July 27, 2008
I just spent the last week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina which I have mentioned as one of my favorite places in the world. My mom grew up there way before it was a beautiful summer vacation destination. It was desolate marsh and fishermen when they first moved there. An old hunt club called The Lone Cedar became their house and my grandfather dredged much of the land around the house himself. There is so much history there for me and so many memories even though the old house is no longer standing and big new cottages sit on the land it once occupied. It was a great way to spend one of our last weeks of summer before school starts again for the kids and we kick into high gear finishing this record. I am toying with the idea of the title being "All The Good Things" or "The Good Things" after one of the songs on the record. I feel like the songs fit thematically around faith, relationships and family- all the good things in my life. I am looking forward to sharing a song with you soon when we get the mixes completed and the website revamped. In the meantime, please check out the link on the news page that takes you to a site where you can download Nobody's Got it All Together for free. It will only be available for a limited time so please take advantage of it and tell your friends! Thanks for your support and thanks for listening. Your friend, Jill
July 2008
It is hard to believe we have been working over two months now on the CD and it is really starting to come together. As I mentioned in an earlier journal this part of the process is so much fun. To hear the great musicians bring the songs to life, to hear everyone's ideas and work on details from artwork to titles to electric guitar solos is so exciting. I also recently had my photo shoot for the record with Ben Pearson. He is a fantastic photographer who took the pictures for my album Writing on the Wall. Normally the thought of a photo shoot is enough to make me physically ill but working with Ben is easy and fun. I wore my own clothes so unfortunately the pictures really will look like me but at least I was comfortable! For this record I am working with Cason Cooley, a great producer and friend. He has produced a number of artists from Katie Herzig to Derek Webb and plays for amazing artists and bands like Sixpence None the Richer and Mat Kearney. He brings such an excitement and joy to the recording process, he is like a little kid when he gets a great idea or loves the way something is sounding. Because I wanted to really challenge myself on this record and change things up I am also working with mainly new musicians. Andy, my husband, will always be a constant though! I can't imagine my records without his guitar playing and background vocals. Other people who returned are the amazingly talented Steve Mason from Jars of Clay who has played guitar and sang on my past three records. Also the great Ken Lewis will be playing some drums and percussion. To mix things up a little we recorded at a new place, The Smoakstack which is Paul Moak's studio. Paul is an amazing engineeer and electric guitarist and his guitar parts on this record blow me away. Will Sayles played drums and Matt Pearson played bass and they are equally as talented and genuinely fun to be around. Ben Shive and Cason will cover the piano and keys parts and we are hoping the great David Henry will add some cello greatness to the mix. I can't wait to share the new songs with you all, we are hoping to have a free download available on the new website when it launches. Which brings me to the new website. We will have a new website design by the time the record comes out and I am really looking forward to it. I will even have... gasp... a blog section. Which means bi-weekly updating instead of bi-yearly. There will also be a download section on the site where you can get records or single songs. If you have any ideas or things you would love to see featured on the new site please e-mail our office at info@jillphillips.com. We love your input and will really take it into consideration. Thank you all for your support and I hope you all are having a great summer. We are headed to the Outer Banks of North Carolina soon for my brother's wedding. I have been looking forward to this all summer, it is one of my favorite places in the world to be. And my only sibling's wedding so it should be fun all around. We are in need of a vacation! I will be in touch soon. Jill
May 2008
Well friends, we are in the early stages of recording my new CD. After many months of sleepless nights, diaper changes and wearing sweats it feels good to be back in the studio again and working on the final touches of new songs. So far I have nine songs that I am very happy with and excited about putting on the CD. We are still working on that last one or two trying to figure out what is needed and fits the rest of the record. Andy and I are working with our friend Cason Cooley who is an amazing musician and producer. Cason has traveled with us for several years as the bass player on the Andrew Peterson Christmas tour. He started his career in The Normals with Andy Osenga and has toured extensively with artists like Mat Kearney and Griffin House. Recently he has been producing great artists like Derek Webb, Katie Herzig and Sandra McCracken. So now that I have given you his resume, we are just really thrilled to be working with him. The process of this CD has been a little different in that we spent a little over a week just thinking about the songs, putting down demos, getting tempos and instrumentation ideas, drum ideas, etc. As Cason puts it, "seeing if the songs can stand up on their own". It has really helped me to do a lot of the thinking about little production ideas before we get in the studio because it happened aurally and not just on paper or in my head. Last week we went to Ken Lewis' studio (he played drums on the past few records) and worked on three of the songs. Now we are in the really fun part... letting the amazing musicians do what they do and bring the songs to life. After hearing what Ken played I got really excited and am anxious to see how it all unfolds. In a few weeks we will be going in the studio with electric guitarist Paul Moak, drummer Will Sayles and bassist Matt Pearson to work on a few more of the songs. Since I am technologically challenged (can't you tell by the way this journal runs together and has no paragraphs? Doesn't that require some kind of code? Forget it!) Andy is going to set up a blog for me where I can update info on the recording process, post some demos and videos. I will let you know soon when we get that up and running. We are also in the process of redesigning the site and changing some things... good to do every couple of years at least! So all that to say, keep coming back to the site and we will keep you informed. I am really looking forward to this summer- my oldest will graduate from kindergarten and I won't have to be anywhere at the crack of dawn every morning. I am also really excited about having all my kids home and being able to do all the fun summer things I couldn't do last summer after having a baby. My brother is getting married, Andy and I are taking a trip for our 10th wedding anniversary, and we are spending some time with my family in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I am also going to be doing quite a few shows so please come see us if we are in your area! And between the weeks of vacation we will be working away at this CD to have it out as soon as possible. Thank you so much, as always, for your continued support of me and the music. I feel beyond thankful to be able to keep doing this. Jill P.S. If anyone happens to be in Asheville this weekend for the LEAF festival, we will be there playing a song at the David Wilcox and friends show.... dreams do come true!
February 2008
It is a mild winter day here in Nashville and Andy and I are taking a lunch break here at the house with our seven-month-old son Ty. The older two kids are in school and it is nice and quiet. We have been working on writing for the record and finishing up old ideas as well as brainstorming new ones. It has had to be a lot more intentional this record with a baby around and it is taking longer but I really feel like it is going to be worth it. There is something about working on song ideas that have been mulling around in your head for months- I guess I believe the ones that are supposed to stick around actually do. We have been meeting with a new friend about producing the record with Andy which is also exciting, more details to come. I would love to start recording as soon as possible but the feeling of excitement and urgency is outweighed by the desire to have the right songs.
Those first months after Ty was born were quite a blur. They also seemed to creep along in many ways, mainly at night when we wished we were sleeping more! I am just starting to feel like a normal human being again. I knew I needed to be writing in those early months after he was born but it just was not possible. I was spread much too thin and really just needed to be home for my kids and so I could take naps! It feels really good to be creative again and find that the songs are returning.
If you haven't heard it yet, check out Andy's new CD which is available on the site now. We had an amazing and surreal experience a few weeks ago when Andy got the chance to play a song at David Wilcox's show in Asheville. Andy and I drove for hours in college to hear David play and to this day he is one of the finest songwriters I have ever heard. He is truly a master at his craft and is inspiring to watch and listen to. To have David Wilcox encourage Andy in his songwriting and artistry and invite him to play at his concert was a dream come true. I got to watch from the audience like a cheesy proud wife, beaming from ear to ear. We were able to spend the next day with David and his family at their house in Asheville and get to know them, swap songs, stories, etc. It was such a marvelous and unbelievable experience and made me that much more excited to return to writing for this record. When you are around someone that is that good at what they do and has such a joy for the work it is contagious.
Well, I hope to see some of you on the road this spring as I gear up again for touring with Andrew Peterson. Check the tour section for cities and times. We hope to try out some of these new songs and see if they work- you guys are the best test for whether or not a song should make the record.
Thanks for your support and I hope to see you soon on the road.....
Jill
