YOUR story. It must involve you, someone you know, or something you have personally witnessed. No fair cribbing stories from The Enquirer et al. Also, let’s keep it clean, legal, and civil. We’re just not that kind of blog! All stories must be posted no later than Friday June 10^th. Other than that, enjoy yourselves, and make me proud! Hey, you’ve got great tunes and good chocolate for motivation...Spill those tales!