Free - Song By Song
FREE: SONG-BY SONG
Free - This song personifies what I think it is that I do best, and that is writing about the intricate yet mundane things that we go through while leaving a relationship. This was one of the first songs that I actually co-wrote in Nashville a few years ago. I was very influenced by everything that goes on in that town. You can find people everywhere, from every walk of life, writing songs in coffee shops and bus stops and sleazy bars. Nashville buzzes with songs and songwriters. It’s inspiring to hear what people are thinking and jotting down. Songs seem to hang off every building and tree and empty bottle. My friend was going through a rather tumultuous break up while remodeling her house and so we followed down that footpath, making comparisons between a house being torn down and a life being built back up. The high-strung "Nashville" guitar leads the way as the verses fold into a haunting pool of strings and mandolins and droning background vocals. The message is so positive but you have to dig a little to flush it out.
Daughter Down - It seems I have become rather well known for writing about my "Good Mother" but this song is all about my dad. He is a complicated person and I was trying to figure out a way of describing his life without being too precious, or too revealing. I was thinking about what he would do if he had one more day on the planet. What would go through his mind, what he would change, if anything? The string arrangement is epic, but it suits this piece very well. I love singing this song. It pulls at me every single time I hear it. I am reminded of how hard it can be, to simply be a human being.
The Devil Won - This is the very first song I ever wrote in Nashville. I, for some reason, thought that I was writing a country song, completely based on someone else's life, but within the first line of the second verse, I knew it was once again wrapped around my past. Even when I try not to write about myself, I inevitably do. I had been listening to a lot of Bluegrass and was completely inspired by the long, wailing notes that wind themselves around simple melodies. I tried to bring a bit of those nuances into this song. It is challenging to sing. I wanted to keep it simple and organic. The drums remind me of a pounding heart. The acoustic guitars, dobro, mandolin, and pedal steel seem to weep and whine. It’s still a pop song, but it is rooted in something very old indeed.
Yeah You - This is my ode to traveling - to being on the road constantly. I am always torn by staying and by leaving. It's very hard on one's personal relationships. I love the urgency of this track and how it clips along like a train. It feels like I am moving when I listen to it. Layered electric guitars give it a ‘60s feel, along with some unusual background vocals. Although the content is somewhat depressing, it feels very UP. The idea that love waits for you when you step off the bus or the plane or the boat is enticing. The desire to come home always conflicted by the desire to leave again. That is the life of a traveling musician.
Away - There may be a theme here. This song is about being away from the people you love. It's about being away from home. It's about feeling like you're missing out on such simple things by constantly moving from city to city, hotel to hotel. Distance eats away at your comfort and your confidence. You can feel like you're in a trance when you're on a plane for 10 hours and this track echoes that feeling. Deliberate steady grooves, layers of acoustic and electric guitars, haunting background vocals sung by the women from SHeDAISY. The techno beats living in behind all the organic instruments make a very compelling combination. It's my version of reggae.
Until This – In my opinion, this song is the most unusual on the record. It's a hybrid of traditional instrumentation and progressive drum programming. It somehow comes together in this rock opera sort of way, which suits the lyric of the song perfectly. Finding happiness can be chaos. Finding someone who brings such joy to your life can be completely overwhelming. It's a difficult song to sing as it's at the very top and bottom of my range. The violin part seems to be the vein that holds the whole thing together. The song never lets up; it rushes you right to the end of bliss and then just lets you rest.
You Are Everything - I had recorded a version of this song 5 or 6 years ago as an exclusive digital track. I have received so many requests for this song over the years, people trying endlessly to find it. I would tell them that I couldn't find it either. I've always loved the song but felt that the original arrangement wasn't quite right. Perhaps I just outgrew it? I felt like the song never got the chance to live as it were - to present itself in its true form. So we went back and reinvented it. Cellos pull you in and out of the verses, drifting over the vocal and back again. This song is about love in its simplest form. When someone is your oxygen. When someone is your medicine. When you feel like you are perpetually 9 years old.
Everybody's Broken - This song has 3 very different stories within it, all of which speak of the difficulty of simply "being": the hardship, the pain, the grief, and the longing that comes with everyday life. How, in some way, we are ALL flawed. We are all broken. We intentionally created tension, the feeling that you're never going to get to where you're going. It's hard to remember at times, that we all have a story, that we all have a past and a present and an uncertain future. We all belong to each other. We are all in this mess together.
A Million Miles Away - This song has a very universal theme and that theme is longing. The progressive drum loops play backdrop to organic instrumentation, played by some of Nashville's finest studio musicians. The lyrics are stark in contrast to the complex string arrangements and pedal steel swells. If I were ever to record a dance track, this would be about as close as I get. I think it's a great summer song. You can commit this to memory after the first listen. It's not wordy or preachy or precious. It's kind of voyeuristic really, picturing someone in their room, doing intimate things and wishing you were with them.
All The Days - I don't write on piano very often, but when I do, I am most always surprised. The message here is about regret, and also about the small triumphs that make up each of our lives. I wondered what I would think about when I was old; how I would remember my life, if at all. How would it feel to just let go of everything? Although it sounds morose, I also wondered what it would be like to say something from beyond the veil; what it would be like to whisper in someone's ear and have them hear you from somewhere out there in the stars. This is about living and dying and everything that floats in between.
Lost - This was a late entry on this record, but one which I am very glad I was able to make. I wrote this song with Michael Buble a few years ago for his most recent record. I am proud to say it was a great success for him all over the world. I was curious after having heard Michael sing it many times this past year, to see what I would do with it. How I would treat it. How it would feel coming out of my heart. He did such a wonderful job on the song, so it was intimidating to think that I would ruin that sentiment in any way. I knew I
Free - This song personifies what I think it is that I do best, and that is writing about the intricate yet mundane things that we go through while leaving a relationship. This was one of the first songs that I actually co-wrote in Nashville a few years ago. I was very influenced by everything that goes on in that town. You can find people everywhere, from every walk of life, writing songs in coffee shops and bus stops and sleazy bars. Nashville buzzes with songs and songwriters. It’s inspiring to hear what people are thinking and jotting down. Songs seem to hang off every building and tree and empty bottle. My friend was going through a rather tumultuous break up while remodeling her house and so we followed down that footpath, making comparisons between a house being torn down and a life being built back up. The high-strung "Nashville" guitar leads the way as the verses fold into a haunting pool of strings and mandolins and droning background vocals. The message is so positive but you have to dig a little to flush it out.
Daughter Down - It seems I have become rather well known for writing about my "Good Mother" but this song is all about my dad. He is a complicated person and I was trying to figure out a way of describing his life without being too precious, or too revealing. I was thinking about what he would do if he had one more day on the planet. What would go through his mind, what he would change, if anything? The string arrangement is epic, but it suits this piece very well. I love singing this song. It pulls at me every single time I hear it. I am reminded of how hard it can be, to simply be a human being.
The Devil Won - This is the very first song I ever wrote in Nashville. I, for some reason, thought that I was writing a country song, completely based on someone else's life, but within the first line of the second verse, I knew it was once again wrapped around my past. Even when I try not to write about myself, I inevitably do. I had been listening to a lot of Bluegrass and was completely inspired by the long, wailing notes that wind themselves around simple melodies. I tried to bring a bit of those nuances into this song. It is challenging to sing. I wanted to keep it simple and organic. The drums remind me of a pounding heart. The acoustic guitars, dobro, mandolin, and pedal steel seem to weep and whine. It’s still a pop song, but it is rooted in something very old indeed.
Yeah You - This is my ode to traveling - to being on the road constantly. I am always torn by staying and by leaving. It's very hard on one's personal relationships. I love the urgency of this track and how it clips along like a train. It feels like I am moving when I listen to it. Layered electric guitars give it a ‘60s feel, along with some unusual background vocals. Although the content is somewhat depressing, it feels very UP. The idea that love waits for you when you step off the bus or the plane or the boat is enticing. The desire to come home always conflicted by the desire to leave again. That is the life of a traveling musician.
Away - There may be a theme here. This song is about being away from the people you love. It's about being away from home. It's about feeling like you're missing out on such simple things by constantly moving from city to city, hotel to hotel. Distance eats away at your comfort and your confidence. You can feel like you're in a trance when you're on a plane for 10 hours and this track echoes that feeling. Deliberate steady grooves, layers of acoustic and electric guitars, haunting background vocals sung by the women from SHeDAISY. The techno beats living in behind all the organic instruments make a very compelling combination. It's my version of reggae.
Until This – In my opinion, this song is the most unusual on the record. It's a hybrid of traditional instrumentation and progressive drum programming. It somehow comes together in this rock opera sort of way, which suits the lyric of the song perfectly. Finding happiness can be chaos. Finding someone who brings such joy to your life can be completely overwhelming. It's a difficult song to sing as it's at the very top and bottom of my range. The violin part seems to be the vein that holds the whole thing together. The song never lets up; it rushes you right to the end of bliss and then just lets you rest.
You Are Everything - I had recorded a version of this song 5 or 6 years ago as an exclusive digital track. I have received so many requests for this song over the years, people trying endlessly to find it. I would tell them that I couldn't find it either. I've always loved the song but felt that the original arrangement wasn't quite right. Perhaps I just outgrew it? I felt like the song never got the chance to live as it were - to present itself in its true form. So we went back and reinvented it. Cellos pull you in and out of the verses, drifting over the vocal and back again. This song is about love in its simplest form. When someone is your oxygen. When someone is your medicine. When you feel like you are perpetually 9 years old.
Everybody's Broken - This song has 3 very different stories within it, all of which speak of the difficulty of simply "being": the hardship, the pain, the grief, and the longing that comes with everyday life. How, in some way, we are ALL flawed. We are all broken. We intentionally created tension, the feeling that you're never going to get to where you're going. It's hard to remember at times, that we all have a story, that we all have a past and a present and an uncertain future. We all belong to each other. We are all in this mess together.
A Million Miles Away - This song has a very universal theme and that theme is longing. The progressive drum loops play backdrop to organic instrumentation, played by some of Nashville's finest studio musicians. The lyrics are stark in contrast to the complex string arrangements and pedal steel swells. If I were ever to record a dance track, this would be about as close as I get. I think it's a great summer song. You can commit this to memory after the first listen. It's not wordy or preachy or precious. It's kind of voyeuristic really, picturing someone in their room, doing intimate things and wishing you were with them.
All The Days - I don't write on piano very often, but when I do, I am most always surprised. The message here is about regret, and also about the small triumphs that make up each of our lives. I wondered what I would think about when I was old; how I would remember my life, if at all. How would it feel to just let go of everything? Although it sounds morose, I also wondered what it would be like to say something from beyond the veil; what it would be like to whisper in someone's ear and have them hear you from somewhere out there in the stars. This is about living and dying and everything that floats in between.
Lost - This was a late entry on this record, but one which I am very glad I was able to make. I wrote this song with Michael Buble a few years ago for his most recent record. I am proud to say it was a great success for him all over the world. I was curious after having heard Michael sing it many times this past year, to see what I would do with it. How I would treat it. How it would feel coming out of my heart. He did such a wonderful job on the song, so it was intimidating to think that I would ruin that sentiment in any way. I knew I
Posted by Jann
