My 2 month old

I can't believe my baby girl is 8 weeks old today. Where has the time gone? Wasn't it yesterday I was huge and pregnant and wishing that time would move a little faster so I could meet her? And now, here she is smiling, melting my heart... and best of all sleeping a little longer! 4-5 hours of sleep in a row is a luxury these days. Yes, life is pretty good... even though we are sinking in diapers, and my new best friend is the breast pump, and my house is a wreck, and I have seen WAY to many episodes of the Golden Girls at 3am... it only takes one smile from my precious girl and nothing else matters.

I am the newest member of that elite club known as "Mommyhood".

So, after many sleepless nights of late pregnancy, and feeling like a little kid waiting for Christmas to arrive and life seeming to drag, my beautiful baby girl, Gracie, arrived! Its amazing the way life changes in an instant. I am no longer free to do whatever I want, I am no longer free to eat whatever I want, drink whatever I want, sleep whenever I want, life as I knew it is gone... but, one look into those baby blue eyes, I wouldn't change it for the world.

She is an angel sent here to rescue me.

So a new adventure begins, "mommyhood". I have officially entered the club. Bring on the breastpumps and diapers and sleepless nights! I got a feeling this is going to be an adventure I'll never forget.

knocked up and rockin' it out

Yes, though the two don't usually go together, I officially have a baby bump I can't pass off as "tour weight" anymore and I am proud of it. :) I have to tell you its such an amazing feeling to be performing and sharing an intimate moment with my audience, while at the same time, my baby keeps poking me and kicking me, sharing an intimate moment with me that no one else knows is going on. Its very cool. Usually the baby is very still when I am belting it out loud... I guess my sweet baby is going to be like me and can sleep through anything... and loud music relaxes and soothes. No doubt my genes were at play there!
Here is a pic of me and my amazingly talented friend Ryan Greenawalt recording in the studio together!

I can't believe I am holding my first album!

Well, the doorbell rang today, and three huge boxes of albums arrived! I can't believe it! My husband and I were like two little kids at Christmas, ripping the boxes open and pulling out tons of the albums and just laughing. It was really hard not to pull the polywrap off all of them! Looking at it, I just can't get over all that hard work, right here in my hands... its a great feeling. Now the big question is, how do I sell these suckers??? Yikes! The digital release will be in May, so until then, I am going to try and get out there just me, my piano, and a few of these albums in hopes to perform and sell. Here goes nothing...

Jenny Slate

Music Business Shmizznass

I have always wondered what it would be like, to be one of those people that didn't have to work for anything, it was just sort of handed to them... You know the "She was discovered in the food court of a local mall" "He was singing on the subway and it just so happened that the head of Universal was next to him!" Ahhh, but life is never that simple is it? :)

I decided to create this blog, as I start the journey as an Independent Artist, tired of the way the music business has frustrated me and other talented people over the years. I am not in this for the money, I don't want to be developed into an artist that I truly am not... I am in this for the music. And I think a lot of people have forgotten what music is really about...

I have been singing and writing and performing since I was a little kid. I didn't start taking it seriously until I was about 15. I knew highschool was drawing to an end, and the only thing I could possibly see myself doing was something in the music/acting world. I would be miserable if I had to do anything that didn't involve being creative and making music. Ever since then, I have been on countless auditions, toured with lots of different shows, recorded songs for other people, sung BGV's for other artist's, written songs for other artists, and had a record deal that disappointed me. Somehow, through the years I have managed to make a living at this... but not quite the one I have imagined. I am ready to do my own music, my own way. :)

It all started a few years ago when I decided to sit down and write for me, not someone else, no set direction of music, no rules, only me... but who was I as an artist? Country? Pop? Rock? Christian? Jazz? I have done it all through the years, but when it comes down to it, what really speaks to me? What did I really want to tell the world? It was a lot of hours of me sitting at the piano, looking out the window doing some soul searching. And for awhile I just wrote without thinking, and after a few months, I could hear a new sound, my sound, coming through. It was really exciting and eye opening. After a lot of time writing on my own, I started traveling again to get some inspiration. My amazingly supportive husband dropped everything and came with me. We camped out for three weeks all over France. It was the best time of my life thus far. Memories and adventures I will never forget... the culture, the food, the views, the castles, the people we met, the flood that woke us up with water in our tent! :) So many things to take in. The minute we got back to England to visit family, I ran to the piano full of inspiration.

The next step was finding a producer who "got me". I had a world of opportunity opened to me, but I decided to take a road less traveled on, because it fit what I was trying to accomplish. I met Jerry Navarro out on tour. He is an amazing bassist, has great ears for production, and has hair up to the sky! It was a perfect fit. He saw my vision for making a record that didn't feel computerized, pro-tooled out the rear, and full of instrumentation that couldn't be brought out on the road without tracks... I wanted something real and raw. The way records used to be produced. I am often disappointed when I go to a concert of an artist that I can't get enough of, only to find they sound nothing like their record live. Who was that in the studio???

So, we started the process of making my first record. It took us two years, and a lot of talented, and thoughtful musicians and engineers. I have a lot of people to thank for making it happen... I will post my album notes on my website soon. :) And boy, we had some fun times in the studio, and some funny things that we attempted at 3am after singing and playing all day. lol.

So here I am today... my album is set to release May 11th, just a few months away. I can't believe it. I have gone through my own artist development, discovering who I really am, the writing process, the recording process, the packaging process, and now the marketing side. How the heck do I get people to listen to my music? :) It's a journey I am excited to make...