Album Notes

"Nightfall on Still Water" captures my love of sunsets, water, city skylines, cathedrals and castles, family and friends, and beautiful melodies. I wanted the entire CD to be set around dusk. It's about the transitions we go through in life and connections we make in our lives. I really wanted it to be a tapestry of my life thus far. Connections are the essence of our life here on this earth. We connect with God, our families, our friends, ourselves, our animals, our planet, and much more. There are inherent commonalities that connect us all together in this world--certain things we all share as human beings.

Early evening is when families share meals together, students flood the local parks to play volleyball or basketball, lovers hold hands and take long walks together. Kids roller-blade with their friends, athletes jog with their pets to stay in shape, mothers enjoy sitting on park benches having delicious conversation with other mothers while their kids run free and play on the playground. I love everything about evening.

When I lived in Memphis seven years ago, oftentimes at evening I would open my window and listen to the sounds of night life. Memphis is a city that has so much life and soulfulness about it. For me, as I sat by my window and listened while cars drove by in the evenings, it was literally a symphony of sounds and smells. Some nights I could hear the crickets and cicadas chirping, other nights I could hear the urban sounds of hip-hop and rap music as cars zoomed by. Occasionally, I could discern a jazzy saxophone somewhere off in the distance. I could smell home cooked meals too! There is something magical about evening. The hustle and bustle of the workday begins to slow down and a peacefulness and reverence begins to settle in--you can literally feel the shift.

Now that I live in Texas, the summers are too hot to be outdoors for very long. But in the Fall months, if the air is cool and crisp, I enjoy going outside on our back porch and looking up at the stars. I'll take in a deep breath and immerse myself in life...in being alive. Taking time out to simply exist and appreciate where I am in life always centers me and helps me stay grounded. I also appreciate the history of what I've come through to be where I am today.

The cover of the CD really sums up everything I wanted to express on the recording. The cover photo features a shot of the Hernando-Desoto bridge which links West Memphis, Arkansas (across the Mississippi River) with Memphis, Tennessee, connecting the two states together. These are both places where I have lived in my life. The bridge is in the shape of an "M" which many Memphians take pride in saying stands for "Memphis." The bridge is named after the 16th century Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto who explored this stretch of the Mississippi River.

Bridges represent so many different things: they symbolize traveling or journeying, they serve as connectors--making it easier for us to cross over the water. They give us a sense of identity with our city such as: The Golden Gate Bridge, The Brooklyn Bridge or London Bridge. Sometimes bridges are reminders of days gone by, for instance, the old plank and cable swinging bridges, or the covered bridges of Madison County, Iowa. They serve a useful purpose in connecting people and places together. I think that is also something I am striving to accomplish with this recording--to connect with people, to take them on a journey and to span the past and present. Bridges and water seem to be all about movement and travel so those concepts run throughout the CD even if they are very subtle.