Birthin' the Baby: My New CD is Born!

Dear Bloglodites,

I'm happy to announce that my new CD, The Balance, has finally emerged! I have a few of the tracks uploaded onto my website and you can listen to them if you click HERE.


Images and Jacket Design by JSi Photography

 I recorded this CD in Nashville: It was a journey unlike any other, and it allowed me to reach far beyond what I thought I could accomplish, and from somewhere deep down, bring it.

Images and Jacket Design by JSi Photography

The Balance FAQs:

1. Where can I get the CD? The CD is available for purchase NOW - right this minute! - on my website at www.lauralisbeth.com. Just click on the link for "Music" to get started.  You can order a physical CD or download the album. You can even order it signed - for posterity, I guess.  Of course  probably the best way to obtain it is to buy it at one of my shows. Then I can really personalize it with a big ol' sharpie.

2.What kind of music is it?Oh, now, come on. It's L-raising music from heart of America, baby!

3. Holy cow! I see that there are 18 songs on your CD! That's a lot! (not really a question but sort of demands a response)Yes! There are actually 2 versions of each of the 9 songs on the album. One is a full production version, and the other is a more intimate, unplugged version. We wanted to offer both to my fans because when I play live, you get that acoustic version. But the songs demanded (yes they did, really) to be also recorded in their full regalia with their party hats on.
4. Where was the album recorded? It was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee! To make sure I brought my "A" game, I enlisted the help of a producer, hence the addition of Gary Beard - a very talented songwriter in his own right. Gary also co-wrote the song "Billy" with me. We hope you'll really like the end result.
5. How do you come up with the idea for the song "Don't Look Down?"Beats me! I was just a blow-drying my big hair one morning and it popped into my head and pretty much insisted on being written. When a song is that pushy, I do what I'm told.

6. I heard that your cat, Toonie, wanted to be on the CD...? He actually was on one of the rough recordings I was doing. He was such a natural, with impeccable timing and perfect pitch, that I really wanted to put him on. In the end, I just didn't want to share the spotlight with him. He takes up a lot of space.

unimpressed by the trappings of success

7. Is there a significance to "9"? You chose 9 songs for the album. We chose the strongest songs. After we added song #9, it seemed like a complete project, so we stopped, and had a beer.   

8. What is the "secret" about this CD?There's a tiny picture of Gary Beard, my producer, hidden somewhere in the design. Just for fun.

During the next few weeks, I'll be scheduling some shows that will help me roll out my new baby. The first one will be on October 13 at Fence Stile Vineyards & Winery in Excelsior Springs.
I'm also going to add some fun stuff on the website about the Making of the Balance. Stay tuned!


For more UP-TO-THE-MINUTE info on new shows,etc.,  check www.lauralisbeth.com.

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.

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 2^nd 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……

I Fall Off the Wagon: Nashville Day 2

You don’t know how long I have gone without making chocolate a part of my everyday life. There was a time, my friends, when I required daily chocolate. I even convinced myself that it was “good for me” and “medicinal” and “if the good Lord hadn’t intended women to eat chocolate he wouldn’t have created PMS” and many other such rationalizations.

About a year ago, I turned a deaf ear to my fattening friend, and, except for an occasional flourless chocolate torte after a nice dinner out, we haven’t had much contact. But on the first night in Nashville, during a quick stop at a Walgreens, I just wigged out and bought a bag of Dove milk chocolates – the ones with the little affirmations printed inside the wrapper. And so it began....

We would devote the studio time on Tuesday to mixing, recording background vocals, and laying down some special acoustic guitar tracks.  I was so happy and grateful to be able to be present for all of this. And I was also a little giddy. Monday had been the hard work day for me – singing the scratch vocals and laying down the vocal tracks – I pretty much sang all day. But on Tuesday, although my input was going to be required, I wasn't going to be doing much singing.

We worked all morning and that stretched into afternoon, and we didn’t really stop for lunch. Thankfully, I had tucked the bag of chocolates into my backpack, and every time I started to feel like I was dragging, I would grab another cup of coffee and some chocolate. And the chocolate would reward me with little messages inside the wrapper, like, "Smile" and "Believe in Yourself" and "You Are Special" and "Don't Let Anyone Give You Any Crap About Eating Chocolate." And it was good.

Hearing the background vocals being added was so gratifying. It really made the project begin to come to life. Then in the evening, the acoustic guitarist, John Willis, returned to lay down a very special set of acoustic tracks. I'll have more to share about this in another blog.  

It was close to 9 pm when we finished on Tuesday night. But due to my steady intake of coffee and chocolate all day, I was wide awake until almost 1 am. I had some microwave popcorn and some more chocolate. Luckily, I was getting close to running out of chocolate.

Tania Hancheroft, Background Vocals

The amazing John Willis, Acoustic Guitar

Senor Coffee Pot - my partner in crime

I Avoid the Use of "VOX" In My Posts

There’s a movement out there, it’s a grass roots thing. A murmur. An undercurrent of dissention. It’s  similar to the backlash against using “Xmas” in place of the word “Christmas” (though not driven by the same principles, at all).  People – some people – really hate it when they see the term “vox” used in place of the word “vocals.”

Probably once upon a time, this was the cool thing to do. But I tell you it’s just not hip any more! And you know, as the years pass, it is harder and harder to hold on to any hint of hipness (we all know why – I’m not goin’ there today).  I must not tempt the gods of Hipnosity!

I actually never used the term “vox” anyway. For years, I didn’t even know what it meant. I thought it was an instrument someone was playing, as in “hey, who is playing the vox on that record?” Then somewhere along the way, I figured it out, all by myself. Lately, I've noticed hateful comments about the use of the word/term.  Typical. Just about the time when I get a handle on something, somebody goes and declares it passé.

Hipness is elusive.  It is a quality that some possess, but others do not, for no apparent reason. Hipness is like some sort of heavy vapor that clings to your clothing and wafts after you as you pass by. But you are not aware of it. You just are. Hip. If you are.

So, no “vox” in my Nashville posts, I vow. I am, however, quite lazy and I plan to continue to use the word “XMAS” no matter how many people it pisses off.

GO TIME!

You can think about it, talk about it, dream about it. In the end, you just have to go do it.

GO time in Nashville.

With input from Gary Beard, my producer,  I chose to record at Kenny Royster's studio --  it’s a small, intimate setting and I felt I would be comfortable there. Plus, Gary had worked with Kenny before, and that brought a certain comfort level from the start.

Our first session-  recording the tracks (music) that would go along with the vocals-  started at 10 am. I allowed myself one final round of nerves at breakfast. Who would love my children? My little songs – my babies – would these guys take them and love them and make them something I could still recognize afterward?

I was counting on Gary to bring his knowledge and his ear to the project, and help keep this train from derailing, sending car after car plummeting over the cliff, along with me and all my "children."

Okay,  that’s an extreme analogy. I wasn’t that worried. I didn't foresee disaster. I just really wanted the best for my songs, the hour was at hand, and I had one shot to get what I wanted. It made me jittery.

The basic process goes like this:

Everyone listens to the work tape (the songwriter’s rendition of the song, very basic version – in my case, a recording of guitar and vocal).

Everyone talks about what they are going to play, what they think would sound right, etc.

Everyone disappears into a booth or room at this point (including me)

Everybody can hear everyone else thru headphones

They start playing and I sing the song to record a vocal (I would record the final version later).

Everyone listens, and we see what works and what doesn’t and  go from there.

Repeat until as close to perfectly awesome as possible

In this case, I’m happy to say that we came away with 3 stunning tracks and 3 great vocal recordings. Oh, but we weren’t finished. That was only Day 1.  


At the beginning of the session - Jon, Dennis & Dennis: Guitar, Drums, Keyboard




Kenny Royster





Big pile of guitars

Pretending to have a clue

Gary Beard - Producer




 

Sunday Night in Crashville: Everybody Plays, Everybody Sings

It wasn't long after arrival and check-in at the hotel in Nashville that it was time to find dinner and then catch some kind of live music. Gary told me that in Nashville, "everybody sings, everybody plays" - and it surely is true. Due to the fact that the lines at the historic Bluebird Cafe were out the door, we opted for the songwriter showcase at the Holiday Inn.  

I found the sound system to be outstanding. The songwriters had varying degrees of fabulosity. In the first set were 3 very talented songwriters - a younger guy with a trendy, touseled hairdo ( I call it "The Nashville Look" because I have observed it with some frequency here), a Taylor Swift-ette, and  a seasoned songwriter who obviously felt he was beyond introductions, since he wore his hat low so that it mostly hid his face. He was more of a "this-is-a-song-I-wrote-back-when-with-billy-bob-jim-john-jones-that-was-cut-by-merle-haggard-right-before-he-decided-to-disinclude-it-from-his-historic-award-winning-record-but-I-forgive-anyway"  kind of guy.

In the next set, the songwriting sort of tapered off. One guy sang a sort of redneck song about a knife carrying gal who was just apparently really tough, with the chorus ending "She's hell's bells."  The next guy had a song that went something like, "Yadda yadda yadda - I don't know what to do-o-o-o, Yadda yadda yadda - I'm in love with you-u-uu." Or something like that.  God knows I celebrate creativity wherever I find it! GOD knows this! You may not know it, but I tell you, it is known -- so let's say the writing prompted a religious moment, in that context.

Making the evening interesting (for me) was a dude who was walking around looking like a pirate, complete with tricorn hat. Does this happen to anyone besides me? I decided I wanted to take a picture but - like a phantom clipper ship - he kept drifting in and out of sight. Finally, I asked him to take a picture with me, because it's just not every day that you get a photo op with a free agent pirate. 

It should be noted here that HE said he was dressed as a Civil War soldier.  "Uh, no. I don't think so. Not so much." That's what I wanted to say, but you just don't argue with a stranger dressed like a pirate. I mean......would you?

And anyway, I needed to get ready for a full day of recording on Monday. So while Nashville played and sang... I slept.

Roll Out!

Greetings, Bloglodites!

Today I’m rolling out a new blog.   I wanted to be able to talk about some of the struggles, neuroses, obsessions, rewards, motivations and frustrations of trying to keep that creative flame alive while negotiating the jungle rain forest that is Real Life.  

To start things off in a big way, I will be blogging about my upcoming trip to Nashville to record four songs for my next CD. I will be totally clueless about what I’m doing.  I’ll post pictures, and my thoughts and experiences. I hope you can join me on this trip – it will make it more fun and I welcome your comments. My trip starts tomorrow, November 13, and you can check back at this site for updates.

When you say you’re going to Nashville, it’s kind of like telling people you are on the verge of winning $20 million dollars. It’s a place that evokes just that kind of excitement – especially among fellow songwriters. I do feel that I’m on the verge of something – hopefully a big, fat creative leap. Certainly, this is a bit of a leap of faith to decide to record this way. What I hope to achieve is a finished piece of work that is as good as it can be – for the money.

I gave this a lot of thought and consideration.  I had such a great experience recording my first CD with Steve Phillips. The project was completed in baby steps that added up to a year of work. This time around, I don’t have a year, don’t have the spare time, and I don’t want to wait that long. I want to strike while the iron is hot on these songs.  I want a different kind of energy to come together for this. I want everyone working together at the same time. Everyone in the boat.

But – I’m not really going to have to do this all by myself: I have asked  KC-based songwriter, Gary Beard, to be the producer on this project for me.  Gary lived in Nashville and worked professionally as a songwriter there for many years. I’m counting on him to tell me where I’m going – both literally and figuratively.