All You Need is Love - February Newsletter
I am sneaking my February newsletter in just under the wire! It still counts, right? February is Black History Month and the month we celebrate Valentine's Day ,and I will incorporate both in this newsletter, including some playlists a little further down for your listening pleasure.
Thank you and welcome to the new folks on this list - I appreciate your interest and support!
This has been a month of some behind the scenes work. I've been recording, and am excited about how the album is progressing. I can't wait until it is a little farther along and I can share some of it with you.
I also continue to write, and have two new Insta-poems posted here and here.
In the spirit of Valentine's Day, I will say that I don't write many actual love songs but I do have a few, and was delighted to find out last year, quite by accident, that a fan had created a video to the song Still, which is from the Kirsten & Dave album, "Things You Learn."
I've been in touch with the other two Sweet Janes, and we hope to do a Zoom show of our own, as well as do some sort of virtual band video. I have so missed playing with them.
Thanks to all of you who zoomed in to the Zoom show with Kipyn Martin
earlier this month. It was lovely to sing for you while seeing your
faces! The whole evening did my heart good!
I will keep you posted in coming newsletters as things develop, and please follow me on social media for up to date information. Thank you all for your support!
When people are trying to create and are looking for inspiration, love is at the top of the list, right? Finding it, losing it, messing it up, longing for it, etc. The trick is to find a way to say something about love (when it's pretty much all been said) in a way that feels new and fresh. One thing I try to do on a regular basis is read poetry. I find the turns of phrases used in poetry inspiring, yet different enough from what I would use in my songwriting and my own poetry that I won't accidentally recall a line later and believe that I wrote it. I also think reading in general primes language in your mind. One of my favorite poets that frequently writes about love is Lang Leav. Here are two of my favorites:
A Dedication A Thank-You Note
She lends her pen, You have said
to thoughts of him all the things
that flow from it, I need to hear
in her solitary. before I knew
I needed to hear them.
For she is his poet,
And he is her poetry. To be unafraid
of all the things
I used to fear,
before I knew
I am combining these two sections this month. I am going to share some good stuff to listen to from the 90s era or thereabouts of country music, in addition to sharing a little bit about the struggles of Black artists in country music.
In honor of Valentine's Day this month I have put together a Spotify playlist of my favorite country love songs from the 90s and early aughts. I am not into mushy love songs, as you will see. But I think all of these songs are successful in what I referenced above - saying something in a fresh, new way that is still moving. You can find the playlist here.
In honor of Black history month, I would like to highlight music from one of the few Black country artists in the 90s to have some chart success, Trini Triggs. You can find his music on Spotify here, and on YouTube here. I lived in Nashville at that time, and I remember being very excited when he first released music. If you don't have Spotify, you can still view the playlist, and check out the songs on whatever platform you use to listen to music.
The country music industry, to put it in kind terms, has not done well at all by Black artists. (That really is putting it too kindly) It is currently in the middle of another reckoning, as a few weeks ago an up and coming artist was recorded using a racial slur. When I lived in Nashville in the 90s, there was a Black Country Music Association, working to further the careers of Black Artists and educate people on the role Black artists have played in the history of country music. The BCMA dissolved by 2006, but Rolling Stone magazine did an article about the organization this past November. And Ken Burns delves into the history of Black country artists in his series Country Music. I'm hopeful with this latest incident real change will at least start happening. More artists are speaking up, which is a positive sign. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the music by Trini Triggs. (And if you are looking for a contemporary Black country artist, check out Mickey Guyton.)
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