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The new year is off to a busy start! I have several performances scheduled for the next month in the North Florida area. I'm excited to be playing alongside some very talented singer/songwriters. So come on out and support your local songwriters. I would love to see you there!
Thursday, January 14th Essence of a Song @ 6:00 pm High Springs New Century Women's Club High Springs Saturday, January 23rd The Songwriter Spotlight @ 7:00 pm The Doris Bardon Community Cultural Center Gainesville Wednesday, February 3rd Ray Lewis' Songwriter Showcase @ 7:30 pm Mudville Music Room Jacksonville Friday, February 5th The Emerald Thread @ 7:30 Lake City
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 About 5 years ago, I attended my very first
Florida Folk Festival and I fell in love. I haven't missed a year since. Each year I discover great new artists, hear amazing folk legends, eat great food, and dance Zydeco with my Mom. Ever since my first festival, it's been my dream to perform there. This year my dream has come true! That's right, folks, come Memorial Day weekend, 2016 you'll find me on one of the stages of the Florida Folk Festival!!! I'll post details as the festival gets closer. In the meantime, mark your calendars. You don't want to miss it!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because it reminds me to count my blessings. And I have been so absolutely blessed! Most days I pinch myself to be sure I'm not dreaming. Truth is, I simply could not write, perform, and record my music with out the help and support of my friends and family. I will not name names because I don't want to leave out someone. So to those who have taken an interest in my music, listened to my songs, helped create the album, come out to hear me play, watched my kid while I was performing somewhere, encouraged me, or shared my music/videos with others - Thank you! I couldn't do it without you!
 I am beyond excited to have the opportunity to perform in Macon this Saturday to celebrate of the life of Macy Easom, a precious four-year-old girl diagnosed with hepatoblastoma who passed away at the age of five. Music4Macy and the Macy Easom Cancer Research Foundation were established in her honor to fund the research to increase the survival rate of children diagnosed with hepatoblastoma and other pediatric cancers.
Curing pediatric cancer is a cause very near to my heart. My nephew, Eli, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 3. The diagnosis was devastating for our family. The joy and fun of Eli's childhood was replaced by chemo, spinal taps, and endless trips to the hospital. Thankfully, Eli was able to make a compete recovery and is now a smart, talented, funny 13 year old. I feel extremely privileged to help build support and awareness by participating in Music4Macy. Please visit their website to find out more: princessmacy.org.
Each week, we are getting closer and closer to finishing the album (yay!), and with a little help from you all, it even has a nifty name, "Twists and Tangles." We're still few months away from releasing it but I have a little preview of what you can expect when you take off the shrink wrap.
I can't go an further without thanking Dave Melosh of Medusa Productions in Gainesville, Ricky Kendall (guitar), Jon Alexander (pedal steel), Jared Broom (drums), Ryan Baker (keys), and Jeremiah McInnis (bass). These guys have done some amazing work on the album. So here's a sampling of what we've been up to for your listening pleasure...  Come out to High Springs for a great day of music! The festival starts at 11 am. There will be music throughout the day at various venues. I play at 5 pm at the High Springs Playhouse. Hope to see you there!
Many thanks to everyone who took time to weigh in on the name for the album. I tallied the votes today and it was a very, very close contest. I mean a one vote kind of contest (you see, one vote really can make a difference). And now I am happy to announce that the name of my very first album is ...(drum roll)...Twists and Tangles.
Stay tuned for more about the album and if you voted, private message me at [email protected] with your email address and I'll send you one of the tunes on the album. Thanks bunches! - Rachel As it turns out, naming a real-life baby is much easier than naming an album (at least in my case). Shaun and I had a great boy name in mind from the very start. I had always loved the name"Seth" and Shaun considered it the most normal of all my suggestions - he nixed Josiah and Ezra pretty quickly. Heaven help us if Seth had turned out to be a girl because we could never come up with any girl names. As far as I can tell, Seth is pretty happy with his name. He answers to it most of the time and it's super-short which works out since he hates writing.
So help a girl out and let's name this album! I'll tally the votes next Friday and let you know the official name. Thanks in advance : )
- Rachel
The spark of inspiration can take so very many forms - a phrase, a bit of melody, the beauty of nature, a great book, a broken heart. As a writer I’ve been inspired by all of these things but lately it seems that draw many of my ideas from spoken and written word.
Growing up, I was a gangly four-eyed wallflower with my nose perpetually stuck in a book. I was slightly-to-moderately afraid of most social interactions so I escaped as much as possible by reading. As a teenager, I remember buying CD’s, breaking open the case, and studying the lyrics. I thought everybody did that. I thought that’s why they printed them in the first place. Because I love words, I’m always listening and looking, eager to find a phrase or expression that sounds interesting. It happened today at the post office when the postal worker asked me what all those letters meant at the end of my name. I rattled off my official title as a speech therapist but then quickly added, “Just a lot of letters that cost me a lot of money and took a lot of time.” Something about that phrase struck me as interesting so I did my writer’s work and as soon as I got back to my car entered those words into my lyric idea notebook into Evernote. Several months ago, the phrase “bad blood” popped into my head. Such a rich expression! I wrote that down too. A few weeks later, I was banging a rhythm on my guitar and tried those words out. Here’s what it sounded like after developing the idea over a couple of writing sessions.
So always be on the look out for those things that inspire creative thought and if you have some time, share what inspires your writing.
Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of local business leaders about everyday creativity. It was so much fun! Aside from performing some of my songs, I had the chance to speak to these folks about embracing creativity as a part of everyday life. I thought it might be a good idea to share these ideas in my blog as well. So here goes... No 1. CREATIVE THOUGHT CAN OCCUR ANYTIME, ANYWHERE. BE READY. Most of my creative ideas start with a flash of inspiration, typically, a word or a phrase. Occasionally a melody or rhythm jumps into my brain. We're all different. Your spark may be a picture or something else. No matter how the spark starts, the question is: What do you do with it? Often times, ideas come to me at the most random moments - while I'm grocery shopping, driving in my car, showering, even while I'm sleeping. So for me this means grabbing a pen and paper or, more likely, my iPhone and writing down those words or recording that melody. I almost never have luxury of working on the thought right then and there. I do that during my scheduled writing time (we'll get into that later). I've learned that I really can't trust my memory and you probably shouldn't either. Always, always, always record your ideas and keep them in a place you'll be able to find later. For me it's a lovely little app on my phone called Evernote. Choose whatever works for you, but whatever you choose, use it! Next time I'll share some of the things that inspire my songwriting. That should be interesting : ) In the meantime, I hope something in these words helped you in some way. And if you have other tips, please feel free to share them : ) |
Welcome! Here you'll find my notes on my adventures in songwriting and life in general.
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