Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Way of the Chocolate Warrior

In another post, I'll share with you how hard it can be to really prepare to go and do that thing that you love. Meanwhile, I want to share a true life event that happened to me while in Nashville, working on my CD:

Being the seasoned traveler that I am, I brought a bag of those wonderful Dove chocolates with me. Mind you, I used them sparingly. But as I was carrying them around with me, I decided one night to eat a few - mainly for medicinal purposes. These little Dove candies - I've talked about them before - I love 'em because they give you little inspirational messages inside the wrapper.

Beyond that, I was feeling very focused and centered. I opened those chocolates, and I'm not making this up. These are the three message I received from the chocolate. 'Nuff said.


Monday, May 14, 2012

the risky road

well i'm headed
down the risky road
takin' nothing but a prayer
and the dreams i've stowed
will i get to where i'm going ?
i dont know
cause it's a risky road


keep walking forward
don't look back
there's no point in crying
over what you lack
just keep your feet between the ridges of the narrow tracks
of that risky road


i'm not the first one to make a leap of faith
i won't be the last to cross the gap 
sheerly on grace
and the day will come
when my foolish heart can't keep the pace
down the risky road


copyright Laura Lisbeth 2012

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Oh Nooooooooo! Pre-pro!


I don’t get out that much. So I don’t know what the rest of the world does to get ready to record an album. What I do know is that the work I’ve been doing to get ready for my 2nd round of recording is some of the hardest – and most gratifying – work I have ever done.

For my upcoming CD, I really wanted to go places I had not gone, both literally and figuratively. That’s why I enlisted the help of songwriter Gary Beard to be producer on the project. Because let’s face it, my thought processes can be like the fireflies in Summer: they disappear here and reappear there – they’re everywhere and nowhere.   blink! – darkness – blink! – darkness – blink!  And up until this project, I thought that was the only way to write: “Let the words come like fireflies” (copyright!) What I am learning – albeit in baby steps, mind you -- is focus, craft, and discipline…..tempered with a sprinkling of firefly.

A project of this level requires a lot of all of the above.  

For the past few months, we’ve been doing pre-production work, so that when we go into the studio, we are not wasting a second of time. During pre-pro, we've been working on:

Song selection
Song structure and lyrics
Recording the guitar tracks and vocals for the “work tapes.”
Delivery/Performance of the song
Each song is an individual and must receive its own attention, you see.

In a very short while now, we’ll be back in Nashville, making this record. And the pre-production work is almost finished.  More to come……