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

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.

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!

When you look back, what impacts you the most in your own life? Do you lean on traumatic events that shaped you, or do you revel in happy times? Do you remember when you were less aware and compare to times where you can’t unknow things anymore, and realize that is the rub? I know I do.

Whether I am playing or experiencing it, music always continues to enrich my life. I consider it a gift to be able to step onto a stage and forget about everything except for the task at hand. I always receive back ten-fold what I put out into the environment as a performer. It is a shot of adrenaline to my spirit that I am always grateful to experience. It truly is magical.

Singing with him made me feel better. He stayed and we sang a few more. Healing the woe of a dead battery and wishing John a happy birthday, we felt him smile down on us right then and there.

I was getting a lot of stuff; I was getting it really organically, just downloading it on a walk through our neighborhood and in the shower, writing it down and making it; This was such an exciting time for me. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Because it really reflects that period of my life where I've figured out how I wanted to make music, not just as a fiddler in people's bands, but as my own artist.

As the song progressed, I felt myself become more aligned in my body, and some of the repetitive thoughts I was having, about women being turned away that very moment, and what will happen to women who may need to terminate a pregnancy for a huge number of reasons, and on and on, and I replaced that anxiety with action. The action of sending peace to those places and to all of us, for so many women I know have been faced with impossible decisions, and I think we always assumed it would be still up to us. I am still angry. I am still frustrated. But I learned again music has the power to modulate pain into peace.

there is something ingrained in me about how much I'm 'supposed to work' every week and then I come home and do my other job - being a creative - or is that 'for fun?' In the culture of addictive processes we find ourselves telling each other that it's good for us to be jammed up all the time, but I don't think it's healthy! There is so much talk around 'self-care' and 'work life balance' but damnit they just become buzzwords that we end up resisting in lieu of proving to ourselves we need to be superheroes instead of mastering resting.