An update- with pictures!

I’ve been home from California for over a week now, and Oregon has welcomed me back by dumping water from the sky virtually non-stop since I’ve been home. It’s a rough adjustment when I make those trips in the wintertime. Here’s a quick rundown of what we got done while I was there (with pictures!):

This is Peter.
In this picture, he is being awesome. We took on the challenge of arranging some traditional children’s music that won’t irritate adults that inevitably must also listen to it. I had a blast taking on this project and I’m SO excited with what we recorded. Peter busted this thing out for Hush, Little Baby. It ended up with this bluesy, loose feel, unexpected but sooooo nice.

This is Uma, helping. She’s probably the most rockin’ two year old I know.

This is me, working with a baby strapped to me. Peter and I were writing a song at the time and she was totally digging it, but we had to write fast because she got upset whenever the music stopped. We welcomed the challenge.

This is me, being distracted by my awesome pink shoes.

This is me, exiting the vocal booth. The vocal booth itself looked like something you would trick someone into entering just to lock them in it and load it in a truck. Once I got past this feeling, it felt more like some super cool clubhouse where grownups weren’t allowed. And it worked brilliantly.

One of my favorite parts of these trips, where we go back and listen to everything we got done that week.

Also included in this trip, a waffle sandwich. You’re welcome.

LA lalala

I made it to LA! No small feat, flying solo with my “lap child”, but we made it and we’re here and we’ve been getting some good work done.

Initially I thought we would be mostly working on some a Capella tracks. We have worked on two different all-vocal songs but we’ve been tending to some of the business side of music as well. I’m trying to get all my proverbial ducks in a row for the album release in February (artwork, distribution, promotion, etc). It’s been a pretty exhausting week trying to get things done while dealing with nap times and diaper changes but I’m so happy to do be doing what I love. Peter and I are in various stages of recording three new songs, one that we started writing just two days ago. And this is where I really love what I do- that song began life as a techno instrumental track, took a turn for country and landed somewhere in the country-leaning alternative pop category. I dig this stuff.

There are so many projects I want to dive into, but an album release is so nerve-wracking and exciting and so many things all rolled up into one big anxiety attack that makes you want to laugh. It’s just so BIG. So many things to coordinate and you hope you have the song order right and you named it the right thing and on and on. You pour your heart and soul into this collection of tracks and hope with everything in you that people will hear it.

One day at a time, right?

I need to go. It’s my nap time.

In the dark

I spent the weekend at my parents house, and came home yesterday afternoon to find the power was out at my house, and most of the town. I lit a few candles, started a fire, and grabbed a blanket.

What struck me as odd was the quiet. And the dark. I normally turn on the tv, cruise around Facebook, have pandora radio going… I never realized how much noise I surround myself with. And how often I flick a light switch. I had about a half hour to organize myself before the sun went down and once it was dark it was very dark. No street lamps, no house lights from the neighbors, just me in the quiet. It was a nice time to reflect on how much I take for granted. I feel like I got a snapshot of what the east coast is going through and I’ve been better at counting my blessings since.

If you are in a storm right now, stay safe. Thoughts and prayers are with you.

She made the face, and I was like “oh no”

This is what baby girl looked like when we got home from the store. It is not what she looked like when we left for the store.

Because this is the face of a troublemaker.

I gave a window into my life on this blog recently about how I’m a musician, mom, etc. This week I’m also an amateur handyman (handywoman? That sounds weird). Yesterday on my tumblr page I was bragging on my baby a bit. We’re trying to get some work done on the house this week and she’s been a rock star about napping anyway and letting us get away with not giving her 100% of our attention all the time, stuff like that. I called her a “good sport”.

Well today my “good sport” decided to have a diaper blowout right in the middle of Home Depot. Within the first two minutes of being there, of course. After a quick baby wipe sponge bath and disposing of her thankfully-not-very-cute-outfit-because-mommy-needs-to-do-laundry clothes, she rocked the hardware store in her baby skivvies. And I laughed, because sometimes you just have to.

I try to stay grounded in spite of the glamor that is my life.

Look mommy!

I kept my socks clean!

Puppy love

This is Hawkeye. I’m pretty sure he suffers from Seasonal Affective Disorder.

This is Hunnicut. He likes to sit on people.

Bonus points to whoever knows where their names came from.

-Courtney

Thinking a Capella thoughts

My producer, the wonderfulamazingfabulous Peter Malick, recently got me thinking about working more in the area of a Capella. So now I have several different songs going on in my head. I’m thinking about writing new material as well as maybe arranging previously written songs for this project. Once my mind catches hold of an idea like this it goes on in the background, building and building, until I can record it and get it all out of my head. Peter must be very brave to propose something like this, because it’s going to be him sorting through the vocal tracks to try and make sense of it all later.

He also mentioned the possibility of getting these arrangements into written form. Ironic, since I don’t really read music. To have other people sing music that I’ve written… I’ve already seen a couple of YouTube videos (seen here and here) of people performing “weightless” and it’s totally surreal. To have my songs turned into sheet music would be a dream come true.

So, as always, more music to come. In the meantime, enjoy the a Capella track coming up on the new album. It’s called “the Path” and can be heard here.

Any requests for songs I should acapellify?

-Courtney

Hello my name is

I’m not sure how to begin- there’s so much to say.

 

From the time I started pursuing music professionally, I knew I would never be an act with back up dancers, pyrotechnics, or costume changes. My appeal would be that I’m a real person, and I think that really connects with people. It is here that I must apologize, because until now I’ve only shared a part of me. I’ve been determined to keep “Music Courtney” and all other facets of me separated, due to some irrational fear of I’m-not-even-sure-what. But that’s not fair to you the fans and I’ve come to realize it doesn’t do either of us any good to hold back.  So I’m coming clean.

 

Here’s what you may not know:

 

I don’t live in a hip studio apartment in some big city. I live in a 100 year old house in a tiny town on the Oregon coast.

 

I live here with my husband, my two big dogs, and, most recently, my baby girl. Pictures to follow, because she’s adorable.

 

Not only am I a wife, I am a military wife. Who saw that coming? Not me. 

 

There’s other fun Courtney trivia that I’m sure will be revealed over time, but those are the big main points. I’m re-RE-committing to being diligent about my online presence and I’m going to try my hardest because you deserve better than I’ve been. (Just imagine my poor parents trying to get me to do homework as a teenager.)

 

In music news, the tracks for my next album have been mastered as of last week. I’m really excited for the record, and I hope you are too- it’s good stuff!

 

-Courtney

 

(Have something to say? Let me know in the comments section!)

 

Apprehension

So I wrote something using a roller coaster metaphor and it turned out to be a flawed comparison and kind of cliche all at the same time, so I ditched it. I guess I could just say things as they are instead of trying to use as many words as possible to paint a picture. I just get so comfortable doing things that way. Metaphors are kind of my thing.

I’m at that stage with this project where I get a little nervous. I just want it to be the absolute best it can be, because it’s amazing and deserves the very best. Music is so crazy though, both the business and music itself, that to record something is taking the best possible snapshot and letting that speak for it for as long as the album will be out there. It’s a still picture of something that’s always shifting.

Despite this, I know to create a great album, though it takes work, is certainly not an endeavor left completely to chance. My music is in very good hands. I just get a little nervous, is all.

Here again

I got bogged down between holiday madness and some health issues, but I’m back now and (once again) pledge to be more consistent with my posts. 

The album is really coming along- the recording is done and a lot of the editing as well (I don’t envy Peter that job!). I’ve heard a handful of the tracks as they’ve been put all together and I am over the moon excited about this record. Seriously.

I’ll see if I can be technologically sound enough to get some snippets up so you can all share in the excitement. Because…. it’s pretty awesome.

More news and updates to come. Thanks for checking in!

Why write?

This post is for Brennan, who asked me on my Facebook fan page what my inspiration was in my songwriting. I spent a lot of time thinking about this, and here’s what I’ve come up with:

I guess that it order to make sense of things sometimes, I compare what I’m seeing or experiencing to something else that I understand. I understand car rides, and plane rides, and card games, and rain. I don’t always understand loneliness, or struggle, or heart break. Hardly ever, in fact. I think it better expresses exactly what I’m getting at, and by comparing complicated emotions to more simple familiar things, it can even fill in some gaps and paint a more complete picture.

In songwriting, I feel that the metaphors allow people to dig as deep as they want to find what I’m really saying. I think, like me, a lot of people struggle to pinpoint exactly what they’re going through and if they have discovered it in some way, struggle to express it to others in a way they can understand. I think there are these universal human experiences, and it usually feels like we’re in them alone- that’s something that makes music so magical. Hasn’t everyone heard a song and thought “That’s exactly what I’m going through!”? And that’s awesome, isn’t it? The goal for me, in every song I write, is to do it in such a way that it is personal to me but also universally understood.

I think music is what I was given to let people know that they’re not alone. I see it as a responsibility, and as a blessing. I want to paint pictures that bring people together. We’re all looking to connect. We have to- life isn’t meant to be gotten through alone.