I took a break from recording and performing so I could be a mom and be home with my small children. Although a part of me was sad about not working, mostly I felt privileged to be able to have the precious time with them.
It was a very challenging 5 years and the most rewarding ever. I kept performing just enough so I could keep up my playing and singing and I wrote some music, but my focus was not on my work, it was the kids.
So...imagine my surprise when I went into the studio to record a few tunes that could work well as bedtime lullabies and came out with a new record and a renewed love for my work and the outside world!
I had attempted to go back to work a few times. Did a few tours, had some writing trips and recorded some new music but the time was just not right. I was just not prepared to leave the house. This time was different. My brother and his work partner Daniel LeBlanc bought a new space to create their new recording studio. It's a 4 minute walk from my house. I suddenly had a place to record in the one hour increments that my full on mom schedule would allow.
I also had inspiration. A bedtime record that has no lullabies on it, but interesting covers and new material, all aimed at the weary parents who go thru hoops each night getting their little darlings to sleep. My idea was that when you get something that works for your kids you use it over and over again and I wanted to make great music that could stand up to those many listenings ; hence my title A Thousand Nights.
I'm very proud of the project and the calibre of musicianship that is on display. I love the songs I wrote because they attempt to address the hugeness of how it feels to be responsible for a little soul. The overwhelmingly beautiful parts and also the utterly terrifying. The cover tunes are very famous but I thought if you sang them to your child they are suddenly new songs with new meaning.
I asked some friends to sing and play with me on this project and was so pleased that they all said yes from Jim Cuddy and Ron Sexsmith singing duets to my best girlfriends Emilie-Claire Barlow and Kathryn Rose doing a vocal trio. My husband Ted Dykstra sings with me as well on a Tom Waits cover, Martha. It's one of our all time favourite tunes. (Had it playing while I had an emergency C-section giving birth to my son. . .hmmm . . .too much information)
I guess the surprise in all this for me was that I was suddenly just back to work, not trying to get back to work. And recording a few tunes for fun with my brother and Danny became a new project that means so much to me.
I love writing music and being a musician. It's who I am. Well...now I'm a mom too and I am slowly learning how to be both...kinda...sorta...
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