If i”m redundant, please forgive me. I’m trying to share what all goes on to make the new record, so I might repeat myself in my fatigue (and spell some words wrong, as well!)
Well, last night was my final night in the studio working on the songs. This is how studio days have looked for me and my family:
Lance up at 6:15 to get ready for work
Sara up at 6:30 – 7 am to work on emails
Lily up around 7 to take care of cats, play with new kitten she saved from under our shed
Lance leaves for work
Sara make breakfast around 8:30 am (and lunches, for later, when necessary)
Maxine shows up to play with the girls 8:45
Everyone has breakfast
Sara showers and heads off to the studio 9:45
Sara in the studio from 10 am- 7:30 pm everyday
Lance home at 6:00
Mom home by 8:00
Catch up with each other about our day, brush teeth, get in jammies
Everybody scramble on to mom and dad’s bed and read our nightly book…we are currently reading “Ida B.”, which was sent by my friend, Julie, and has suddenly taken a sad turn…
Again, first week in the studio was basics: drum, bass, acoustic guitar, electric guitar…then lead vocals for all the songs in two days
Meanwhile, the girls played at home, the zoo, swimming pool, with Maxine and friends…Lily is taking Rock-n-Roll camp…and this week I have been taking iolana to Vacation Bible School at our church (in the morning, I get to be Sunny, the yellow puppet horse! I hide in this wonderful barn with only the puppet peeking out to “talk” to Dusty,
the farmhand, and teach the kids about God’s love.)
Then, this week, for another seven days, I added:
Monday: I fix vocals, add harmonies, dump song from file into computer and start working on it, add Jimmy La Fave, add more of my acoustic, I sing two remaining lead tracks
Tuesday: finish vocals
Wednesday: percussion overdubs (tan-tan, congas, bongos, tambourines, triangle, handclaps…) with Michael Longoria (WHOA!!! this was amazing….), add gospel choir (Ruthie Foster, Gretchen Phillips, and me…stacked several times…whoo! we rock! I had so much fun arranging this song and the vocal parts…gosh golly!)
Thursday: add additional keyboard sounds, add horn sections
Friday: overdub additional electric/slide, acoustics (Robert Mcintee…another amazing musician)….add accordian…(he forgot to show up because he was in the middle of some afternoon delight! no kidding…first time that has ever happened! so i won’t tell you his name)….add Kelly Willis on harmony on two tracks
Saturday: Eddie Collins comes to add banjo….accordian player and i talk on the phone and he feels so embarrassed and god bless him he shows up today! great job, and I think having sex in the middle of the afternoon completely justifies almost anything!…comp bazouki…work more on harmonies
Sunday: add Tosca on strings (more open weeping by me…unbelievably awesome)….arrangements by the astounding Danny Levin for…oops! not going to tell you the name of the song yet! and Will Taylor (who created a lush arrangement for…nope, not going to tell you the name of that song either….)…Lily comes in to sing…A fine group of friends show up to add a group sing-a-long vocal…iolana mimics a tiny bird for inclusion somewhere on the record….
Lance takes a group photo! Hooray! Someone thinks to bring a camera cuz I never do! Duh!
Monday: David Grissom comes in and adds more amazing electric guitar trax and blows my mind cuz he is so super nice (and funny)…Shawn Colvin comes to sing on a song…and she works fast, too! I like that she brought reading glasses and she had a skirt with concentric circles. I kept staring at the circles, they had sparkles! I love sparkles.
Maybe I was a crow in a former life.
And..suddenly…it’s ….7:00 pm…! Time to end… we back up the new work and gather my production notes and any incidental items left in the room (charts, pita bread, capos, shoes…)
I feel exhausted but looking forward to mixing. I can hardly wait! I feel like I bought my momma a present with every bit of my saved up allowance, wrapped it with the best paper my money could buy, and now it is about to sit under the tree and I have to wait until Christmas morning! You know that feeling I am talking about?
Tonight we have a meeting about what the packaging for the album will look like….but, first! I need to vaccuum the house.