Day FOURRRR

Hey y’all! (yes, “y’all” is happening for me right now…haha!) Today was an INSANE day. Things got really REALLY real today. I honestly don’t really have words to express how incredible my team has been. Gordon and Nathan have faith in me that I didn’t even expect, nor do I feel like I deserve! I worked so incredibly hard on vocals today and something just clicked with the three of us. There are some big things happening with this project and now it’s possible that it won’t be done quite as early as I was expecting, but it’s COMPLETELY worth it because of how exciting the outcome might be!!! I am SO grateful for this whole experience… it’s a game changer now! God is stirring something and I can’t wait to find out what He’s doing 🙂

With that, I’ll show you a few pictures from today. We were back at the first studio today (which was freezing), but a WAY better mic that was soooo fun to sing with! We did three songs this morning because my voice was in such good shape. After lunch, we only got through one because I was getting pretty tired. But one was all we needed to do! Tomorrow we will record the last one, and then get things edited and make sure they have all the bits and pieces that they need. We might even have time to hit up the Opry tomorrow night! Gordon said that if we would have gone on Tuesday night, he could have gotten us in and we could have met Vince Gill AND Wynonna!!!! (Gordon is good friends with both of them). Buuuuuut since we were tracking so late on Tuesday, we weren’t able to go! UGH! Oh well 🙂

Anyway, PICTURES!

The brains… deciding my future. 

Gordon and I were doing a little work around the piano, changing some things around

Tomorrow is the last day… please continue to pray! It has been SO evident that you prayer warriors have been covering us, and we so appreciate it! Love you all SO much and I can’t wait to get home to share more about this incredible experience with you all 🙂

Day THREEE!!!

Well folks, this was an incredibly successful vocal tracking day. I honestly couldn’t have made it through 7.5 hours of constant singing without the prayers that you have all offered up! From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you… and ask you to continue to pray for the next 2 days as I will be doing the same thing! God is listening to these prayers and He is truly blessing this project. I cannot WAIT for you to hear it… especially after how successful today was!! I feel like a broken record, but really… it’s gonna be SO good!!!

When I got to the studio this morning, I was a little confused. We were at a different studio than yesterday, and I was told that it was in a garage-turned-studio. So, we pulled up to a little house and walked around back. It was the most non-studio building I’ve seen! As we were walking in, a guy around my age was following us like it was no big deal. I asked him if this was the right way, and he said, “the right way to what?” It was SO bizarre!! We were on the driveway walking to the only destination… He acted like we were just passersby, lost and looking for directions (which, technically we were, I guess!) It turned out that this guy was one of the engineers at this studio and he was coming to unlock it for us… we were the first ones there 🙂 He was very friendly and stayed around for a bit to hang out until we were set to start.

From then on, we just sang and sang and sang!! I was not prepared with how PICKY Gordon was going to be, but mannnn alive, when I heard the final comp of each track, I knew it was worth it to be so picky. I also understand why he gets paid the big bucks! Gordon and Nathan can sure work some magic in the studio and I sure owe them a LOT of credit for what you’ll be hearing. MAN they have good ears!! 🙂 We had a great time today, and I feel like Gordon is an incredible friend now. He shared so many stories about playing with legends like James Taylor, Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Faith Hill, Trisha Yearwood, Martina McBride, Brad Paisley, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, and Randy Travis. I felt like a little kid sitting at Dumbledore’s feet, just soaking in the wisdom and knowledge! He has played on OVER 35 Grammy award-winning songs or albums!!! What. The. Heck. He said that if I move to Nashville, he would take care of me. That’s a pretty exciting prospect. He even invited us over to his house to grill some steaks tomorrow (although I’m not sure how much his wife would like that!)

I’m looking forward to another great vocal day tomorrow. On Friday we might be bringing in a trio to do some background vocals for us on one tune. That is going to be AMAZING if it works out!! Thanks again for all of your love and encouragement! Here are some pictures from the day 🙂

Celebration dinner after the full day at “Sopapilla’s” with some yummy sweet tea.

Singing my heart out!

Gordon always has something hilarious to say… he is mister comedian. He talked to me for 5 minutes about how much he LOVES vanilla ice cream. I was dying.

A peek into the studio

This is where the magic happened!

Love you all!!!

Day Twooo!!!

Hey folks… day one in the studio is complete! Thank you for all of the texts, emails, messages, etc of encouragement and support that I got today. It was a LONG day, but soooo fun and worthwhile. I don’t even know where to begin!

We got to the studio at 9:45 this morning, and I was blown away by how beautiful it was! It’s in the basement of a mansion and was outfitted with top of the line equipment. The owners of the house and studio are the owners of Cedarmont Kids Music… which is 2nd only to Disney in sales of kids music… crazy!!! Needless to say, it was an outstanding studio. As I walked in, I was greeted by Larry Beaird (acoustic) and Steve Brewster (drums). Such a fun bunch of guys… they had me laughing right away! When we got inside, Gordon (producer and keys), Duncan Mullins (bass and he also wrote the charts… so he had spent some time with my music before today), Kelly Back (electric), and Nathan (engineer) were all setting up and greeted us warmly. As I was getting settled in, I overheard Larry say to Duncan, “is this the girl you were bragging about??” Duncan looked at me and said, “I was telling him about your songs were and how fun they were going to be to play…” !!!! Awesome….

As soon as we got settled in and did a little sound check, we got started. We had 9 songs to get through today in 3 sessions. Gordon was pretty nervous that we weren’t going to get through it all, but we made it just in time. I don’t really have words to tell you about the music experience itself. All I have to say is that you will be in for a treat… I almost wish we could just keep it at the instrumental tracks and not add my vocals… that’s how good this stuff is!!

I will start tracking the “real” vocals tomorrow. Today I just sang scratch vocals so the band knew where we were the whole time. I’m even more excited for tomorrow now that I know what to expect!!

Here are some pictures from the studio today:

These guys sat by me all day 🙂

Larry Beaird doing his thing on acoustic!

The mixing room… with Nathan, Duncan, and mom 🙂

Steve Brewster killing it on drums

Gordon looks tired… but he’s just listening intently to the arrangement, trying to decide how to make it better

My viewpoint for most of the day

Gordon insisted that I try out the piano… it was pretty incredible! He also wanted me to play something for him. Talk about nerve-wracking!!

Our entire crew for the day 🙂

Mom and I were pretty happy with the day 🙂

Our musical puppy friend, Bandit. He and his brother were with us in the studio this afternoon 🙂

I’ll make sure to keep you all updated about how vocal tracking goes tomorrow. Please pray for endurance and vocal health for me tomorrow. I feel great right now, but the next few days are going to be long and hard on the precious vocal chords!! Love you all… can’t wait for you all to hear this!!!

God bless 🙂

DAY ONE!!!!

Hey friends!!! Thank you SO much for following my journey in Nashville as I fulfill a HUGE dream of mine… recording a major album!!

So, today was our first full day in Nashville (actually we’re in Brentwood… but whatevs). We had nothing “official” scheduled today except to just settle in and relax before all of the hard work begins! (When I mention “we”, I’m referring to my wonderful mother who accompanied me on the trip!) Mom and I slept in, had a lazy morning, and decided that we didn’t really know how else to spend our day other than hunting for TJ Maxx’s and Marshalls 🙂 If you know either one of us to any extent, you probably could have predicted that. Sooo, we found some great deals and pretty awesome clothes before lunch and decided to switch things up after lunch.

But first, lunch! We ate at Logan’s Roadhouse (a favorite of ours… kinda like Texas Roadhouse) and we met long-time family friends that we haven’t seen since Christmas 2010! It was SO fun to catch up with them 🙂

After lunch, it was time to hit up Franklin… one of my favorite parts of visiting Nashville. We stopped to get my final Starbucks indulgence of the week first, then walked around and perused the many adorable boutiques! Here’s a picture in front of the Franklin Theater (where the new “Flashdance” was premiered!)

We walked around, shopped a little, and just enjoyed the beautiful day. We saw one of the women that interviews everyone on the red carpet… that was pretty cool!! After shopping, it was time to refuel. Ok… I know this is a week late, but come on. HAD to do it sometime!! 

Yum. And a sweet tea, thank you very much.

So, now we’re just gonna take it easy at the hotel. The hard work and long day(s) starts bright and early in the morning. I have to relish the relaxation time while I can! Last night, we drove out to find the studio. First of all, it’s in Brentwood. If you know anything about the Nashville area, you know that Brentwood is… well… *sticks nose up in the air*… prreeeetttttttyyyyy nice. Huge houses. I mean HUUUUUGE. The biggest house that you can imagine doesn’t even compare. I’ve never seen houses this big even in MOVIES. Seriously. HUGE. So, we were driving down tiny little roads, winding through the hills thinking, “surely the GPS is routing us the wrong way… maybe I put the address in wrong?” We finally arrived at the “destination” which turns out to be a gated driveway that leads up into the woods… looks very secluded, but VERY special. Later, I read on the studio’s website that it’s “nestled in the hills right outside of Brentwood”… which leads me to believe we were in the right place 🙂 Needless to say, we’ll leave a little early in the morning juuuuust to make sure we’re in the right place.

So, here’s the game plan for tomorrow: TRACKING. All. Day. Long. The band will be recording 9 tunes tomorrow and I won’t sing until Wednesday and Thursday (possibly Friday). I am BEYOND excited to hear MY music played by professional musicians. I’m so excited to hear the arrangements and to work with all of them. These guys have played for HUGE projects… we’re talking Carrie Underwood, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Chesney… you name it. I cannot believe that I will be with them all day, let alone hearing them play my music! What an exciting process!!

Tomorrow night (if time allows… and if I’m not dead), mom and I are going to tryyyyy to hit up the Grand Ole Opry. You can all judge me, but I want to see some legends. Vince Gill AND Wynonna. Come ON. Awesome. We’ll see though 🙂

Stay tuned tomorrow night to hear about day 2… this will be pretty awesome!! Love you ALL! Thank you so much for your encouragement, prayers, and support!!

Oh yeah…and… real life Mario Kart happened to me today. Gotta watch those banana peels. 

Franklin

Yummmm.