Music Love Tuesday XII: Something Different

For this Music Love Tuesday, I'm doing something a bit different.

You may know that I got my degree in Creative Writing back in 2010, just a few months before my health went south. While most people choose that major because they want to be an author, I chose it because I wanted to be a songwriter. I've gone through my phases of poetry writing, novel writing, etc., but the one outlet that always resurfaced with me was songwriting. It began when I was an early teen with some awful, though promising, songs, hibernated for a while, then came back out in full force in college.

I especially got back into songwriting by my junior year and was in it, as best I could tell, for good. Any other job I held or would hold would just be out of necessity, with the goal always being songwriting. One of the happiest times of my life so far was the summer of 2009 when I spent six weeks with family in Memphis, where I first got some direction in the songwriting world, recorded my first demos, and found out about GMA's IMMERSE conference, which I attended later that summer. It was a magical time.

Then, as I mentioned, my health disappeared. And it took a lot of me with it, including my songwriting and my lung capacity to sing.

The other day, I stumbled on this page that I was certain didn't exist anymore, as my subscription ran out long ago. But here, in all their glory, are five of the many demos I recorded over those few years. So I thought I would share them here.

The music and lyrics are by me, and yes that is me singing, but the accompaniment is by my friend Alandra on 1, 2, and 4 and by my cousin Olivia on 3 and 5. They're just demos--you'll hear a chair squeak now and then--and my voice never quite does the bigger songs justice, but collaborating to see a song come alive with accompaniment is magical, and so is recording. That first summer recording in Memphis will always be so very special to me, as will these songs, some recorded there and some later in West Virginia.

These songs are so old now but are still very much me. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be "Let the Sky Weep," though "When We Dance" will always be connected to that summer mentioned above and the amazing thrills that came with it. I hope there's one or two you like.  :)