Well, my new record is done and it feels like the perfect way to start 2014. I’m talking to distributors now about getting it out into the world, hoping that May 1 will be the release date. The title of the new record is Trouble and Love, and I’m excited and more than a little anxious about what we’ve created this time. My songs tell a story, always, and the story here is one of transformation. Moving from being one way to another way, internally. With these internal moves, spiritual growth is one of the blessings of pain. We grow because resistance to growth hurts more than stepping into the unknown. Transformation is the end product of a lot of emotional pain, it is the blessing inside the pain. Spiritual growth is one of life’s great challenges, and well worthy of writing about because it’s so hard to understand what it all means when it’s happening.
So, the process of growth is what I wrote about this time, and I brought my friends along to help me with the songs. I’m putting myself out there again, and no matter how many times I’ve done it before, it’s always scary. It’s my job and I love it, but the fear factor always keeps it interesting!
Here’s a video of a new song on the record called "Oh Soul," and we shot it on an iPhone in a green room in Dublin, Ireland before my show last year. I’m singing with Ben Glover who is the co-writer.
SECOND Songwriting Workshop Just Added!
My songwriting workshop in Nashville on Feb 28-March 2 sold out in a couple of days, so we’ve added another one on April 24-26 in Nashville. All levels are welcome, even those who have never written a song before. I will do my best to help you find you voice and what it is you are trying to say. This, I believe, is the greatest challenge of writing.
In order for each student to have personal attention and for the experience to be intimate, it’s limited to only 20 people. So if you want to join us be sure and register now, because it will fill up fast! Just go to the Registration Page at Performing Songwriter’s website to find out more and to sign up. I hope you can join us.
Rock and Roll Stories
My appearance Rock and Roll Stories was broadcast in LA a few weeks ago, and we have the video for it. I sat down in the studio of KCLS in Los Angeles with host Tom Waldman and talked about the 5 songs and songwriters that most inspired me as a developing songwriter. Time flew by when I was on set with him, he’s a wonderful host with fantastic questions. The format of his show allows for a lively discussion of songs and songwriters, and I was so into it that I was able to forget that I was on TV and just talk from the heart about my greatest passion. The songs I listed were songs that shaped me as a young person looking for information on how to live my life. My five—Lou Reed, Patti Smith, John Prine, John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen—are all deeply personal writers, who gave us a way of looking at the world through their writing. I believe that their contributions to the genre taught me how to be honest in my writing and say what mattered to me in story songs. Stories have always been my greatest teachers, and storytellers my greatest love. And this show gave me a chance to talk about that in depth.
The Highway Is My Home
Here’s great short interview for this wonderful blog on aging hipsters, with a live version of me playing my song Karla Faye in early 2005.
30A Songwriters Festival
I’ve just made it down to Florida for the 30A Songwriters Festival , and I’m going to be on stage with plenty of my friends this year, including Gretchen Peters, Allison Moorer, and Kim Richey, and Jeff Black. It’s always a fun time down there for this event. If you’re in the area, be sure to come out, enjoy the music and say “hi.” It would be great to see you.
Thanks again for all of your support, and here’s to 2014. It’s already feeling like it’s going to be a great year.
—Mary