A moveable feast, according to Hemingway, is a concept that an event (ie ‘feast’) is a memory or state of being that had become a part of you, a thing that could always be with you no matter where you went or how you lived after, and that it could never be lost. An experience first fixed in time and space or a condition like happiness or love could be carried with you wherever you went in space and time.

How we come along, ‘to make a brand new world,’ as she says in the song. I feel like it is about finding the courage to be a vulnerable voice - to say what the ‘feeling’ is and convey that musically, where words sometimes do not say enough. Nothing against poetry (or even prose, you know I love reading) but sometimes the PUNCH comes in through the sound of the music to get the point across.

This is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to travel in an all-female band and I have to say I’m really enjoying it. So many of us are used to being the only girl in the band, and we have sometimes had to find ways to be heard over the patriarchal musings that surface in any number of situations. But here, we’ve got each other’s backs and we are really getting to know and trust each other.

There is not a person in the music industry who does not feel like Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn blazed a trail for the rest of us to follow. With their distinct voices, memorable lyrics and emotional stories, they set the tone for what all musicians aspire to - to this day. Nobody else sounds like Loretta, and nobody else sounds like Patsy. ~Dolly Parton

In terms of choice - it was purely intuitional and also what showed up in my library cue, or a book any of my sisters read and liked enough to tell me about, or books suggested to me by readers and writers on Substack, or books by people I knew through my community.

I have what I’d call ‘kitchen paralysis’ — I walk into the kitchen and freeze.

Normally this is a packed time of the year and I put myself on hold and wait till after New Years to reset, but this year I need it NOW! So I decided to start ‘25 Days of Yoga in December.’

Changing a habit is hard. It is really truly difficult and uncomfortable, and over and over - what we used to lean on doesn’t support anymore, and that’s what change is. We might need bigger pants to be able to properly expand. That is SO OK. I didn’t set out to talk about this today - but I need to talk more about it. Also, by the way, sizing is such BS - especially for women.

I am super excited to announce that next year I’m stepping into a new role (for me) as a music director and I’m going on tour!

I was working in the Palliative Care Unit at Vanderbilt when the pandemic hit. Palliative Care is a specialty in medical care that focuses on treating the symptoms of a disease that cannot be cured. Sometimes it leads straight into end of life care in a short period of time. I had been doing this work for the past 7 years and found it rewarding and that it was my calling.

My friend Stacie Huckeba is someone I am lucky to know in this life. I met her years ago at the old Family Wash - the one on Greenwood and Porter - the OG Wash. She probably doesn’t even remember, but she made me laugh so hard with her stories that night I vowed to myself I would find a way to be her friend. She is also a photographer of the highest caliber and the past few years she’s been deep in the world of working for our queen Dolly Parton.

It was magical and we hit most of the marks on the tunes. Singing came easily and the quiet of the room let us hear ourselves in a way we possibly never had. I felt the years of experience in our voices blend together; so many harmonies between us all and it reminded me how singing with the ones you love to sing with can be one of the most spiritual experiences possible as a musician.

It goes to show you never know what one little song can do. It’s one of the most magical parts about creating! I am always humbled by the opportunity to receive songs from the universe, and collaborating with others makes it even more special.

Do you ever get caught looking at something so closely that all the lines blur and that in itself feels like a work of art? For me, that’s what being an ‘introvert’ is. And like an egg, I can be cracked so easily to wake up and reveal my inner yolk, but I could also just be an egg, in your refrigerator, sitting quietly, on the verge of expiration, completely content.

When Anne McCue invited me to Germany last February to play a festival with the Cubists, I said YES!!! And when she mentioned she’d like me to play the Hammond B3 organ that would be there, I said, OK! Despite playing the piano and keyboards since I was 6 years old, I’d never cracked the code on the organ before. I’d faked my way though with my Nord Electro and had some fun in studio sessions being directed for a part, but I’d never been unleashed on a full on Hammond with a leslie cabinet situation. To say the least, I was definitely a bit nervous. Especially since we were playing a JAZZ FESTIVAL - bound to be some heavy cats playing that thing.

As I’ve taken this approach with the organ in particular, I realize there are some gaps in what I’ve learned, gleaned, and improvised. As I lean in and truly practice scales for real, and think about the numbers system and keys to play in and those patterns, something amazing is showing itself to me!