REBECCA SAYRE: journal
Appalachian Trail Hiking - July 28, 2008
Still up in Blacksburg Virginia: Yesterday morning, my brother John mapped out a hike to “Dragon’s Tooth” on the Appalachian Trail. We drove for about 45 minutes to the trail head, on a 2-lane country road lined with horse farms and green hay fields. I gotta get a horse… I really do miss those animals. John had said the hike was 5-miles round trip and that it would be steep, but I didn’t hear the “hands-and-knees-climbing over rocks” part! At about the 1.5 mile point, I was sucking wind pretty hard and getting really thirsty! I was concerned about running out of water since I was already a little dehydrated from the Mexican food and Margaritas we’d treated ourselves to the night before. But at last, we made it to the top, resting legs and lungs while we took in the beautiful, panoramic view and munched on apple slices. Only had my cell phone to take photos!
After our arduous hike, we decided on the drive back that we would treat ourselves to ice cream (cherry vanilla which really hit the spot!) and a movie. The house was still warm, but it had cooled off very nicely outside by 8:30 or so. We took a walk to take in some of that cool air and ended up on the golf course just above the house. Black pine trees popped out of the black hilltop in front of us and were silhouetted on a red sky. We sat there in the perfect evening temperature and picked out shapes in the clouds… the guy with the bushy eyebrows and handle-bar mustache, the upside down lady’s face, the cowboy about to throw his lariat.. the snail that became a turtle. It was a peaceful completion to a full day. One of those days that has the power to quiet that ambitious voice in your head—however temporarily—that says you “should be” doing something more productive. I got some great exercise, saw some beautiful scenery and enjoyed it all with my brother and we didn’t even get on each other’s nerves. Now that’s time well spent!
Pretty good with a hammer... - July 21, 2008
Hey guys! Thanks for checking in. I often think of clever little blog entries to write while I'm out watering the garden or walking around Radnor lake, then I loose the bug by the time I'm back at the computer. Anyway, Charlie & I mixed our final mixes for the "New Girl" EP and now I'm up in Blacksburg, VA (where Virginia Tech is) visiting and now working a bit for my brother, John. John's wife Barbara is visiting her home country of Austria and while John is solo, I decided to come visit and he promptly decided that he could use my help (more on that later).
With less than a week's notice, my ambitious brother organized a neighborhood house concert for me last Saturday night which was a huge success! I did a couple sets for a delightfully attentive, engaged audience and then, about half of them stayed to jam and sing with John & I both on old Sam Cooke and Ray Charles tunes and Tennessee Waltz or whatever they picked out of John's enormous song book. 
My favorite is a Swiss folk tune that John sings and, yes, yodels! (as in "yodelay HEE HOO!") And these folks could really sing! It was almost like being in Nashville. Luckily I had a bunch of CDs with me and I sold 'em all! The favorites this trip are Bareback Promenade, I Miss Mississippi, New Girl and especially Bittersweet Day which isn't on the EP but will be on my full project to be recorded, hopefully, this Autumn…which brings me back to my brother John, who has a very active little home-improvement business. I learned a lot from him when he worked on my fixer in Sylvan Park, so, not only am I dodging the summer heat in Nashville, where my friends Liz & Sarah tell me it's hot as hell, I'm actually making money swinging a hammer! It's about 10 degrees cooler here, cooling off in the evenings, too. John and I are remodeling a bathroom for the neighbors down the street (the same guy who DJs at the local VT radio station and promoted our concert).
The "New Girl" EP is officially done (YAY!). I have only to master and mass produce it for YOU! Meanwhile my niece, Melanie, is going to show me how to use Photoshop tonight (yeah, I'm a quick study… HA! I'm thinking I'll be mostly watching) while "we" design my album cover. By the way, Sarah tells me my garden is thriving with zucchini, yellow squash and cucumbers with a few cantaloupes & tomatoes coming in too!
Bye for now,
Rebecca
California is so nice this time of year... wish I were there! - June 7, 2008
Day 5 of 90+ temps here in Nashville and I've got a bad case of cabin fever! That doesn’t bode well for the current plan, which was nose-to-the-grindstone-for-the-summer: finish and begin marketing my record while staying close to my hi-speed connection in Nashville. I’m seriously starting to rethink that plan…. I called my mom in Big Sur to see if they were any closer to getting high speed and that’s never going to happen according to her. Rats! I was so close to being able to justify my flight out there. I could stay for July, and continue with my online marketing strategy. But things are different in Big Sur. Hmmm… I’m an outside person! I do most of my self-therapy OUTSIDE! When I need a break from the chatter in my brain and I don’t feel like meditating, my instinctual inclination is to go outside, whether it’s to sit in my chair, walk to Radnor Lake, or even pull weeks or haul brush! When I was in high-school, and I’d had enough of someone else’s chatter, I’d cut school and drive the 45 minutes to the beach in Santa Cruz (with my friends who had licenses and cars). Or I’d go to the barn and take a ride (sometimes with a saddle, but usually “bareback promenading”) on “Lady” through the California hills, singing a song to the beat of her gait. Sometimes, she’d slow down and I’d have to give her a squeeze to keep her up to tempo, or sometimes she’d speed up and the tempo would rush. Oh, I miss that girl.
The lean-stretch-and-grab! - June 6, 2008
This morning, I discovered to my horror, that the deer had topped our little tomato plants! Those stinkers! So I put up another level of fencing to discourage them from the lean-n-grab. (Hmpf! The noive!) and I’ll plant our two “spares” as replacements. Other than that, the garden seems to be doing much better with the heat than I am. The zucchini and squash are growing incredibly fast. Someone said you can actually watch a zucchini grow. I thought the saying could be “growing like a zucchini” instead of “…like a weed.” It seems the zucchini grows faster.
Producer-in-Training - June 5, 2008
I designed my EP album cover and tray today… yeah, I just did it myself and it looks pretty good, I’d say. You’ll all see it very soon! As we speak I’m listening to the final mixes of my 5 tunes, in a compilation I made of some of my favorite alt pop tunes by artists like Sara Bareilles, John Mayer, Rilo Kiley, Jack Johnson, Jason Mraz, Modest Mouse, John Butler trio, etc. I’m listening to the sonic differences in the tunes, the reverbs and panning they used, how often I hear shaker and tambourine and how much compression is on the vocal. Normally, I’d let Pat (my producer) worry about all that stuff, but since he’s on his honeymoon with his lovely new wife, Annie, ‘til July!, Charlie & I are making these final tweaks without him. I have learned a lot these last two years about tracking and producing and pre-production. There is so much to know and learn. Good thing I have Sag’ rising. ;-]
The strangest things make me laugh - June 4, 2008
I read something that made me laugh today… on the vacuum bag of all places. There was a little sticker that read “place on calendar 6-8 weeks from today” Ha ha ha ha ha! Oh man, that was funny. I don’t even vacuum every 6 weeks, or eight weeks, unless I have a dinner party or something; I sure wouldn’t need to replace the bag after one use! I’m still kinda chuckling over that. BUT, mind you, I’m a tidy person. I like the kitchen clean before I go to bed so there will be zero interference in the path to the coffee maker in the morning. And I like to make my bed because it feels good to look at it that way. It’s almost a luxury, really. That’s it! It feels luxurious to have a made bed… like it’s tidy and it’s done. I’m not one of those people (like some people I know) who can thrive and be productive among a chaotic array of crap everywhere! Ahhhhh.
Garden Planting Day One - May 21, 2008
Hi,
I put up a couple pics and a video of our first day planting the garden, on my MySpace page (just easier).
www.myspace.com/rebeccasayre
click on the blog entries for today!
New Approach to Journaling - May 9, 2008
Hi Friends,
You know, I often have these great realizations or awakenings and I think “I’ll put that on my website, in my blog… I’m really excited to share this insight and won’t people be interested to know this about me?” But, I usually talk myself out of it thinking it’s too personal, or any number of reasons based on illusion. Hmmmm, sounds heavy. But the truth is, I have learned so much in the last 3 years and sometimes I want to grab all my friends by the shoulders, then jump up and down and say “Look what I learned today!!!” Because when I learn something, I get very excited. It’s like I’m peeling back another layer of the illusionary self that has developed as a protective coating over what I know is truly of God. Hmmmm, pretty deep again. When things get heavy I remember something my DC friend, Ashley, used to say: “Man, that’s some deep-ass sh*t.” (“Deep-ass” is hyphenated because it’s followed by a noun: “sh*t”. My mother taught me this. “Hi Mom!” :-] I’m sure she’s so proud). But it kinda brings some levity to the moment, doesn’t it. I believe that within each of us is the Spirit of God, a little fleck of light, and most of our life and culture is built around covering that up, disguising it, denying it and why? It is our essence, our beautiful God essence! Eddie and I were having a discussion about this recently and he sent me a lyric that I’m currently putting music to, called “In My Own Light”. Eddie also told me I outta share, so here goes.
About three years ago, while living in D.C. with my husband, Mark, I had the realization that I wanted to live from that essence, knowing that that is the truth and beauty of who I am. I came to see all the suffering that I experienced—weather it be feeling like a victim, having low self-esteem, or whatever lies I might tell myself—was a result of forgetting. Forgetting where I came from as in: who made me. At some point I began to pray “God, please help me remember who I am.” Because, if I could do that, I could live virtually free of suffering, be content, maybe even blissful! We are now divorced and have resumed a friendship that was always good, but while we were married, my husband was one of my greatest teachers. He was the one who set me on this path, pointed me in this direction, out of a need for peace. Some of my greatest teachers held up the mirror to my worst qualities and said “Hey, you ready to look at this? ‘Cause it ain’t pretty!” And so began a stream of epiphanies that led me to a recent one that said “you know, people might be interested or even benefit from my getting a little personal.” And I was inspired by my friend, vocalist/songwriter, Kristie Agee, who speaks to her fans as if they were a close-knit group of friends sitting around her living room sharing stories. I mean, why the hell not? As Popeye said: “I yam what I yam.”
So I’m going to be sharing a lot more… here’s a little sample:
I’ve been out in the garden a lot lately. You see, in Nashville, we only get two seasons where it’s really nice to be outside: April/May and September/October. The rest of the time it’s too hot, humid and buggy, or too cold. So I’ve used the fact that it’s spring and absolutely justifiable to blow off whatever indoor work I might have had planned for myself, to go outside in the glorious sunshine even if it’s to pull weeds.
I recently discovered that the Iris in front of my house smell like Root Beer! How wonderful! And anyone who comes over is eventually led—by their nose—to said Iris to discover its delicious fragrance for themselves. Makes me want to go get some vanilla ice cream and prepare an afternoon treat. Yuh-UM! Kristy said another Iris I have smells like grape bubble gum.
A few weeks ago, another friend, vocalist/pianist, Sarah Williams said “you outta plant a vegetable garden out here!” By the next weekend, we were drawing it out digging a trench for the border. Of course, I had to ask Muriel (Anderson, the house owner, and world-renowned fingerstyle guitarist, currently on tour in Europe) and she was totally on board! This is my very first vegetable garden, though I did lots of landscaping and gardening at my old place in Sylvan Park. On Tuesday, we tilled (thanks Roy & Kristie Agee for the equipment!) and raked the bed and built a little fence around it with green chicken wire and large stakes. Yeah, I know, it’s a little “country”, but the front yard is the only place where we have enough sun, and the deer around here are relentless, not to mention those cottontails. “Ya dog-gone pesky hare” (hear Lambert, Hendricks & Ross’s version of “Cottontail”). Sarah’s folks are in the farming business, so she supervised the planting of our seeds (cantaloupe—oh honey do!—yellow squash, zucchini, basil, cilantro, cukes, and some cosmos, sunflowers and zinnias) in little Dixie cups, which we brought inside and put by the big window in the living room, where I am watching over them daily. Does a watched seed grow? Hmmm… Our tomatoes are already 3” tall, and I’ve been watching them, so I guess they do. And yes, I do speak to them encouragingly. Did you ever read “The Secret Life of Plants?” You’ll think of our green friends in a completely different way.
Well, it’s a beautiful May day in Nashville and I’m going out to a horse farm in Franklin to poke around and see if they need any riders. I so miss my horses!! I’m taking with me the latest “new girl” mix and on May 26th, Charlie & I are going to do final mixes and master (yes, master!) the 5 tunes that are going on the EP. Hurray! I’ll keep you posted on new stuff as it comes up. I hope you all enjoy the new approach. Send me a comment and let me know what you think.
Love,
Rebecca
Rebecca on Youtube! - February 25, 2008
Monterey Feature Articles! - January 17, 2008
Thanksgiving & more new tunes! - December 2, 2007
Hi friends,
Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving Holiday. My folks came to visit from California and we all went up to Virginia to celebrate the big day with my Brother & family. We did some great hiking, went bowling (I actually bowled a few strikes) and I even played soccer with my niece & nephew for about 3 hours one day! That was a blast, though we were all a little sore for the next couple of days.
On this rainy Sunday (my first quite day in a couple weeks) I’ve just finished writing the music to another one of Eddie’s colorful lyrics. I’m a bit hoarse today, so I’ve kinda got a Steve Forbert thing going on when I sing. (Remember: “Meet me in the middle of the night; lemme hear you say everything’s alright…”)? Anyway! I’ll have this new tune “New Girl” ready to go by Wednesday night along with “Different Shoes”, another Eddie co-write I put music to a couple weeks ago. Also, my good friend and groovin’ bassist, Charlie Chadwick will be with me that evening, so come on out!
Rebecca
p.s. (I just realized today that some of you had joined my email list via my website and I never knew it! Thanks for signing up and for your kind notes; I’ll figure this thing out on of these days!)
Eddie's words... - November 18, 2007
As co-publisher of Rebecca's website, I have the right to say the following, and Bec, no!...you can't stop me!
I have watched Rebecca grow as an artist since 1995 when we met on a softball field in Nashville. (I think she threw me out at home!) I soon recruited Bec to join my newly founded band, BadaBing BadaBoom, along with Maureen Mohr. Here I was, a writer without a vehicle, and 2 gorgeous 'babes' who sang like angels, looking for a gig...(I convinced them they were looking for a gig) Soon, we were learning songs I wrote that had no home on countrified Music Row. Many used to ask.."Why doesn't Rebecca sing more lead.."? The truth is, heard here maybe for the first time publicly, is that Rebecca's harmony genius was so fine tuned, most of my songs were better served with Bec on harmony and Mo on lead. This became our pattern, and it was so effortless to arrange songs in this manner. Did Rebecca complain? Absolutely never!
Which brings me to my point. Rebecca, while being a critically acclaimed lead vocalist and song stylist, is truly an ensemble player. In an era of 'diva chick singers', this is a high compliment. She did what was good for the song..always!
It is so cool to see Rebecca emerge as not only a fine guitarist, but as a first rate songwriter and composer. She has no idea how good she is, and I am surely not going to tell her, because, well...she is writing melodies to my lyrics. Rebecca doesn't need me. When I hear the songs she has written without my input, I am jealous..she's THAT good. I predict her next album will be totally self-written. Maybe she will allow me to make the coffee in the room and get a 1/20th co-writing credit. I love you Rebecca Sayre. I am so proud of you! Thanks for including me on your current record, and thanks for our friendship over the years, and for putting up with me. You dig, totally.
Eddie Mugavero
Album near completion! - November 12, 2007
In the last week, I have finished two more songs! When I returned from California, I decided it was time to finish my beautiful record with a couple more upbeat tunes. I knew that the most efficient process would be to pull out some of my favorite Eddie lyrics so I could concentrate on the part I enjoy most… the music composition.
After all, Eddie writes many of these lyrics with me in mind. We’ll be having dinner or talking on the phone and the sharing stories about life, love and our respective epiphanies. The next day, he’ll email me a lyric which perfectly captures the essence of our conversation. It’s as if he squeezed out all the good stuff and condensed it into pure juice. Yum! Sometimes I think too much, (Ya think!?) but Eddie seems to know how to just get it down and in a way that demonstrates he knows who he’s speaking for. We went through a lot together in BadaBing with all the traveling and gigs we did together… it’s like living together, actually. And the fact that we’re still close friends is a testament to our bond. I am so grateful for our friendship and for our blossoming musical collaboration. He has the unique gift for communicating FOR me when the angst and emotional attachment to my own lyrics gets in my way! (That can really slow me down at times). There are times when I look at his lyrics and say “how did you know that about me? I never actually said it.” But he got it.
As of last night, just past midnight, I finished the music for the 2nd tune in a week. This one’s called “Different Shoes”. After going to bed last night, I thought “now I can call the record ‘Blues in my Shoes’, or ‘Nothin’ Like the Shoes’, or ‘Blues Shoes’… or maybe just ‘Shoes’. Ok, so I had a little fun with it before I drifted off to sleep. Got any suggestions?
First Solo Gig - August 1, 2007
It happened! I have been really set on playing guitar on my own gigs and just wanting the freedom to just go play, me and Mr. Gretsch if I want to and alas, I found the perfect venue in Edgehill Studios! I used to buy vintage dresses for BadaBing at the Antique Mall that was replaced by this new building, so it feels fitting to be playing there.
And another exciting thing happened while I was preparing for the gig... I opened my jazz book and discovered I could PLAY a bunch of the tunes in there! I couldn't do that a few months ago... so I’ll put that accomplishment on what I like to call "My Top 10 Reasons for patting myself on the back."
I keep this list running in my mind, because we can really be too hard on ourselves sometimes. Take a look back and see yourself for the progress you've made... it's a nice reframe. :-)
Big Sur Trip - July 26, 2007
Oh...The glorious Big Sur Coast!! Just spent a couple weeks there with the folks (I can't believe I actually know someone who lives there!) Beautiful weather, hiking, musing--which is required activity for writing, you know. One day, I went down to Pfeiffer Beach with books and journal, etc... But I didn't even get them out of my pack... I just starred at the water for about 2 hours. I sure miss that beautiful ocean! See the pictures.
2 New Tunes for the record - April 24, 2007
Two weeks ago, I cut “I Don’t Want to be Lonely” with my friends and very gifted musicians playing guitar, bass, banjo, mandolin, violin and cello. (full credits at Music section). I was planning on strictly pitching it as a pop-country tune, to other artists (This is going to be my new car—and, according to some friends, my new house—money). But when I played the rough mixes for Eddie, he totally through me, suggesting “these aren’t county tunes Rebecca… You should put these on your record!” (with “Come a Runnin’"). I spent the next 48 hours, stunned, then eventually, seriously pondering the possibility. I wondered what including these two tracks would mean for my record. Is it Jazz? Pop? With a little bit ‘o country? And then it occurred to me: that’s exactly how I would describe some of my favorite Linda Ronstadt records from the late 70s. And I’m encouraged by a sense I’ve had recently, that as independent artists become more liberated, we will become more powerful. And one of the payoffs will be far fewer restrictions on our music and the need to fit it squarely into what currently exists in popular radio formats. Oh, won’t that be lovely!? We artists can make the music we’re inspired to make and listeners—long kept in the musical dark—will begin to hear music they forgot they were missing! Go to "Listen" and hear both these new rough mixes; I'd love to hear your comments. We'll finish them up when Charlie gets back from gallivanting around Europe with guitarist, Jon Jorgensen.
New Pictures! - April 16, 2007
of "My Lucky Lady" & Bluebird show!
Check out "Show Past Dates" - April 16, 2007
...under "Concerts" to read the DIARY of the performance and look for new pics of same!
New Recordings in Progress - April 16, 2007
So, my writing partner, Eddie was harassing me the other day about how little "news" I put up on my site... so, having been shamed into it (and it’s really true—I try to spend as little time on the computer as possible—which explains why I don’t have MySpace!), “I submit:” (and not just that we “fit like an oven mitt”) that I have completed two more songs that will be mixed tomorrow. They are “Come a Runnin’” & “I Don’t Want to be Lonely”. I initially recorded them to be country demos, but then Eddie said he thinks I should put them on my new record! I’ll let you guys tell me what you think, eh? I’ll put the new mixes up as soon as I get them.
‘Til then…
Rebecca
Near Final Mixes - December 15, 2006
Today, I put up the 92% mixes of the five tunes we’ve been finessing during the last couple months: Charlie Chadwick has been doing a superb job of engineering, Pat Bergeson has been adding some finishing touches with guitar, I have been adding background vocal parts (which, I have discovered, is my favorite part of this process) and we’ve mixed in all the very tasty vibes tracks by Steve Shapiro. I’m very proud of these recordings.
There s just the final session to bless the mixes and then… AND THEN… start again with a whole ‘nother set of tunes… I’ve been massaging and coaching these little melodies and lyrics out of their little shy place. I’ve been doing a lot of lyric-writing, but Eddie Mugavero has been guiding and encouraging me through. Sometimes, by the shear nature of his being unavailable to get together, I have learned to find those lyrics on my own. God bless him for his part in allowing me to nurture my own abilities as lyricist! Let’s see, the next batch of tunes will include:
Infatuation (w/Eddie)…, All I’m Dreamin’ (w/Eddie), Dream Wonderland, This Crush as well as “I Don’t Want to Be Lonely” and “Come A Runnin’”, more country-esque tunes I wrote years ago. I’ll be pitching these to country artists… I mean, now that I’m back in Nashville, that’s what folks DO here, after all.
I’ll be going back out on the road with Muriel in January to attend the NAMM conference in Anaheim and do a few concerts up and down California. And the bonus is, I get to see my friends and family while I’m at it.
Currently, I’m working on getting a few concerts here in Nashville where Pat & Charlie and I can showcase all this glorious original material. Stay tuned for more info on that.
I hope you all stay safe and warm this holiday season and will get to share time with your loved ones.
~ Rebecca
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