1 00:00:01,080 --> 00:00:02,000 Speaker 1: Music Saved Me. 2 00:00:02,240 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 2: I trust that there's a collaboration going on that's beyond 3 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:08,280 Speaker 2: the wisdom that I have in. 4 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: The moment that I'm writing something down. 5 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:13,800 Speaker 2: And so often I will write a song not even 6 00:00:13,840 --> 00:00:17,119 Speaker 2: realizing that I'm writing it for something that's going to 7 00:00:17,160 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 2: happen in the future. It's happened so many times that 8 00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 2: I totally trust that when I'm writing something and I'm 9 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,759 Speaker 2: just following it kind of blindly, like I wonder why 10 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:27,000 Speaker 2: that word popped into my head, I write it all 11 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 2: down because there's something bigger than me that I can 12 00:00:31,680 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 2: draw from. 13 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 3: I'm Lynn Hoffman and welcome to the Music Save Me Podcast, 14 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 3: the show where we highlight one of the greatest joys imaginable, 15 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 3: the healing power of music. I talk with musicians of 16 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,080 Speaker 3: all different types who all talk about their personal stories 17 00:00:46,120 --> 00:00:49,640 Speaker 3: and about their experience with the healing power of music. 18 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 3: And on this episode, I get to talk to a 19 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:56,680 Speaker 3: musician who truly understands how music saves us. Beth Nielsen 20 00:00:56,800 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 3: Chapman is a musician, a singer songwriter who has truly 21 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:06,959 Speaker 3: embraced musical diversity. Welcome Beth Nielsen Chapman to Music Saved Me. 22 00:01:07,280 --> 00:01:10,400 Speaker 3: Your story so epitomizes what Music Saved Me podcast is 23 00:01:10,440 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 3: all about. And we're so grateful to have you with 24 00:01:12,920 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 3: us today. 25 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. And I love the title 26 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:18,679 Speaker 2: of your podcast. It got me right away. I'm like, oh, 27 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:19,960 Speaker 2: that's what I preach. 28 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 3: We got you when we reeled you in. It took 29 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 3: a little while, but we got you here. I'm so grateful. 30 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:28,639 Speaker 3: My first question to you is when was the first 31 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 3: moment in your life when you knew that music moved 32 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:35,000 Speaker 3: you and it would be your life calling. 33 00:01:37,160 --> 00:01:40,600 Speaker 2: Oh boy, there's probably several of those, but I remember 34 00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:45,759 Speaker 2: being kind of my pilot light came on around songs 35 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:50,200 Speaker 2: when I was probably eleven or twelve, when I was 36 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 2: playing with a friend and I was over at her 37 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 2: house and in the kitchen radio I heard Penny Lane 38 00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:01,200 Speaker 2: for the first time, and it was shocking to me 39 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:02,760 Speaker 2: and just we were jumping on the bed and I 40 00:02:02,800 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 2: was like, and I like got got off the bed 41 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:06,720 Speaker 2: and went wandering into the kitchen, stood in front of 42 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 2: the radio and just was like mesmerized by that joy, 43 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:16,760 Speaker 2: you know, Benny Lane, you know, just and then I 44 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:18,840 Speaker 2: mean before that, I had been listening to my parents, 45 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 2: you know, records, and I remember when Tijuana Brass and 46 00:02:24,200 --> 00:02:25,799 Speaker 2: The Lonely Bowl came out and I was like five 47 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:29,680 Speaker 2: years old, I was like, oh, you know, these like 48 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 2: records that I would just get in my head and 49 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 2: I'd go around singing them. So I wasn't really thinking, oh, 50 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:37,680 Speaker 2: I'm going to do this for a living until way 51 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 2: later than that. But I always felt just ignited by music. 52 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 2: And as I got older, and you know, and I 53 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,520 Speaker 2: was a teenager and I started listening to all the 54 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:49,960 Speaker 2: singer songwriters at the seventies, and you know, it just 55 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 2: became a complete and total necessary part. 56 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: Of life to get through the stuff. From a very 57 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: early age. 58 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 3: I will have to say this, and you know, maybe 59 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 3: people might disagree, but I think the seventies were like 60 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 3: the pinnacle of music. Artists were together in a studio 61 00:03:09,520 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 3: looking at each other, and yeah. 62 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: It was pretty amazing. 63 00:03:13,240 --> 00:03:17,519 Speaker 3: Do you recall us an experience or a concert experience 64 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 3: that first connected you with, like maybe your favorite artist. 65 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 2: You know, I didn't go to tons of concerts for 66 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:27,239 Speaker 2: some reason. I remember seeing Joni Mitchell, but I was 67 00:03:27,320 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 2: up in the nosebleed seats and you know, could barely 68 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,240 Speaker 2: see her and it was just all echo up there. 69 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 2: But I mean, as I came into the music business more. 70 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 2: I mean I played in all kinds of different bands 71 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 2: and stuff and just you know, it was just eating, 72 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,160 Speaker 2: drinking and sleeping music twenty four to seven. I signed 73 00:03:47,200 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 2: my first publishing and record deal when I was fifteen, 74 00:03:49,480 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 2: and my dad had to co sign it. We were 75 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 2: living in Alabama. My dad was in the Air Force, 76 00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:56,040 Speaker 2: so we moved around all through my childhood, but we'd 77 00:03:56,120 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 2: ended up in Alabama and I remember begging him, Oh, 78 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 2: this guy has a studio and he's going to get 79 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 2: me a record deal. And my dad was like, you know, 80 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 2: you gotta finish high school first. I'm like, yeah, but 81 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:09,080 Speaker 2: I mean, you know, so he got a lawyer, but 82 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:11,960 Speaker 2: he got a cattle lawyer, and you know, the guy 83 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,119 Speaker 2: just did you know he read the thing, was like, yeah, 84 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 2: it looks like she doesn't have to pay any money, 85 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:18,720 Speaker 2: So I guess it's okay, you know, like I should 86 00:04:18,760 --> 00:04:21,000 Speaker 2: have had, Like I always tell people, get a music 87 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:22,440 Speaker 2: attorney because it's totally different. 88 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:23,599 Speaker 1: So, you know. 89 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 2: But my first inkling of it being valuable was a 90 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 2: couple of years later when that contract got sold to 91 00:04:31,360 --> 00:04:36,000 Speaker 2: a real publishing company in Nashville, EMI and. 92 00:04:37,600 --> 00:04:38,840 Speaker 1: They paid him, like, you know. 93 00:04:39,440 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 2: Twelve fifteen thousand dollars for my fifty songs. They paid 94 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:45,760 Speaker 2: the guy that had signed me to the slave contract 95 00:04:45,760 --> 00:04:49,040 Speaker 2: that didn't That wasn't fair. And I just went, Wow, 96 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,360 Speaker 2: this stuff is really valuable. And I still to this day, 97 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 2: you know, when I'm talking to young songwriters who are 98 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 2: struggling because you know, if you're just a songwriter, it's 99 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:00,359 Speaker 2: kind of hard to make a living right now, and 100 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 2: I say, but don't worry. Your work is generating way 101 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,320 Speaker 2: more than what the trickle down that we're getting. It's 102 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:10,719 Speaker 2: just a temporary glitch in the system that'll get sorted 103 00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 2: out later. But know that the value of your work 104 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 2: is that you're creating something that moves people and shifts 105 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,840 Speaker 2: their paradigm. And if they need to cry sometimes it'll 106 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:22,640 Speaker 2: help them cry. If they need to laugh, it'll help 107 00:05:22,680 --> 00:05:26,839 Speaker 2: them laugh. It's really powerful stuff. Songs are really powerful 108 00:05:27,400 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 2: little pieces of medicine that are out in the world 109 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,960 Speaker 2: that are healing people all day long, you know, whether 110 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 2: it's making you just feel better or literally getting those 111 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 2: tears to come to the surface that are stuck, you know, 112 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 2: And I'm just amazed by it every day, you know, 113 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 2: I'm amazed by it, and I'm so grateful that I 114 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:48,680 Speaker 2: get to do it, you know, for a living. 115 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:52,040 Speaker 3: It's so true and such great advice that you give 116 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 3: about how it trickles down later not to worry about it. 117 00:05:54,920 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 2: It's almost like a yeah, well, I mean, people want 118 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,479 Speaker 2: to do it as they're living, because they want to 119 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:02,160 Speaker 2: just wake up every day and write songs and get 120 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,880 Speaker 2: paid enough to live. And that's more rare right now, 121 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:08,560 Speaker 2: because it's just a different time in the music business, 122 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 2: and there's it's sort of like the music business moved 123 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 2: into a new house, but the plumbing from the old 124 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 2: house is all that the songwriterer's got and they're all 125 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,800 Speaker 2: stuck in the basement. That's kind of what's happening. But 126 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:22,600 Speaker 2: that's not forever, you know. And what I tell young 127 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 2: writers who go, well, what's the point of writing? The 128 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 2: point of writing is your body of work. You're twenty something, now, 129 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 2: get going start writing your songs right your whole life. 130 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 2: So when you're in your seventies, you've covered that cave 131 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 2: wall with what you experienced. If somebody comes in and 132 00:06:38,800 --> 00:06:41,560 Speaker 2: sees your cave wall two thousand years after you died, 133 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 2: they're going to know how you felt. And that's very valuable. 134 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,480 Speaker 2: It's valuable to you first and foremost, and it's valuable 135 00:06:48,520 --> 00:06:51,279 Speaker 2: to anyone who comes in contact with what your expression 136 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:55,680 Speaker 2: is because anybody can participate in this amazing, magical thing, 137 00:06:55,839 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 2: this gift that we have. Creativity is not something you have. 138 00:07:00,520 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 2: There are not people that are more creative than other people. 139 00:07:03,040 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 2: There's no such thing as that creativity is something you're in. 140 00:07:07,160 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 2: It's like saying I am oxygen. No, I'm breathing oxygen. 141 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 2: I'm using oxygen. Oxygen is keeping me alive. Creativity is 142 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 2: like that, creativity is all around us. It's this sort 143 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 2: of collective wisdom of thought and energy and shifts and whether. 144 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 2: I mean, there's so much information in opening to getting comfortable. 145 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:34,160 Speaker 1: Not knowing what you're doing. 146 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 2: When you're writing or painting or whatever creative thing you're doing, 147 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 2: you're entering into a place of what's next. I don't know, 148 00:07:42,240 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 2: sounds like maybe this, oh, or it could be that, 149 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:47,040 Speaker 2: And then the song will form itself. It will come 150 00:07:47,080 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 2: to you, it will say here's what I am. Figure 151 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 2: me out. And that's such an exciting journey to take, 152 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:55,640 Speaker 2: and I take it every time I write a song. 153 00:07:56,160 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 2: And when I've written the songs that have healed me. 154 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 2: Like after my first Tusban died in nineteen ninety four, 155 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:06,240 Speaker 2: I wrote a whole album of songs about loss, but 156 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 2: probably the big song from that collection of Sand and Water, 157 00:08:09,560 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 2: And it's a song you know, that I wrote to 158 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 2: get myself through the feeling of what do I do next. 159 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:16,840 Speaker 1: I didn't write it to save the world. 160 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:19,119 Speaker 2: I didn't write it for the woman who would write 161 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,160 Speaker 2: to me twenty years later and say, I just heard 162 00:08:21,200 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 2: this song I lost my husband or i'd lost my child, 163 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,640 Speaker 2: and it's just helped me cry. You know, all the 164 00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:29,680 Speaker 2: people who benefited from that song, I'm so grateful for. 165 00:08:29,880 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 2: But I wrote it for one hundred percent selfish reasons, 166 00:08:33,160 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 2: which I always want my writers. I'm like, right, for 167 00:08:35,840 --> 00:08:40,319 Speaker 2: selfish reasons, because you're healing yourself. It's like it's kind 168 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,560 Speaker 2: of like put the oxygen mask on yourself before you 169 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,760 Speaker 2: try to help somebody else, because you need to work 170 00:08:45,840 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 2: through that yourself and in the working through it. And 171 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:52,120 Speaker 2: as we created, we create things from all of the 172 00:08:52,160 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 2: emotions of life. 173 00:08:53,400 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 1: We put these little pieces of. 174 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:58,079 Speaker 2: Art that are medicinal out into the world and they 175 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:01,360 Speaker 2: go off and they get fat, and we have no 176 00:09:01,400 --> 00:09:03,520 Speaker 2: control over it and it's none of our business really, 177 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:05,079 Speaker 2: but I'm grateful for it. 178 00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:08,079 Speaker 3: Well, you boy, that was a long answer something No. 179 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:10,319 Speaker 3: I mean, I was going to say, podcast can end now. 180 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:15,240 Speaker 3: I mean, that's we're going to drop the mic. But 181 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,800 Speaker 3: you mentioned the road kind of builds itself in front 182 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,160 Speaker 3: of you if you make it for you, and you 183 00:09:22,200 --> 00:09:26,040 Speaker 3: talk about the medicinal healing powers, and of course your 184 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:30,679 Speaker 3: song continues to inspire sand and water in international audiences. 185 00:09:31,679 --> 00:09:33,800 Speaker 3: Can you share the story of the song of how 186 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 3: you are moved by I'm sorry, Can you share with 187 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:40,560 Speaker 3: us how you were moved by the impact of that song, 188 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 3: because it was pretty massive it still is, yeah, I mean, 189 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 3: even the way that it came about. 190 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 2: My first husband had when he was first diagnosed, he 191 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 2: was given six weeks to live, and our son was 192 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:53,199 Speaker 2: about about twelve years old, and it was. 193 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:54,960 Speaker 1: Just crushing, you know. 194 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:58,200 Speaker 2: And he decided pretty early on that he was not 195 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 2: going to let somebody put a cell by on his head. 196 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: That's the way he put so he just. 197 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:05,719 Speaker 2: Said, give me what you got, the strongest stuff you got, 198 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 2: and he was able to tolerate pretty hefty chemotherapy and 199 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:14,200 Speaker 2: got well enough to actually get a Bomera transplant, which 200 00:10:14,440 --> 00:10:17,840 Speaker 2: you know, if he had been able to sustain not 201 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:19,719 Speaker 2: having the cancer come back a little bit longer, it 202 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:21,880 Speaker 2: would have given him another five or ten years. He 203 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:25,520 Speaker 2: had a very rare form of lymphoma, but it wasn't 204 00:10:25,520 --> 00:10:26,959 Speaker 2: meant to be, and he did have the bow Mara 205 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 2: transplant and then it came back within three months. So 206 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 2: the second time he had six weeks to live, he 207 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 2: literally had six you know, like they said, Okay, but 208 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:38,280 Speaker 2: this time it's more than likely. So in that transition 209 00:10:38,600 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 2: he went through towards trying to live and working so 210 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:45,480 Speaker 2: hard to try to live, to learning to die. I mean, 211 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,640 Speaker 2: he shared that with so many friends, and so much 212 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:53,200 Speaker 2: richness of life was all swirling around us during that time, 213 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:56,200 Speaker 2: even though it was also very heartbreaking. And I just 214 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:58,559 Speaker 2: remember after he passed. I mean, one of our dear 215 00:10:58,559 --> 00:11:02,960 Speaker 2: friends was Rodney Crowell, a great singer, a great songwriter, 216 00:11:03,000 --> 00:11:06,600 Speaker 2: a producer, and he, you know, he and Ernest evidently 217 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:08,600 Speaker 2: had a little chat where they you know, I think 218 00:11:08,679 --> 00:11:11,079 Speaker 2: Ernest said something like, hey, listen, she's gonna put the 219 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,160 Speaker 2: guitar in the closet because she's gonna think she can't 220 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:17,200 Speaker 2: be a single mom and a songwriter, touring artist. So 221 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:18,920 Speaker 2: just give her about a month and just call her 222 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 2: up and just go over there and tell her you're 223 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:23,360 Speaker 2: coming over to write a song. And I promise you 224 00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 2: her her ego will outweigh her grief. And it worked 225 00:11:28,640 --> 00:11:31,600 Speaker 2: perfectly because I was like, oh my god, Rodney's coming over, 226 00:11:31,640 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 2: and I got got my guitar out and I just 227 00:11:34,320 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 2: I better get something started, you know, because he was 228 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 2: one of my heroes. 229 00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: Did you know that he had told him that beforehand? No, 230 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: I didn't know that. 231 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:43,400 Speaker 2: I just knew that he called me up out of 232 00:11:43,400 --> 00:11:45,000 Speaker 2: the blue and said, Hey, I'm gonna come over and 233 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 2: let's let's get together. And right I was like, so 234 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,720 Speaker 2: I had this thing float out of me like pretty 235 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:57,960 Speaker 2: much perfectly written, although I recorded it kind of and 236 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,640 Speaker 2: just bloom, you know, in twenty and when he came over, 237 00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:04,079 Speaker 2: I thought, it's not finished. In fact, I don't even 238 00:12:04,120 --> 00:12:06,240 Speaker 2: know what it's talking about. And it had this line 239 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:09,200 Speaker 2: in it that said solid stone is just sand and 240 00:12:09,280 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 2: water and a million years gone by, which I didn't 241 00:12:12,080 --> 00:12:15,679 Speaker 2: think made any sense at all, goosebumps, and I just 242 00:12:15,760 --> 00:12:18,200 Speaker 2: but it was like I was like going right over 243 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:20,040 Speaker 2: my head I wrote it down, but I didn't know 244 00:12:20,040 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 2: what it meant. And I remember playing him the song, thinking, well, 245 00:12:24,280 --> 00:12:26,360 Speaker 2: you know, we can work on it. It's not really finished, 246 00:12:26,360 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 2: and he's like, just play it for me, and I 247 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:29,520 Speaker 2: played it for me. He goes, that's finished, and don't 248 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:32,080 Speaker 2: touch it like that. You may not touch that. That's 249 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,840 Speaker 2: perfect and I'm like, yeah, I'm not sure it makes 250 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,439 Speaker 2: any sense, and he goes, no, you will find out. 251 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,679 Speaker 2: You had two weeks from now, you're gonna you're going 252 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,000 Speaker 2: to suddenly realize what that line means. Just trust me, 253 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:44,319 Speaker 2: and so I and it did take me about a 254 00:12:44,360 --> 00:12:47,079 Speaker 2: week to go, wait, that's a really that line is 255 00:12:47,120 --> 00:12:50,320 Speaker 2: about transformation, you know. And in fact, on the album 256 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:52,960 Speaker 2: cover there's insight in the insert I'm standing in front 257 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:56,400 Speaker 2: of a boulder that's just massive, and grief is like 258 00:12:56,440 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 2: this boulder that's set in front of you, and the 259 00:13:00,200 --> 00:13:02,360 Speaker 2: universe is telling you you can't go over it, you 260 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:04,480 Speaker 2: can't go around it, you can't go under it. You 261 00:13:04,480 --> 00:13:06,160 Speaker 2: have to go right through the middle of it. And 262 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:08,200 Speaker 2: you're like, how am I supposed to do that? 263 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: You know? 264 00:13:09,280 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 2: And the only way you could do it is if 265 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,079 Speaker 2: it were to dissolve back into sand and water. Well, 266 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:15,360 Speaker 2: when I wrote that song, I didn't have any inkling 267 00:13:15,400 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 2: of what that was saying. And so I trust that 268 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 2: there's a collaboration going on that's beyond the wisdom that. 269 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:26,199 Speaker 1: I have in the moment that I'm writing something down. 270 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:28,240 Speaker 1: And so often I will. 271 00:13:28,040 --> 00:13:32,360 Speaker 2: Write a song not even realizing that I'm writing it 272 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 2: for something that's going to happen in the future. It's 273 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:37,959 Speaker 2: happened so many times that I totally trust that. When 274 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 2: I'm writing something and I'm just following it kind of blindly, 275 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:42,360 Speaker 2: like I wonder why that word popped into my head, 276 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:46,120 Speaker 2: I write it all down because there's something bigger than 277 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:50,320 Speaker 2: me that I can draw from that teaches me as 278 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 2: I write the song, and that's to me, the most 279 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 2: healing part of it for me. Besides having people tell 280 00:13:55,040 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 2: me that it helped them. That's very healing for. 281 00:13:57,559 --> 00:13:58,640 Speaker 1: Me too, I bet. 282 00:13:58,840 --> 00:14:02,360 Speaker 3: And you know, a statistic I happen to read not 283 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 3: long ago said that only one percent of all of 284 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 3: us actually write down our goals. 285 00:14:08,679 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, so I can't even imagine. 286 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 3: If you write down your goals and then they say 287 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 3: if you write them down, then they're meant to happen. 288 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,320 Speaker 3: They will, They may not happen right away. And it's 289 00:14:17,360 --> 00:14:22,240 Speaker 3: the same thing with writing songs, which are medicinal. I 290 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 3: have to know, do you know what it is about music? 291 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:27,840 Speaker 3: Is it the words? Is it the vibration? Is it 292 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 3: the sound? Have you figured out what exactly it is 293 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:33,680 Speaker 3: that is so healing for us? 294 00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 2: That's a really great question because people think, oh, it's 295 00:14:36,800 --> 00:14:38,960 Speaker 2: the lyrics that makes it that made me cry, or 296 00:14:39,040 --> 00:14:41,680 Speaker 2: it's the melody that made me cry, And I think 297 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 2: it can be both or either. But I think the 298 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:48,080 Speaker 2: most powerful music and the most healing music combines the two. 299 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 2: And I you know, when I teach songwriting, I often 300 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:53,680 Speaker 2: one of the exercises that I give my students is 301 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 2: to go to the grocery store or go whenever you're 302 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 2: out and about. You know, your job is to put 303 00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 2: your antenna up and listen to other people talking and 304 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:05,760 Speaker 2: listen to what's happening around you. 305 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: Listen to this the melody of speech. 306 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 2: So people don't realize that what melody you put on 307 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:16,240 Speaker 2: the words changes the meaning. 308 00:15:16,360 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 1: So if I say what time are you coming over? 309 00:15:19,000 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 2: That d d dada, that's very staccato, and it's got 310 00:15:22,040 --> 00:15:25,000 Speaker 2: an insistence, and it's impatient and It's like I told 311 00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 2: you this three times and now I'm gonna ask you 312 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,440 Speaker 2: one more time. There's a whole movie in the melody 313 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,400 Speaker 2: of what time are you coming over? Right, there's a 314 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 2: whole movie and how I said it, not just what 315 00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:38,200 Speaker 2: I said. That's why texting can be so disastrous because 316 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:40,920 Speaker 2: you're you're writing, and nobody knows the melody of what 317 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,160 Speaker 2: you're saying or the tone of the tone. Right, Well, 318 00:15:44,160 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 2: the melody and the tone to me are the same thing. 319 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,360 Speaker 2: But if you say what time are you coming over? 320 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 2: That da da D D D. So that melody where 321 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:56,640 Speaker 2: you go you coming over? That's like come on over baby, 322 00:15:56,720 --> 00:15:59,960 Speaker 2: you know. So there's a whole other movie. So how 323 00:16:00,080 --> 00:16:03,440 Speaker 2: oh you use the melody and the words together is 324 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,640 Speaker 2: what really propels Now in the Sand and Water song, 325 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,400 Speaker 2: there was this this song organized itself. I just kind 326 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 2: of like Waylon Jennings used to say, I didn't write it. 327 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 2: I just wrote it down. It just went push right 328 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 2: through me. And when you go through tremendous trauma or 329 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 2: you know, deep sadness, you're much more open to this, 330 00:16:25,080 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 2: to you know, to the access to this creative flow, 331 00:16:29,120 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 2: this river that's winding around us all the time that 332 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 2: we can tap into. 333 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:38,600 Speaker 1: And you know, the melody was like. 334 00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 2: All alone, no, no, no, no, all alone. 335 00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: I sat and cried all alone. 336 00:16:44,440 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 2: And it has this repetition. It's almost like, you know, 337 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 2: if you ever go to a great massage therapist, they 338 00:16:49,440 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 2: don't just crunch into the inner part of your shoulder. 339 00:16:53,560 --> 00:16:55,760 Speaker 2: They start lightly and then they go a little deeper. 340 00:16:55,800 --> 00:16:58,520 Speaker 2: Then they go a little deeper, and so that even 341 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 2: the melody of that song. I watch audiences where there's 342 00:17:02,040 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 2: always a couple of tough customers, you know, that are 343 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:07,600 Speaker 2: just like not going to cry, and then you get 344 00:17:07,640 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 2: to this point and then they they then they cry, 345 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 2: you know, and it's it's fascinating because the song has 346 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 2: a healing quality that organize itself. I don't claim having 347 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:21,600 Speaker 2: figured it out. I just notice it on the back end, 348 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:23,360 Speaker 2: like looking back, going wow, that's amazing. 349 00:17:23,680 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 3: Well, there's all these sayings that you don't really realize 350 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 3: until you get older. Hindsight is always twenty twenty and 351 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:32,359 Speaker 3: you can go back and look and you know there's 352 00:17:32,359 --> 00:17:35,000 Speaker 3: a pattern. And so when you speak, you speak with 353 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:39,639 Speaker 3: conviction and knowledge because you had that history, which you 354 00:17:39,640 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 3: know it's always like this little light Oh now, I 355 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 3: know why they say that, or why that song said that, 356 00:17:45,200 --> 00:17:45,640 Speaker 3: or you. 357 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,200 Speaker 1: Know, I did a thing I don't know. 358 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:49,760 Speaker 2: I don't know if you've ever listened to The Moth, 359 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 2: which is a radio show that tells story, people tell 360 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:53,920 Speaker 2: stories from all over the world. 361 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,400 Speaker 1: It's amazing. So I that down on the Moth. 362 00:17:57,440 --> 00:17:59,680 Speaker 2: If you put my name in, you'll see a couple 363 00:17:59,720 --> 00:18:02,000 Speaker 2: of you'll see two times that I've done The Moth. 364 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:04,240 Speaker 2: One where I was talking about a song called seven 365 00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 2: Shades of Blue, which was written at the same time 366 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:09,840 Speaker 2: as the Sand and Water song. And it's a twelve 367 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 2: minute story I can't tell you now, but it's a 368 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:15,600 Speaker 2: really fascinating story about how I wrote half of it, 369 00:18:16,040 --> 00:18:18,080 Speaker 2: you know, way ahead of time, before my husband was 370 00:18:18,119 --> 00:18:19,000 Speaker 2: even diagnosed. 371 00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: But it's all about going through this loss. 372 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:24,240 Speaker 2: And he loved this song and he tried to get 373 00:18:24,240 --> 00:18:25,760 Speaker 2: me to finish it, and I finished it the. 374 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: Last week of his life. You know. 375 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,040 Speaker 2: He made me write the third verse, you know, from 376 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 2: his death pacing where's my song? You know, and I'm like, geez, 377 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:35,919 Speaker 2: I've been a little busy, like my you know, my 378 00:18:35,960 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 2: life's been a little crazy. Anyway, it's a whole story 379 00:18:38,359 --> 00:18:41,479 Speaker 2: about it, and it's a really interesting perspective. It's kind 380 00:18:41,520 --> 00:18:43,919 Speaker 2: of similar to what we're talking about. But you know, 381 00:18:43,960 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 2: I've learned to trust that songs are are kind of 382 00:18:47,440 --> 00:18:50,119 Speaker 2: glimpses into the future. Sometimes when I'm writing something and 383 00:18:50,160 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 2: I just feel compelled to put a certain kind of 384 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:54,440 Speaker 2: line in there, but I'm not sure why. I don't 385 00:18:54,520 --> 00:18:56,520 Speaker 2: know why I wanted to rhyme with that word, and 386 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:00,320 Speaker 2: I get into kind of a very loose state of 387 00:19:00,320 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 2: of openness and I write down all the weird things 388 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:06,280 Speaker 2: that come through. Like if I'm writing with somebody, they go, 389 00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,000 Speaker 2: why are you writing that now? And that's not right, 390 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:09,320 Speaker 2: and I'm like, I know, but it's on the way 391 00:19:09,359 --> 00:19:12,080 Speaker 2: to something. It's got a thing, you know. And inact, 392 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,679 Speaker 2: a great example of that is I was writing This Kiss, 393 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:18,520 Speaker 2: which was a huge hit for Faith Hill put myself 394 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,080 Speaker 2: through college. I wrote that with Annie Roboff and Robin Lerner, 395 00:19:21,080 --> 00:19:23,760 Speaker 2: and we've written the first verse and this kind of 396 00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,040 Speaker 2: channel thing and then this great chorus, and we had 397 00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:29,399 Speaker 2: this this kiss, this kiss, and then we had to 398 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:31,640 Speaker 2: write the second verse. And if you've written a really 399 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,960 Speaker 2: good song, it satisfies right at the end of the 400 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 2: first chorus, like you've got the whole songs really in 401 00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:40,159 Speaker 2: the first half. Then you have to come up with 402 00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:42,679 Speaker 2: the second half and say something fresh, but it has 403 00:19:42,720 --> 00:19:44,159 Speaker 2: to relate to the first half, but it's got to 404 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:44,639 Speaker 2: be different. 405 00:19:45,359 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: And we just couldn't get started. We were like, oh, 406 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:48,520 Speaker 1: I can't get the second verse. 407 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 2: What are we going to say? We don't want to 408 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,879 Speaker 2: repeat the same thing. And then they were like, well, 409 00:19:53,040 --> 00:19:54,479 Speaker 2: you know, I don't know. And then I say, well, 410 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:56,320 Speaker 2: all I know to do is just start at the 411 00:19:56,320 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 2: beginning and just sing up to it and just see. 412 00:19:58,200 --> 00:20:01,439 Speaker 1: What flies out of our mouth. And we turned on 413 00:20:01,480 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: the tape recorder and we're like really. 414 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:04,840 Speaker 2: Then we get all the way to the end and 415 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 2: we go this kiss, this kiss, unstoppable, this kiss, this kiss, 416 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:14,080 Speaker 2: And then I went Cleopatra was a snowflake. 417 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 1: They were like, what I said, I know, it's not weird. 418 00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: Cleopatra was a snowflake. That's crazy. 419 00:20:22,119 --> 00:20:24,399 Speaker 2: And they were like, ah, yeah, no, Cleopatra was not 420 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:26,720 Speaker 2: a snowflake, and we're not putting that in our song. 421 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:28,080 Speaker 2: And I'm like, oh, I know, I know, I know, 422 00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:30,960 Speaker 2: but there's a reason I blurted that out, because why 423 00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:32,919 Speaker 2: would I say that. That's so random, you know, And 424 00:20:32,920 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 2: they were like, we're going to lunch, but what happened? 425 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 2: They're like, bye bye. They left me there for like 426 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:40,440 Speaker 2: a half an hour and they came back. I was 427 00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:45,000 Speaker 2: still going Cleopatra had a snowflake. Cleopatra and Cleopatra and 428 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:48,119 Speaker 2: the snowflake. I'm like, I couldn't make it work. And 429 00:20:48,160 --> 00:20:49,960 Speaker 2: Annie got right up in my face and she said 430 00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 2: that we're not putting Disney characters in our song. And 431 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,840 Speaker 2: I went, oh, wait, Disney, hold on, it's not Cleopatra. 432 00:20:58,200 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 2: She wasn't Disney. It's a Cinderella, and it's not a snowflake. 433 00:21:02,840 --> 00:21:06,680 Speaker 2: It's uh snow White. Cinderella said to snow White, how 434 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 2: does love get so off? 435 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 1: Course? 436 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,879 Speaker 2: And that then we were blasting off and writing that 437 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:15,360 Speaker 2: second verse, which is about Cinderella talking to snow White 438 00:21:15,480 --> 00:21:17,119 Speaker 2: and what is this love thing? It's just such a 439 00:21:17,160 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 2: pain and love. But you know, which just was so funny. 440 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:24,120 Speaker 2: You know, it's Cleopatra. Cinderella said to snow White, how 441 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:25,600 Speaker 2: does love get so off? Core? 442 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: So all I wanted was a white night with a good. 443 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:32,160 Speaker 2: Heart, soft touch, fast horse, ride me off into the sunset, 444 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:36,000 Speaker 2: baby up forever yours. I mean, I love that second 445 00:21:36,040 --> 00:21:38,919 Speaker 2: verse if somebody said, how did you come up with that? 446 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:40,919 Speaker 1: I said, how I came up with that? 447 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:44,280 Speaker 2: I got a big clue from them, from the ether 448 00:21:44,480 --> 00:21:48,800 Speaker 2: of the other side of creative wisdom. You know, it's 449 00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,399 Speaker 2: waiting to write songs through us. But you have to 450 00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:55,040 Speaker 2: be able to handle the Cleopatra was a snowflake weird 451 00:21:55,119 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 2: part and go. 452 00:21:56,359 --> 00:21:58,959 Speaker 3: Wow, you know, and not be upset when someone may 453 00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:02,520 Speaker 3: not love the idea to be strong in your conviction 454 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 3: and listen to your instinct. 455 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: Well, I mean I was about to cave. 456 00:22:05,359 --> 00:22:07,880 Speaker 2: I mean, not every one of those crazy lines ends 457 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 2: up being a thing. But what's really weird is one 458 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,480 Speaker 2: of my students recently sent me a link on Amazon 459 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 2: and there were tons of snowflakes with Cleopatra on them. 460 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:20,520 Speaker 1: I was like, what around that time? 461 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:25,439 Speaker 2: No, just now, it's like there's like all these like 462 00:22:25,520 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 2: Christmas to ornaments with Cleopatra. 463 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:30,880 Speaker 1: Anyway by smelling hit coming, I know it's too crazy. 464 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 2: Maybe maybe I can justify that line, but the songs, 465 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 2: but the song even like that, you know a song 466 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,440 Speaker 2: that the power of that song is the joy of 467 00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:43,280 Speaker 2: getting kissed correctly, I mean that just as a specific 468 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 2: what are we going to write about you know, what 469 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 2: does it feel like to get kissed? Right? 470 00:22:47,960 --> 00:22:51,040 Speaker 1: Which is the thing? Yes, it is little pieces. 471 00:22:50,720 --> 00:22:53,560 Speaker 2: Of being a human is to me what songs are about, 472 00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 2: from loss to joy to craziness, and you know it's 473 00:22:58,400 --> 00:22:59,639 Speaker 2: they're all all healing. 474 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:02,920 Speaker 3: We'll be right back with more of the Music Saved 475 00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:06,119 Speaker 3: Me Podcast. And by the way, if you like this podcast, 476 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:09,160 Speaker 3: you are going to love our companion podcast called Taken 477 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:12,160 Speaker 3: a Walk. It's hosted by my dear friend buzz Night 478 00:23:12,200 --> 00:23:14,760 Speaker 3: and you can find it wherever you get your podcasts. 479 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 3: Welcome back to the Music Saved Me Podcast, the podcast 480 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:25,280 Speaker 3: where we discuss the healing powers of music with some 481 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,159 Speaker 3: of the biggest names in music, as well as up 482 00:23:28,160 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 3: and comers. Being a cancer survivor yourself losing your first 483 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:37,440 Speaker 3: husband cancer and having these moments that you still persevered 484 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 3: through beyond persevered. Can you share how the experience impacted 485 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 3: your life in songwriting? How are you able to get 486 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:52,080 Speaker 3: through such difficult personal times? 487 00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:57,120 Speaker 2: Well, I mean giving, you know, writing my way through it? Literally, 488 00:23:57,200 --> 00:24:02,400 Speaker 2: I mean sometimes I wouldn't. I mean when Ernest finally 489 00:24:02,560 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 2: passed away, I was immediately into like I have to 490 00:24:06,560 --> 00:24:08,720 Speaker 2: be a single mom, I have to take care of 491 00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:09,040 Speaker 2: my son. 492 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:10,720 Speaker 1: I can't just fall apart and cry, so I didn't 493 00:24:10,800 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: cry for like a year, and when. 494 00:24:13,240 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 2: I went into the studio to start recording, I started 495 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 2: falling apart, which made it very hard to record because 496 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,200 Speaker 2: I was like, you know, so grief has its own timeline. 497 00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:25,840 Speaker 2: We really can't tell it when it's going to hit us, 498 00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:32,520 Speaker 2: you know. And going through like six years after Ernest died, 499 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:36,199 Speaker 2: I ended up making a record called Deeper Still. In 500 00:24:36,240 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 2: the last day of mixing, literally I found out I 501 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:42,600 Speaker 2: had stage two breast cancer. What was amazing is that 502 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 2: every song on that album sounded as if I wrote 503 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:47,959 Speaker 2: it after I went through breast cancer. There were songs 504 00:24:47,960 --> 00:24:52,920 Speaker 2: about resilience and staying positive and like so many songs 505 00:24:53,080 --> 00:24:57,680 Speaker 2: it was crazy, but one song in particular, and first 506 00:24:57,680 --> 00:24:59,879 Speaker 2: of all, I was terrified for my son, who was 507 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 2: now going off to college, and I had to tell 508 00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,440 Speaker 2: him before he went to college that when you see 509 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 2: me at Thanksgiving, I'm not going to have any hair, 510 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 2: and then trying to convince him that I'm going to 511 00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,200 Speaker 2: be okay, you know, But I didn't know I was 512 00:25:10,240 --> 00:25:11,960 Speaker 2: going to be okay. I was terrified that I wasn't 513 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:14,400 Speaker 2: going to be okay. And he was so amazing. He 514 00:25:14,440 --> 00:25:17,160 Speaker 2: was like I remember telling him and I was sitting 515 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,280 Speaker 2: on the couch and I was just like, you know, 516 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 2: I just don't want to have this conversation. 517 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:23,040 Speaker 1: But he knew something was up. He could tell something 518 00:25:23,119 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: was going on. 519 00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:27,920 Speaker 2: And I remember him pulling me and putting my head 520 00:25:27,960 --> 00:25:30,439 Speaker 2: on his show, on his chest and saying, You're going 521 00:25:30,520 --> 00:25:32,560 Speaker 2: to be okay, Mom, You're going to be okay. And 522 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,800 Speaker 2: I just like, wow, you know, and I was okay, 523 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 2: and he and actually seeing me get well and I 524 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 2: was going through that journey together helped us both. Heal 525 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:44,080 Speaker 2: a lot through through the grief of losing his dad. 526 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,200 Speaker 2: But one of the songs I wrote two years before 527 00:25:48,240 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 2: that was called Every December Sky, and I remember when 528 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:55,320 Speaker 2: I was writing it, thinking, is this kind of an 529 00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:58,480 Speaker 2: additional song about losing my husband? Because it kind of 530 00:25:58,480 --> 00:26:00,439 Speaker 2: felt like I could be singing about that, but I 531 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 2: wasn't sure. I just loved the song and song is 532 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,760 Speaker 2: about resilience. And I was sitting on the couch in 533 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 2: the wintertime, is that all the leaves had come off 534 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:12,320 Speaker 2: the trees and all my hair had fallen out kind 535 00:26:12,320 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 2: of simultaneously, and I was looking out the window and 536 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,199 Speaker 2: it was a freezing day and I was really at 537 00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,680 Speaker 2: a low point and I started just singing the song 538 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,200 Speaker 2: in my head, like it came on like a radio station. 539 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 2: And it's a song that says, every December sky must 540 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:31,560 Speaker 2: lose its faith and leaves and dream of the spring 541 00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,400 Speaker 2: inside the trees, How heavy the empty heart, how light 542 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:38,520 Speaker 2: the heart that's full. Sometimes I have to trust what 543 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:41,840 Speaker 2: I can't know. And I realized, wait, that's like I 544 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:47,159 Speaker 2: needed to hear that, you know, And it's about believing 545 00:26:47,359 --> 00:26:50,520 Speaker 2: that you're going to get through this scary time and 546 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:52,760 Speaker 2: knowing there's spring inside the trees and it's going to 547 00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 2: be spring again and you're going to be okay. And 548 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:59,639 Speaker 2: it gave me such a sense of connection and you know, 549 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:01,959 Speaker 2: I mean, there's no way that you can get go 550 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 2: through cancer and not at some point feel like God 551 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 2: has abandoned me. I mean, I had that feeling come 552 00:27:06,640 --> 00:27:08,680 Speaker 2: and go, you know, and I'd pray and I'd like, oh, 553 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 2: but I felt abandoned, like my own body abandoned, Like 554 00:27:11,760 --> 00:27:13,800 Speaker 2: why didn't I Why did my body malfunction? You know? 555 00:27:13,840 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 2: And all that and that song really centered me back 556 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:23,119 Speaker 2: into a sense of calmness and assurance that I was 557 00:27:23,119 --> 00:27:25,879 Speaker 2: being taken care of that no matter what happened, I 558 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 2: was going to be taking care of everybody I loved 559 00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,680 Speaker 2: was going to be okay. And I just calmed me down, 560 00:27:30,840 --> 00:27:33,320 Speaker 2: you know. And the power of that song to me 561 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,600 Speaker 2: is very personal. But I know that when I play 562 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:39,439 Speaker 2: that song, it's like one that I get requests for 563 00:27:39,520 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 2: a lot, because people just identify with that sense of 564 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 2: you know, as freezing as it is, Bazzes right now, 565 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 2: you know, there's there's always a place where hope is 566 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:52,600 Speaker 2: residing and growing and blooming again. 567 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: You were writing your own medicine. 568 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,800 Speaker 3: Yeah, your own worst script was literally I was literally 569 00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:02,400 Speaker 3: I mean on yourself, forgive me answer. 570 00:28:02,520 --> 00:28:04,000 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I didn't you know the fact that I 571 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: wrote it for myself. 572 00:28:05,320 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 2: And I knew that's exactly what had happened was kind 573 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:14,400 Speaker 2: of like a reassurance that something bigger than myself was was. 574 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:18,600 Speaker 3: Keeping track and watching over me, you know. And was 575 00:28:18,640 --> 00:28:20,280 Speaker 3: that from your history of music? 576 00:28:21,320 --> 00:28:23,800 Speaker 2: And John, I mean just I mean, I've done it 577 00:28:23,840 --> 00:28:26,399 Speaker 2: over and over again, but I didn't realize I was 578 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 2: doing it until I got to that point. Like I 579 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:32,120 Speaker 2: did it with several of the songs on the Sand 580 00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:35,119 Speaker 2: and Water album, which I wrote prior to my husband 581 00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,719 Speaker 2: even finding out he had cancer. I was already writing 582 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,840 Speaker 2: half of that album. And you know, so I've just 583 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 2: learned to understand that there's a very magical mystery thing 584 00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:49,400 Speaker 2: going on here, and we are, you know, some of 585 00:28:49,480 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 2: us are more aware of it than others. But even 586 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 2: if you're not aware of it, it's still doing its magic. 587 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 2: It's just magical, you know. And another amazing, amazing thing 588 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:03,120 Speaker 2: because I've loved teaching and I've always taught people anybody 589 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:07,240 Speaker 2: can can access this thing with a little bit of 590 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,400 Speaker 2: help and some tricks that I like to teach, you know, 591 00:29:09,480 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 2: how to show up and how to experience this creative flow. 592 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 2: And I thought, you know, all of a sudden, like 593 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,200 Speaker 2: in two thousand and nine, for about three months, I 594 00:29:20,200 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 2: stopped being able to write, and I just couldn't figure out. 595 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:23,560 Speaker 1: What was going on. 596 00:29:23,600 --> 00:29:26,560 Speaker 2: I would sit down and I'd have melodies. I could 597 00:29:26,600 --> 00:29:30,760 Speaker 2: get melodies, but I couldn't I couldn't get the lyrics 598 00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 2: to come. And I've never had that problem, and I 599 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 2: was absolutely depressed. 600 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 1: At a certain point. 601 00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 2: I was thinking, gosh, you know, maybe there is a 602 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 2: muse and it just wanders off and you don't have 603 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:43,000 Speaker 2: it anymore. And I've been selling this bill of goods 604 00:29:43,000 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 2: to people all these years. I was just having amused 605 00:29:45,840 --> 00:29:47,200 Speaker 2: and now I don't, and you know, I just was 606 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 2: so perplexing. And I remember waking up one morning during 607 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:55,600 Speaker 2: that time with this really weird kind of like a 608 00:29:55,800 --> 00:29:59,320 Speaker 2: Tibetan bowl in my head, you know, glonging couldn't hear 609 00:29:59,400 --> 00:30:02,560 Speaker 2: pitch go do a big show on the weekend, and 610 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:04,560 Speaker 2: I just call I called my on cologist because I 611 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:06,240 Speaker 2: didn't even know who to call. I'm like, I've got 612 00:30:06,240 --> 00:30:09,520 Speaker 2: this weird thing. And he, you know, turned me over 613 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 2: to a neurologist and they did an MRI and I 614 00:30:12,720 --> 00:30:16,360 Speaker 2: remember him coming around the corner and saying, so, have 615 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:16,720 Speaker 2: you had. 616 00:30:16,600 --> 00:30:17,960 Speaker 1: Any trouble with language? 617 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:20,680 Speaker 2: And I'm like, well, I haven't been able to write 618 00:30:20,760 --> 00:30:23,640 Speaker 2: lyrics for about four months, which has been really upsetting, 619 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,400 Speaker 2: you know. And he goes, oh, yeah, you wouldn't be 620 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:27,600 Speaker 2: able to write lyrics with this thing. I'm like, what thing? 621 00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,200 Speaker 2: And he goes, will you have a brain tumor? I'm like, no, 622 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,360 Speaker 2: I have a brain tumor. That's not possible because I 623 00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,479 Speaker 2: have My husband died a cancer and then I had cancer, 624 00:30:35,520 --> 00:30:37,880 Speaker 2: so kind of done. I'm not really up for anything. 625 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 2: You know, I shouldn't have anything like a brain tumor 626 00:30:40,400 --> 00:30:40,960 Speaker 2: right now, you know. 627 00:30:40,960 --> 00:30:42,400 Speaker 1: I was like, wait a minute. 628 00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:46,479 Speaker 2: And he's like, and it's pressing against the left frontal lobe, 629 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:48,320 Speaker 2: which is your language center. 630 00:30:48,560 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: So we're kind of surprised you can talk. 631 00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,200 Speaker 2: And I'm like really, he goes, yeah, it's going to 632 00:30:53,280 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 2: have to come out, and it would definitely encroach on 633 00:30:57,960 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 2: your ability to write lyrics. 634 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:03,520 Speaker 1: I was so relieved that there was a reason that 635 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:05,760 Speaker 1: I was like, oh my god, this is great. He goes, 636 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,160 Speaker 1: did you hear the part about where you have a braindommer? Yeah, 637 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:10,920 Speaker 1: but it's so great, it's like amazing. 638 00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:15,160 Speaker 2: And I remember just thinking, Okay, I'm going to get 639 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:16,480 Speaker 2: on the other side of this thing, and I'm not 640 00:31:16,520 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 2: going to have to never write a song again. And 641 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 2: I mean that was one of the big benefits of it. 642 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:26,520 Speaker 2: Although it was terrifying, but everything went great. It was 643 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:31,040 Speaker 2: early enough, and anyway, as I got back into the 644 00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:34,760 Speaker 2: world coming through this anesthesion, I'm having this weird dreamy 645 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:39,480 Speaker 2: vision of these camels going over sand dunes and I'm 646 00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:44,840 Speaker 2: thinking what and I realized they're not camels, they're actually syllables. 647 00:31:45,240 --> 00:31:47,200 Speaker 2: And then I realized, wait, that's the third verse of 648 00:31:47,200 --> 00:31:50,160 Speaker 2: the song I've been trying to finish for like four 649 00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 2: months that I've been sitting there and banging my head 650 00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:53,959 Speaker 2: into nothing, you know. 651 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: And my mom goes, are you okay, honey? What do 652 00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,800 Speaker 1: you need? She was like standing over me. I'm like, good, 653 00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:00,960 Speaker 1: a pencil. 654 00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:05,280 Speaker 3: Wait, you're saying anesthesia when you came out of surgery, 655 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 3: you said get a pencil? 656 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:08,080 Speaker 1: You knew, right, Yes, yeah. 657 00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:09,840 Speaker 2: I was saying I was coming out of anesthesia, and 658 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:12,160 Speaker 2: I was having the third verse to one of the 659 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 2: songs that had been really driving me nuts that I've 660 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:18,320 Speaker 2: been trying to finish. And what it showed me was 661 00:32:18,320 --> 00:32:21,040 Speaker 2: that all that work I was doing, showing up and 662 00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:24,040 Speaker 2: trying to write lyrics, they were getting written, but they 663 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:27,240 Speaker 2: were kind of lining up down the hallway, couldn't get 664 00:32:27,280 --> 00:32:30,880 Speaker 2: through the portal because this thing was in the way. Wow. 665 00:32:31,360 --> 00:32:35,840 Speaker 2: And it showed me that creative flow and creativity never stops. 666 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,400 Speaker 1: And the fast. 667 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:41,800 Speaker 2: You know, the quickness that I finished everything with wass 668 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 2: almost like I was just getting the mail, like when 669 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 2: you go on vacation and you come home and then 670 00:32:45,200 --> 00:32:47,600 Speaker 2: there's a ton of mail. It was like that, you know, 671 00:32:47,800 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 2: it was just like, Okay, so there is this thing 672 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:55,200 Speaker 2: we have access to, and you know, people say, my god, 673 00:32:55,200 --> 00:32:58,040 Speaker 2: you've gone through this stuff and you know, but yeah, 674 00:32:58,040 --> 00:33:00,280 Speaker 2: but every every part of it is just been. 675 00:33:00,560 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: Amazing to look back and say. And then there's that, you. 676 00:33:04,040 --> 00:33:09,600 Speaker 2: Know, sure, And I think creativity and art and the 677 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:12,640 Speaker 2: beauty of art and music and all the ways that 678 00:33:12,880 --> 00:33:17,000 Speaker 2: we manifest stuff through our grief and through our happiness 679 00:33:17,000 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 2: and through everything. You know, that's the great gift we 680 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 2: have to give each other and and we use it 681 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:23,800 Speaker 2: to get better. 682 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 3: I think I couldn't agree with you more. 683 00:33:27,720 --> 00:33:30,560 Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, you're not only. 684 00:33:32,040 --> 00:33:35,560 Speaker 3: You're magical, like you're you're a seer or I should 685 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 3: call you Beth Nielsen Chatman, Nostradamus. 686 00:33:41,000 --> 00:33:44,080 Speaker 2: It's like, really, I'm just I'm just wandering around, bumping 687 00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:44,760 Speaker 2: into things. 688 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: And then I have a lot of words that a lot. 689 00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 3: Going on though too, to that you've been able to 690 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,760 Speaker 3: maneuver around in your life to still show up and 691 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:58,360 Speaker 3: smile and put out such great energy and it's such 692 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:01,840 Speaker 3: beautiful music to help others. What is it like when 693 00:34:01,880 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 3: you see you talked earlier about you know, there's always 694 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:07,640 Speaker 3: a couple of stragglers in the audience. You haven't quite 695 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:10,800 Speaker 3: got there yet, but then you see that happen. How 696 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:14,200 Speaker 3: does that make you feel when you get those people 697 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:16,839 Speaker 3: to see what you're putting out? 698 00:34:16,920 --> 00:34:19,800 Speaker 2: Well, I'm really not trying to get anybody to do anything. 699 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:21,759 Speaker 2: That's part of the To me, that's part of the 700 00:34:21,800 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 2: practice of being a performer and singing. In fact, I 701 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:30,080 Speaker 2: teach a whole singing thing which is called vocal presence. 702 00:34:30,120 --> 00:34:34,440 Speaker 2: And I'm not a proponent of over singing. I like 703 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:37,200 Speaker 2: to speak on pitchin rhythm. I don't really like to 704 00:34:38,200 --> 00:34:41,360 Speaker 2: get too calisthetics, you know, like, oh you know. And 705 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,240 Speaker 2: I feel like, for instance, a song like Sand and Water, 706 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:48,120 Speaker 2: the less you try to sing it with any drama, 707 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:51,760 Speaker 2: the more powerful it is because everybody's in a different place, 708 00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:53,799 Speaker 2: and there will be people who listen to that song 709 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,880 Speaker 2: and really appreciate it who don't cry. You know, not 710 00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,920 Speaker 2: everybody cries, but people who have pushed grief down that 711 00:35:01,000 --> 00:35:04,000 Speaker 2: sometimes will just go oh, you know, like that'll do it. 712 00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:10,279 Speaker 2: And I feel like I'm the messenger and my job 713 00:35:10,360 --> 00:35:13,560 Speaker 2: is not to overly amp the message, just let it 714 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:16,560 Speaker 2: be what it is. It's powerful enough as a thing 715 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,479 Speaker 2: to hear that doesn't need me to put a catch 716 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:23,000 Speaker 2: in my voice or try to show you how sad 717 00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:27,239 Speaker 2: it is. Like I sing it almost neutrally because I'm 718 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 2: honoring the power of the song to deliver its whole thing. 719 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:37,000 Speaker 2: And you know, in twenty twenty two, believe it or not, 720 00:35:37,960 --> 00:35:41,280 Speaker 2: my second husband, Bob, who I married in twenty eleven. 721 00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,439 Speaker 2: I met him four years after Ernest died, and then 722 00:35:44,719 --> 00:35:46,839 Speaker 2: it took until that was like nineteen ninety eight. Took 723 00:35:46,920 --> 00:35:49,560 Speaker 2: until twenty eleven for us to get married. We had 724 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:54,200 Speaker 2: a wonderful journey together, and he passed away in twenty 725 00:35:54,239 --> 00:35:57,800 Speaker 2: twenty two. He had leukemia. And I remember when I 726 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,360 Speaker 2: first met him and he was trying to get me 727 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:00,600 Speaker 2: to go out with him, and I was like, yeah, 728 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:02,400 Speaker 2: I'm not really, you know, it's like I don't think so, 729 00:36:02,520 --> 00:36:05,319 Speaker 2: and he was like, I promise you, I will let 730 00:36:05,320 --> 00:36:07,560 Speaker 2: you die first. That was like a running joke with us, 731 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,919 Speaker 2: and so when he got leukemia, he's like, don't worry, 732 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:10,239 Speaker 2: I got this. 733 00:36:10,280 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: We're going to get rid of it. 734 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:14,040 Speaker 2: And it was actually one of the more curable kinds, 735 00:36:14,120 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 2: and it kept coming back, and ultimately he passed away 736 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:20,280 Speaker 2: and you know, he was so he was so brilliant, 737 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:22,880 Speaker 2: and he was so funny. The last couple of weeks, 738 00:36:22,960 --> 00:36:26,279 Speaker 2: you know, we were similarly to Ernest, you know, like 739 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:30,080 Speaker 2: kind of going towards death with a kind of a 740 00:36:31,160 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 2: staying present with it, you know, like laughing about it, 741 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:38,799 Speaker 2: crying about it, being in that place, not acting like 742 00:36:38,880 --> 00:36:42,280 Speaker 2: it's not real, but also living every single moment together 743 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,400 Speaker 2: that we could, you know, and learning. I mean, I 744 00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:48,640 Speaker 2: learned so much from both of those experiences about how 745 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:49,000 Speaker 2: to live. 746 00:36:49,800 --> 00:36:53,600 Speaker 1: And I remember Bob saying you cannot. 747 00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:55,400 Speaker 2: Can't because I had all these shows booked for twenty 748 00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:57,759 Speaker 2: twenty three and he was December in twenty twenty two 749 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:00,759 Speaker 2: when he died, and he said, please don't cancel. 750 00:37:00,520 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: Your tour next year. 751 00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:03,960 Speaker 2: And I'm like, yeah, you know, I don't know how 752 00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 2: entertaining I'm going to be after my second husband dies 753 00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:07,560 Speaker 2: of cancer. 754 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:08,880 Speaker 1: I mean, how am I going to you know? 755 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 2: And you know, just to give you a sense of 756 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:14,560 Speaker 2: his sense of humor, he said, well I think you 757 00:37:14,600 --> 00:37:15,040 Speaker 2: should do it. 758 00:37:15,080 --> 00:37:16,680 Speaker 1: I think he's just what else are you going to do? 759 00:37:16,719 --> 00:37:18,520 Speaker 1: You know, I'm not going to sit around and cry. 760 00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:20,560 Speaker 2: Go out there, do your song, do sand and water 761 00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:23,799 Speaker 2: you know, let people just share it with them. You know, 762 00:37:24,280 --> 00:37:26,759 Speaker 2: your people will understand and I'll appreciate. I thought I 763 00:37:26,760 --> 00:37:28,920 Speaker 2: couldn't see how that would work. And then I had 764 00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:33,080 Speaker 2: this one big show coming up in Nashville at the 765 00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 2: Franklin Theater, and it was the first one I would 766 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:36,840 Speaker 2: have had to cancel. He goes, just tell me, just 767 00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,080 Speaker 2: promise me, you'll do that one show. And at this time, 768 00:37:41,040 --> 00:37:42,839 Speaker 2: you know, he didn't know if he'd still be here 769 00:37:43,239 --> 00:37:45,479 Speaker 2: when the show happened. But he passed away four days 770 00:37:45,520 --> 00:37:47,880 Speaker 2: before the show. And then I felt like okay, and 771 00:37:47,960 --> 00:37:50,640 Speaker 2: I got Rodney Crowe, my old friend, to come and 772 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,680 Speaker 2: be my stand in in case I lost my nerve. 773 00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,120 Speaker 2: And I put a little note on the all the 774 00:37:57,120 --> 00:37:59,640 Speaker 2: seats and I told the audience, Okay, here's the deal, 775 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 2: and I explained, my husband just passed away. 776 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 1: He really wanted me to do the show. 777 00:38:04,760 --> 00:38:06,839 Speaker 2: I have no idea whether I can do this show, 778 00:38:06,840 --> 00:38:09,040 Speaker 2: but I'm going to give it a shot. And it 779 00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:15,759 Speaker 2: was just the most powerful, amazing, loving thing to be surrounded. 780 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:18,840 Speaker 2: I mean, it makes me cry by this group of 781 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:21,759 Speaker 2: people that came, and some of them didn't have any 782 00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:22,840 Speaker 2: idea they were going to. 783 00:38:22,640 --> 00:38:23,280 Speaker 1: See this show. 784 00:38:23,320 --> 00:38:24,719 Speaker 2: You know, they thought it was going to come hear 785 00:38:24,760 --> 00:38:27,360 Speaker 2: me do this gets and all my songs, and it 786 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:30,239 Speaker 2: was doing sand and Water and having my son come 787 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:33,600 Speaker 2: up and sing the harmony with me, and you know, 788 00:38:33,760 --> 00:38:36,440 Speaker 2: it just made me realize, this is what I should 789 00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:36,840 Speaker 2: be doing. 790 00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,200 Speaker 1: And whether I'm crying through it. 791 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:41,279 Speaker 2: Or laughing through it, this is what I'm supposed to 792 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 2: be doing. And I didn't cancel a single show. And 793 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:49,279 Speaker 2: it was really, you know, an amazing journey to to 794 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:52,120 Speaker 2: take my sort of active grief out into the world. 795 00:38:52,239 --> 00:38:54,719 Speaker 2: And you know, I mean i'd laugh and you know, 796 00:38:54,760 --> 00:38:57,680 Speaker 2: we I don't actually cry on stage, but most of 797 00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,000 Speaker 2: the audience get gets a chance to go. 798 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:01,080 Speaker 1: Who you know. 799 00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:05,120 Speaker 2: And and I didn't really set out to be any 800 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:10,040 Speaker 2: kind of musical missionary by any by any stretch. And 801 00:39:10,080 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 2: when you say, oh, you're magical, I don't think I'm magical. 802 00:39:13,200 --> 00:39:15,960 Speaker 2: I think it's magical. I think all of this is magical, 803 00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:18,160 Speaker 2: and some of us are able to go. 804 00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:20,280 Speaker 1: Yes, it is. I can feel it because I'm aware. 805 00:39:20,320 --> 00:39:23,959 Speaker 2: I'm aware of it, and others maybe don't so much 806 00:39:24,280 --> 00:39:26,960 Speaker 2: put it in that terms. But I don't think anybody 807 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,879 Speaker 2: is unable to access the magic. It's just a matter 808 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,719 Speaker 2: of whether you have a way of doing you know, 809 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,160 Speaker 2: like you learn to do it or you start to 810 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:37,000 Speaker 2: see it. 811 00:39:37,000 --> 00:39:38,279 Speaker 1: It's all around. 812 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:40,080 Speaker 3: Us all the time, Yes, and we need to tap 813 00:39:40,120 --> 00:39:44,239 Speaker 3: into it more. Speaking of all of this, it's just 814 00:39:44,320 --> 00:39:46,239 Speaker 3: mind boggling what you just said to me. 815 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:47,960 Speaker 1: I know it is. 816 00:39:48,680 --> 00:39:50,919 Speaker 3: It's you're just a mere mortal. And yet the way 817 00:39:50,960 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 3: that you speak about how you're living your life through 818 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:57,640 Speaker 3: all of this potential tragedy or you know, a life 819 00:39:57,719 --> 00:40:02,440 Speaker 3: of just depression. How what advice for those listening right 820 00:40:02,480 --> 00:40:04,400 Speaker 3: now who maybe going through something and they're hearing you 821 00:40:04,440 --> 00:40:06,839 Speaker 3: and they still hear a smile in your voice, and 822 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:08,520 Speaker 3: I can imagine still. 823 00:40:08,560 --> 00:40:09,279 Speaker 1: It's still fun. 824 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:12,960 Speaker 2: There's still funny stuff, sort of the saddest things. Yeah, 825 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:15,200 Speaker 2: I've been trying to I forgot to. I forgot to 826 00:40:15,200 --> 00:40:17,360 Speaker 2: actually tell you that one of the things I was 827 00:40:17,400 --> 00:40:19,719 Speaker 2: going to finish and I forgot to do it was 828 00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:22,239 Speaker 2: when I was having these conversations with Bob about whether 829 00:40:22,320 --> 00:40:23,640 Speaker 2: or not I should do the show. 830 00:40:24,280 --> 00:40:26,319 Speaker 1: I said, look, you know you've been to my show's Bob. 831 00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:29,200 Speaker 2: I mean, I talk about I sing my songs and 832 00:40:29,320 --> 00:40:31,120 Speaker 2: kind of do this chronicle of my life. I talk 833 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:33,560 Speaker 2: about losing earnest. I talk about going through breast cancer, 834 00:40:33,600 --> 00:40:36,040 Speaker 2: I sing a song about that. Talk about my brain tumor, 835 00:40:36,080 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 2: I sing a song about that. How am I going 836 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:39,920 Speaker 2: to add another. 837 00:40:39,680 --> 00:40:43,080 Speaker 1: Husband who died? How does that? You know? And he's 838 00:40:43,080 --> 00:40:45,399 Speaker 1: a psychologist and he's like, hmm, very good point. 839 00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:49,120 Speaker 2: Let me think about that. Hmm okay, And he comes 840 00:40:49,160 --> 00:40:50,520 Speaker 2: back to me and he goes, I think you should 841 00:40:50,560 --> 00:40:51,320 Speaker 2: drop the brain. 842 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:56,279 Speaker 1: Tumor can't be break you know. 843 00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:00,319 Speaker 2: So he was from New Jersey, so I mean York. 844 00:41:00,480 --> 00:41:05,560 Speaker 2: So well, it's not always funny. It's not you know. 845 00:41:05,680 --> 00:41:08,680 Speaker 2: There is a deep joy that I feel and a 846 00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:12,359 Speaker 2: deep gratefulness, you know, like I say, having gone through 847 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,560 Speaker 2: chemo and all my hair fell out and knows terribly 848 00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 2: upset at the time, but you know what now that 849 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:20,520 Speaker 2: I'm I have like there's no such thing as a 850 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:21,160 Speaker 2: bad hair day. 851 00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:23,719 Speaker 1: Ever. Any hair is a good hair day, any hair 852 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:27,359 Speaker 1: at all, beautiful hair. By the way. Oh it's kind 853 00:41:27,360 --> 00:41:29,359 Speaker 1: of a mess today, but yeah. 854 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:31,799 Speaker 2: But I mean, I just feel like when you have 855 00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:38,040 Speaker 2: the perspective of the parameters of life experience part of 856 00:41:38,080 --> 00:41:41,239 Speaker 2: what I think you have to well for me, I 857 00:41:41,239 --> 00:41:43,319 Speaker 2: will only speak for myself. I mean I have to. 858 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:45,279 Speaker 2: I have to acknowledge it and look at it. I 859 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:49,279 Speaker 2: can't try to evade the feelings of sadness. When a 860 00:41:49,320 --> 00:41:52,279 Speaker 2: feeling of sadness comes up, I say thank you, and 861 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:54,960 Speaker 2: this sucks, but okay, thank you. I'm gonna and so 862 00:41:54,960 --> 00:41:58,120 Speaker 2: a wave. It's all of its waves and it's not 863 00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,640 Speaker 2: going to be there. The thing about the worst part 864 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,680 Speaker 2: of grief, especially if you're really really raw with it, 865 00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:06,560 Speaker 2: is when you're in one of those waves of grief, 866 00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:08,279 Speaker 2: you think it's never gonna end. This is how I'm 867 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 2: gonna feel for the rest of my life, and it's intolerable, 868 00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,280 Speaker 2: and then it resolves, and then you have to remember 869 00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:16,400 Speaker 2: that was a wave. It had to beginning, a middle, 870 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:19,440 Speaker 2: and an end, and there will be another one and 871 00:42:19,520 --> 00:42:23,120 Speaker 2: it will also lead back into joy. That's the only 872 00:42:23,160 --> 00:42:24,920 Speaker 2: way that I can express it. 873 00:42:26,000 --> 00:42:31,319 Speaker 3: Well, it's a beautiful expression. And I'm so grateful. It's 874 00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:33,960 Speaker 3: taken me a while to get you here. I know 875 00:42:34,040 --> 00:42:36,719 Speaker 3: it's been crazy, yet I'm so glad we finally got 876 00:42:36,719 --> 00:42:38,880 Speaker 3: to do this. Me too, and to me you in person, 877 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:43,319 Speaker 3: and you're just such a shining light. And just keep 878 00:42:43,360 --> 00:42:45,399 Speaker 3: inspiring and keep doing what you're doing. I have one 879 00:42:45,440 --> 00:42:49,720 Speaker 3: last question for you, because it's just hit me. Why 880 00:42:50,480 --> 00:42:53,680 Speaker 3: do you continue to do what you do every day 881 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:58,040 Speaker 3: in terms of sharing and teaching, And there's got to 882 00:42:58,080 --> 00:42:58,680 Speaker 3: be a reason. 883 00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:02,279 Speaker 1: I think it's. 884 00:43:02,719 --> 00:43:08,880 Speaker 2: You know, one of my drugs of choice, okay, is 885 00:43:09,560 --> 00:43:14,840 Speaker 2: the drug of feeling someone else kind of get their pilot, 886 00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:18,239 Speaker 2: like relt if they've lost it or if they've never 887 00:43:18,280 --> 00:43:21,240 Speaker 2: had it. Lit That to me is such a feeling 888 00:43:21,280 --> 00:43:24,279 Speaker 2: of I feel so grateful to be able to be 889 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:28,440 Speaker 2: a part of that. It's, you know, there's something about 890 00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 2: feeling like you're I don't know, maybe it's just feeling 891 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:34,200 Speaker 2: like you're being useful to someone else. And not everybody 892 00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:36,719 Speaker 2: has the same reaction to anything. And I think one 893 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:39,279 Speaker 2: of the things I've learned is I can't have no 894 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,360 Speaker 2: control over whether or not anything I say or do 895 00:43:41,480 --> 00:43:43,000 Speaker 2: is going to help them. Maybe they're not in a 896 00:43:43,000 --> 00:43:45,279 Speaker 2: place where they're ready to hear what I have to 897 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:48,560 Speaker 2: say or what it is. But the music goes on 898 00:43:49,320 --> 00:43:51,520 Speaker 2: all by itself. It's like I write a song and 899 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:53,239 Speaker 2: it goes out in the world and it's got its 900 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:55,960 Speaker 2: own little power source, and somebody tells somebody to go 901 00:43:56,080 --> 00:43:58,560 Speaker 2: listen to that song, and then they write me, you know, 902 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:02,040 Speaker 2: And I mean, it's just it's like finding out you 903 00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:05,560 Speaker 2: win the lottery in little little lotteries all the time 904 00:44:05,600 --> 00:44:08,960 Speaker 2: when that happens because I didn't write the song to 905 00:44:10,160 --> 00:44:11,920 Speaker 2: In fact, if you try to write a song to 906 00:44:12,080 --> 00:44:15,759 Speaker 2: help other people, it usually sounds very flat. It's and 907 00:44:15,800 --> 00:44:18,960 Speaker 2: I tell my songwriting students all the time, I want 908 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:20,120 Speaker 2: you to write selfishly. 909 00:44:20,160 --> 00:44:22,480 Speaker 1: I want you to write to help you get out 910 00:44:22,480 --> 00:44:24,439 Speaker 1: of the cage of whatever you're you know. 911 00:44:26,520 --> 00:44:29,080 Speaker 2: And and that's what makes it really powerful, you know, 912 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:32,120 Speaker 2: just telling telling me about you. Don't try to about me, 913 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:34,759 Speaker 2: don't try to fix me, just tell me how to 914 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:37,040 Speaker 2: how you got fixed within yourself. 915 00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:38,880 Speaker 1: I don't know. 916 00:44:38,920 --> 00:44:41,920 Speaker 2: It just as evolved as something that I'm very drawn to. 917 00:44:43,000 --> 00:44:46,120 Speaker 2: And and it's it's it's a The world is full 918 00:44:46,160 --> 00:44:48,640 Speaker 2: of so much stuff that we have to struggle against. 919 00:44:48,960 --> 00:44:50,719 Speaker 3: Well, you may have been a part of it. You 920 00:44:50,920 --> 00:44:55,399 Speaker 3: may have been selfless selfish in writing, but in your 921 00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:57,960 Speaker 3: life you are selfless for sharing all of it. And 922 00:44:58,000 --> 00:44:59,799 Speaker 3: we're so grateful that you came to share. 923 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:01,759 Speaker 1: I love sharing it as you can tell it. 924 00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:04,439 Speaker 3: Yes, I feel the same way. I feel like I'm 925 00:45:04,440 --> 00:45:06,360 Speaker 3: infringing on someone else's time. 926 00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:07,480 Speaker 1: Right now, so I don't want to. 927 00:45:08,080 --> 00:45:11,080 Speaker 3: I could talk to you all day long, but thank 928 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:13,680 Speaker 3: you so much for sharing your story and I hope 929 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,880 Speaker 3: that it brings some joy to whoever was listening to 930 00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:21,880 Speaker 3: us speak today because you're just amazing and thank you, 931 00:45:22,040 --> 00:45:23,000 Speaker 3: thanks so much, and. 932 00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:24,239 Speaker 1: Please check in on you. 933 00:45:24,800 --> 00:45:26,600 Speaker 2: I will, and thank you for this podcast. I'm going 934 00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:28,160 Speaker 2: to go listen to all the other ones now. 935 00:45:28,520 --> 00:45:29,279 Speaker 1: Oh I love that. 936 00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:31,480 Speaker 3: I don't think anyone will be as good as this one. 937 00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:36,239 Speaker 3: Oh well, thanks Beth, thank you,