Recording a New CD

I’ve been having a blast in the studio recently working on a new CD.  It’s intended for national distribution in Canada. With the help of engineer and mixer extraordinaire Eric Legg, I put together a one-day intensive recording session last week.  We used some of my favorite “A-list” musicians – collectively they have performed on CDs by Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney, Martina McBride, Reba McEntyre, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, LeAnn Rimes, Lonestar, Gretchen Wilson, Alabama, Joe Nichols, Billy Currington, Chely Wright, Joe Diffie, Blake Shelton, George Jones, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Trace Adkins, Amy Grant, John Michael Montgomery, Hank Williams Jr., Phil Vassar, Sammy Kershaw, Randy Travis, Leanne Womack, and Pam Tillis just to name a few.  Two of them have produced CDs (by Point of Grace and Trace Adkins), and one of them is even a performing member of the band Toto!

I am producing my record myself, but musicians of that caliber make it easy.  The tracks are so good that it’s SCARY!!! Now it’s just up to me to get the vocal tracks recorded, which I’m working on now.  We singers are always our own worst critics, and it’s especially hard not to obsess when I'm producing my own project. (Can you say Type A personality? Ha ha...)  One thing I’ve learned already is that sometimes it’s better to get a flawed vocal take with personality than it is to get a take with perfection.  Perfection is boring!!!  So I’ve had fun experimenting – rolling out of bed in the morning and going straight to the microphone for that low rasp…staying up til the wee hours for a more intimate and vulnerable sound…and singing the ballsy, angry parts when I feel like screaming at my dog, Sammy Davis Junior Junior (who keeps crawling out under the backyard fence and making me chase him through the neighborhood in the middle of a driving downpour)....

Anyhow, needless to say I have been keeping really busy.  I’ve also continued to cowrite with Jessica Simpson (she’s getting ready to start recording her album next week) and Julie Roberts (we’ve been writing some great songs together).   Of course there are no guarantees, but hopefully some of these songs we’re writing will find their way onto the artists’ CDs.  I’ll keep you posted on that.