Coming this Winter

Are you excited yet?

We're almost done with the composition stage. Both my mom and I have 1 or 2 more songs to write to complete the album. Later this month we will start recording the songs. December will be mixed with a lot of busy stuff going on, but we're going to try to get everything mixed/mastered and off to the production company back east. We're hoping for a January 2009 release.

So far, my songs are:

"Brahm's Lullaby" (writ. Brahms/arrang. Thomas)

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (writ. Mozart/arrang. Thomas)

"Baby of Mine (Preston's Song)" (writ. Thomas)

"The Dream Waltz" (writ. Thomas)

and possibly "Goodnight My Angel" (writ. Billy Joel/arrang. Thomas)

I am still waiting to see how much in royalties I would have to pay to use the B. Joel song.

I still need one more song, as we are each trying to go for 6. My mom is doing a few old Scottish cradle songs, I Am a Child of God, and some originals as well. I'm really excited about this. I think it is definitely going to be a great lullaby album. And it is "Preston Approved". :)

The picture above is going to be our album cover. That painting is one I have seen for years as it has hung at my Grandma's house ever since I can remember. It is from an old 1920's calendar. I think it perfectly fits the mood of our album.

Recommended New CD!

I'm so happy today. I got a new CD in the mail today that I have been so excited about for months and months.

My very dear friend Lori-ann Cunningham (goes by Lori Cunningham professionally), has just released her debut album Unseen. She is not only stunning to look at, but she has a very powerful set of vocal cords as well. Lori-ann, like me, records and writes much of her music from her own studio at home. And like me, she is also a mom - so I personally know what a big deal it is to have something like this accomplished while taking care of a family. (not that it isn't hard without kids, it was still hard for me for my first CD and I didn't have Preston yet, but I am getting a taste of how hard it is for my upcoming Lullaby album).

That picture above was Lori-ann and I at my Salt Lake City concert last November. After my concert, she came up and sang O Holy Night with me at that piano (a version I had written). She did it completely from memory and just belted it out and even hit all of the high E flats. The girl is simply amazing.

I recommend checking out her website, myspace page, or ourstage page. Her music has a classical element to it, but is very downtempo/ambient/techno/dance.

Congrats Lori-ann! I'm so proud of you!

A Few Preston Firsts

Here are a couple of fun quick videos of some "first time" things for Preston.

Oh, and the video with us feeding him his first solids...not sure what I think about that yet. I wasn't going to feed him solids until he was 6 months old, but he has been showing an interest in our food lately. So I picked up a jar of rice cereal with apples yesterday and fed it to him. My mom thinks it might help him sleep through the night better, but I don't know. We'll see. I still think he does fine on breastmilk only and doesn't need the extra calories right now (he is 17 pounds). :) But he does seem to like it.

Picture of the Week