I just wanted to give you guys a quick update on how things are going. I’ve taken somewhat of a step away from technology lately, just in an attempt to be more productive. It has worked so far, as I am up to date on all my reading for school (ahead in some classes) and I’m still managing to keep our house fairly clean, with Kyle’s help. I have limited my facebook activity to twice a day at the most, otherwise I end up cyber stalking people I don’t really care about.

That brings me to my blog. Since I have not been on my computer too much lately, my blog has taken a back seat. To be fair, my music has, too. I haven’t set aside much time to play lately, so I haven’t recorded anything either. After some thought I’ve come to realize I am not recording because every time I think about recording, I think I need to write a post to go with it. In order to take some pressure of myself, and stay on task with my goal, I am going to stop attaching every song to a post. When I post a new song, I’ll put it on the “Just The Tunes” page, and from there you can listen. If I have something to say about a song, I’ll post that, too, but usually I’ll just put the song up and let you guys know.

I’m working on the requests, thanks for reading, I’ll have something soon.

Kyle and I recently returned from an awesome few days spent in the beautiful scenery of Colorado, along with the sweet, sweet company of our good friends Tim and Laurie Thornton and their two beautiful daughters.  Laurie, who is listed under my “People I Read” section, was kind enough to include me in her Good Song Sunday post for her blog; we sang a great song by our friends Karla Adolphe and Ben Pasley, featured on the Enter the Worship Circle: Fourth Circle.  You should definitely check out the original, it’s good stuff.  For now, though, check out what Laurie and I accomplished while she juggled mommy-hood and musicianship.  She’s an awesome lady!

Before you continue reading, go ahead and enjoy a moment with our Father while listening to the song in the video.

Something I have always valued in music is honesty.  Even if someone is expressing a thought or feeling I do not necessarily agree with, if it’s coming from an honest part of their heart, I can respect it.  There’s something about this next song that struck me as soon as I heard it.  I found it while searching through songs by Billy Joe Shaver, a great country artist whose music I wish I were more familiar with.  Like many great songs, Johnny Cash made it greater.  If you don’t like country music, I wouldn’t recommend the Shaver version.  If you do, go for it.

I chose this song because it struck a chord with me.  I literally listened to it for the first time and had this recording done within an hour.  That’s really not too impressive, the song is easy, but it’s still a lot quicker than some other songs have taken me.

After listening to “If I Give My Soul” a few times through, it caused me to look at my motives in my relationship with Christ and to evaluate how pure they are.  I found myself picturing an old man who has lost everything he loves because of awful decisions.  He has lost his wife, his son, his job, and most importantly, his dignity.  It’s the perfect country song.  He is at the end of his rope and therefore finds himself wondering if he turns his life over to Jesus if everything in his life will fall back into place.

Listening to it I cannot help but wonder what this mans response would be if he were told no.  That no, accepting Christ does not make our lives fall into a nice pile of clean laundry that is easily sorted and put away.  We are still messy human beings who have done pretty nasty things to people who we love.  All we can do is ask for their forgiveness, accept His, and hope that things look up.  The Lord, however, is not some bartering chip we’re given in salvation.

I feel like there’s more to say, but I don’t have the words to say it, whatever it is; so I’ll leave it there.

I hope you’re all doing well, and thanks for all the requests – I’m working on them

This year is coming to an end rather quickly and I am running out of songs to do for this project of mine. Could you guys give me some requests? I would greatly appreciate it!

This week you guys get 8 minutes of music from me – one cover and one original.  The cover is a song by Sara Bareilles, the Love Song girl.  I first heard this song on So You Think You Can Dance; Mia Michaels choreographed a beautiful contemporary piece to it.  If you get the chance, you should head over here and watch it.  In the piece, the girl is playing the role of someone addicted, and the guy is playing the role of the addiction.  The name of the song is “Gravity.”

“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.” –Paulo Coehlo

Paulo Coehlo probably didn’t mean this in the way it spoke to me, but that’s okay.  I really feel like the Lord used it to illustrate something beautiful for me.  The entire time we were at Worship at 8500, God was really showing me what finding my identity in Him meant; a lot of that had to do with not comparing myself to other people.  That’s really difficult.  In a world where we’re told, “do this, and you’ll be like this person,” it’s hard to listen to our Father’s voice saying, “this is who you are, and that’s enough for Me,” and believe it.  At the same time, at least for me, it’s difficult to realize that just because someone is not where I am spiritually does not make them any more or less than me, just different.

To look up to someone and respect them is okay, but it is completely different to hold a human being up as an example of how we should live.  Mother Theresa was wonderful at what she did, and she was loving and a beautiful human being; Mother Theresa’s path is not my path, though.  Mimicking her behavior and the way she lived her life will get me no closer to where God wants me than if I was to strive to be more like Britney Spears.  Neither of these people is who God made me to be.  Does he want us to share some characteristics?  Sure.  He didn’t create us all to be the same, though.  Just like He didn’t create me to be like other people, He didn’t create other people to be like me.

This is the place that my newest song came out of.  Self judgement, well, it’s so hurtful.  Someone I really respect, Mrs. Laurie Thornton, said to me, “comparison is the thief of joy.”  Ah!  Such a good bit of wisdom.  Not only is comparing myself to other people stealing my joy, but comparing other people to me is also taking away so many opportunities I have to enjoy my friends.  The enemy is good like that – he gets me to focus on anything but how much the Lord loves me and wants me to be all He created me to be.

This song was very cool because I sat down with the intention of writing a song and nothing came to me.  I was trying too hard, but I feel like the Lord really wants me to start writing more original music and so I was frustrated.  So I basically just prayed and said, “if this is what you want me to do, just please make it easier.”  Boom, song written.  God’s grace is good.

If you wanna hear some more awesome stories about God just giving songwriters songs, you should head over to my close friend Kelsey’s blog.  Prepare to be blown away by how much God is moving in her YWAM group in Scotland, and in Kelsey’s life.

Thanks so much for reading, I really appreciate it.  I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer.
Also, if you just read this, I’d love to know!  Please leave me a comment and say hi, or introduce yourself if we don’t know each other.

This week I am setting some goals for myself, and I think I would be more likely to stick to them if I am accountable to you guys.  Here they are, in no particular order, just what I would like to accomplish this week.

1) Record 5 songs.  This is only 1 song a day.  Recording covers usually only takes me about an hour.

2) Write a blog post and post my new original song.

3) Finish my french class.  This may or may not happen, but I’m going to try.  I only have 3 chapters left, and each chapter takes me about 2.5 hours to do all the homework and the test.  That’s only a little over an hour a day if you divide it out.

4) Catch up on my Read the Bible in 90 Days plan.  This one may take me longer than by the end of this week, but I won’t know until I look at how much I’ve missed.  I guess my actual goal for this is to get back on track, maybe not catch up completely.

5) Work out at least 3 days.

6) See Kyley Snow the White family.  I miss her them.

Okay, there they are.  Now I’ll have to follow up next Sunday with whether or not those things got accomplished.  It would be great if some of you would ask me about them, too.  Thanks for reading!

For some reason I cannot seem to sit down and write like I could in previous months.  I realized after looking over the last few posts that it’s been a while since I’ve let you guys know how relationships in my life are going, so that’s what I’m going to do this week.  Before I do that, however, I’m going to share my songs for the week!

I’ve told you guys before how much I love country music, and so this week I’m sharing a couple more with you.  Both of them are one take songs (meaning I recorded them in one take after practicing them several times each) – one is the Dixie Chicks, “Not Ready to Make Nice,” and the other is Wade Bowen’s song “Who I Am.”  I recorded the Wade Bowen song specifically for my good friend Chrissy who insists I sing this at her wedding – when she has one.

Building relationships with females is very difficult.  Being friends with females is not, but going deeper in the relationships and trusting each other is tricky;  it requires a lot of patience, the willingness to be vulnerable, and the willingness to take a chance that you may get really hurt in the process.  Despite all of those things, I feel like my female friendships are progressing nicely.  Although it’s scary to put myself out there, I have found that it’s totally worth it.  To be able to talk to my girlfriends openly about my faith and about my marriage has been really freeing.

In our small group we have started splitting up the weeks by doing one week a month at Wine & Worship, and one week a month split up guys and girls.  The guys are reading “Wild at Heart” and the girls are reading “Captivating”; both are written by John Eldredge and his wife, Stasi, writes a lot of “Captivating.”  I am excited about it, I think God is really going to move in our group of ladies.  I will share more about that once it gets going.  If you haven’t read either of those books, I strongly suggest them.  I have only read “Captivating,” but Kyle says “Wild At Heart” is very good too.

I hope you’re all doing well.  Thanks for reading.

I kept thinking that eventually this week inspiration would hit and I would post an awesome blog about something cool. Unfortunately for you guys, that did not happen. I do, however, have a song to share with you. This goes along with my series and actually fits both of them. This was recorded in one take in Matt Pittman’s house a couple months ago, and it was also the number one on the pop billboard charts on August 9, 1984 – the exact day I was born. I give you, “When Doves Cry,” by Prince.

I have been productive this week in that I have started writing a new song. I think it’s finished, but it needs some polishing. I hope you’re all doing well, take care!

This past weekend Kyle and I had the awesome opportunity to drive to Colorado and visit some of our close friends for an event called Worship At 8500.  It was absolutely one of the best experiences I have ever had, and I’m so excited to share what God showed me while we were there.

At the same time, I’m sharing 4 songs this week.  I know that’s a lot, but I had to post the two I had recorded from last week plus two from this week.  Every night the mic was opened up for an Enter the Worship Circle, Chair & Mic cover, and every night someone played a song by Aaron!  Now, I love Aaron’s CD but I felt that Karla needed a little love, too.  This week all 4 songs are off different Chair & Mic albums – “Centuries” by Aaron, “Quiet Now” by Ben, and “Save Me” and “You Are Mine” by Karla.  The only one missing is Tim Coons.  I just didn’t have chord charts for his CD yet and no patience to be a musician and figure them out on my own.  Definitely still check out his Chair and Mic CD and his The Deadly Sins and Beatitudes CD – amazing.  Next year I plan to go prepared to cover a beautiful Karla Adolphe song!

The format of this weekend was great.  All the leaders did a really good job of listening to and taking direction from the Holy Spirit.  Each morning we had breakfast at 8:00, and then from 9:00 until 12:00 we had a morning session.   We had discussions at our tables based on some general questions provided by Ben and then we had an opportunity to share with the whole room what God showed us in those discussions.  After the morning session we ate lunch together and had some free time.  From 2:00 – 4:00 in the afternoon were the afternoon electives and that’s where we really had a lot of freedom.  The first day there were specific groups for specific subjects, the second day we all were given a Word by our group leader, and then the third day was a free for all – hang out with who you want and make friends.  The evenings were my favorite – we did 3 hours of music every single night.  Not just 3 hours of a concert, either – it was 3 hours of worshipping the Lord with some of the best songs ever written for Him.  It was great, I can’t even describe it.  Centuries, by Aaron Strumpel, was one of the songs we sang every night.  I love the line, “what can man do to me?” because it’s a great question – God is all-powerful and everything is in His able hands, we do not need to worry about what the world, or what humanity, will do to us.

So, now we can get a little more personal.  The first day we went to the afternoon elective called “Overflow” which was basically just a chance to discuss and learn about living out of our true identities.  It was lead by Gary Adolphe and he did a great job.  What stood out to me most was that he said there were no rules, that the Holy Spirit works in different ways all the time, and there’s no way we can come up with a predictable way to get the response we want out of God.  The other thing that I took away from that session was life-changing.  We were talking about being who we are, and how to do that and Gary explained it in a way that made so much sense to me.  He said that God created us to be a certain way – Righteous and Holy in His eyes.  When we step outside of that creation, things don’t go as God planned and therefore it grieves His heart and causes heartache in our lives.

This viewpoint wrapped up what I’ve been hearing everywhere in the last few months beautifully: we cannot modify our behavior in an attempt to love God more – we can only love God more and through that we become changed into who he has created us to be which is a more Righteous and Awesome child of God.  Now, the coolest part about all of this is that God loves us the same amount all the way through, regardless of how we are behaving.  Whew!  So after hearing all that, it became glaringly obvious to me that it does not matter what I get my degree in, that it does not matter if I play roller derby, or if I am an awesome host, or how good I am on the guitar, it doesn’t matter how well I sing, or how well I write songs – all of those things are great and fun things about myself, but none of them reflect my true identity and who God made me to be as a person.

To top it all off, Doug Roberts prophesied over Kyle and me and said this to me,

“God’s working in your right now His love, He’s working within you right now His choosing of you.  You’ve really not known your identity in what God has called you to be, you’ve really not known your identity in who you are because you’ve always tried to be what other people wanted you to be, you’ve always tried to fit in where you wouldn’t stand out and I sense the Lord is saying this is a season where the Lord is defining your space and you’re going to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m not that bad after all.’  I sense the Lord is calling you into a place where you’re going to be able to love yourself in the midst of where you’re at.”

He spoke for about another 3 minutes and told me a lot of other things that were great to hear, but that part in particular stood out as something I should share.  I am just now coming to a place where I realize that I do not have to live my life for other people’s expectations of who I am supposed to be, and that it’s okay to just be myself and be happy with where I’m at.  The area where this is most noticeable is in deciding on a degree plan, and deciding what I want to do with that degree when I’m done with school.  It is okay that I’m not positive I will love teaching English to high school students, because regardless of my career, regardless of my job I am God’s daughter, and that takes priority over EVERYTHING else.

This song fits this moment perfectly, because it’s basically saying that no matter what your weaknesses are, no matter how far you wander away from God’s plan for you, or from God’s love that you are His.

I wanted to wrap up by asking you guys a question that opened my eyes to a lot of things this weekend.  What are the lies that you have been told about yourself that you have believed, and what does God say is the truth about the same issues?  My biggest one was that my career defined me – that what I did as a job, or studied in school was my identity.  God showed me that while He’s given me certain gifts and wants me to use them for His glory, that I don’t necessarily have to use them in a career atmosphere and that I don’t need to stress about it so much.

Let’s talk about these things, I would love to hear your feedback and hear what God’s doing in your life, regardless of whether it is relatable to mine at all!

The first time I heard about The Walla Recovery was about 3 years ago.  My friend Sarah told me about her husband’s friend Zack who wrote good Christian acoustic music.  I listened and was instantly sold.  Zack’s music is well-written, honest, and full of his desire to love the Lord better.

I went to see the guys play a show at The House Coffee Bar in Fort Worth, and afterward got a chance to pick their brains.  Here is the result!

What’s the origin of the band name “The Walla Recovery”?

Zack grew up on a street called Walla Ave. These songs are a way for us to try to find some important things about our childhood that we have lost along the way of “growing up”, and to encourage others to do the same. The specifics may be different for everyone, but for us, two of the greatest we’d like to recover are innocence and faith. We used to be called “Alden”, but that didn’t last too long.

Who are your influences as musicians?

These vary greatly from band member to band member, so here’s an array of artists which resonate with two or more of us: Goo Goo Dolls, mewithoutYou, Counting Crows, The New Frontiers, Lifehouse, Derek Webb, Coldplay, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Collective Soul, Shane and Shane, Mat Kearney, Dave Matthews Band, As Cities Burn, Emery, Circa Survive, The Rocketboys, Manchester Orchestra, Hootie and the Blowfish, Jon Foreman.

How long have you all known each other? How did you meet and when did you decide to start making music together?

Since 2001. We were leading worship together at our church. After college, Zack was working with the others’ youth group while they were all still in high school. After nearly four years of that, our time there was over, but we decided to keep playing and start collaborating on some songs Zack had written during college and shortly thereafter. Most of those were just recently released on an EP called “With Trembling…”, virtually a decade in the making.

Who does the larger part of the writing?

Zack has written the majority of words and music, assisted with countless hours of priceless creativity on all the painstaking details of arrangement and production by Jonathan, Justin, and Brandon. The writing process up to now differs from what we’d like it to be in the future. Each of us has an aptitude to write and a unique outlook on life, and we’d like to take better advantage of that on future projects. We have already begun writing in a more collective fashion, and hopefully we’ll be able to share those new songs with you sometime in 2011.

What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs?

Our themes seem to center on grace and encouragement most of the time. We feel there are many people suffering both outwardly and intangibly, and unable to understand or enjoy their place in this life or the next. We all know what it’s like to lose our way, to lose ourselves. The joy of the Lord would be our strength, and theirs too. At the same time, there is nothing in and of ourselves that can carry us through all of life’s trials to our long-awaited home in eternity. So, we depend on Jesus, for everything we need has been promised and delivered in him. We try to point out these facts to as many people as possible. Though we continually fail to value the grace we’ve been given, hopefully some meaningful community and conversation will rise from our ashes when we are honest and vulnerable.

Do you think these topics will change over time?

Who knows how our inspiration will change? Every moment, we are growing. We will present our honest struggles and greatest joys along the way in hopes of connecting with others.

Could you describe the music-making process for you guys?

For the past few years, we have all lived in separate cities across Texas, so getting together has been sporadic, and, when it’s not, it’s due to some very hard work and discipline from each of us to maintain consistent meetings, and the various planets of our family lives and day jobs miraculously aligning. Normally one of us presents a song idea and the others chime in, adding suggestions until some new sounds come together. This takes place best when we just jump in and start playing around the initial idea, without worrying so much at the beginning what kind of shape it takes. Some songs take years to mature, whether or not their beginnings happen quickly. Most of the time, it feels more like fun than work, although it is a challenge, which is one aspect of it that keeps us interested. The exercise of creative collaboration should bring us closer to our creator, our community, and one another.

How has your music evolved since you first began playing music together?

We used to depend more on a singer-songwriter style, adding simple acoustic fundamentals like hand percussion (djembe, congas) and harmonizing guitars whenever the opportunity came up. Integration of the cello has always been a big priority; it evokes exclusive and rare emotions that we’ll try to hold onto as long as we can. Lately, the drum kit is much more important than it used to be, because we love creating a full band sound to house the songs. Intermingling the bass and cello to keep them respectful and complimentary to one another in tone and rhythm is fun as well. We love the shows where our friends Andrew and Jacob can join on piano and mandolin, because things sound most like they do on our newest record that way. In the future, we may add more instruments, like ambient electric guitar, viola, harmonizing vocals, or extra percussion. We’re not sure when we’ll get serious about any of that, but it should be exciting to find out.

What’s your ultimate direction for your band? Are you seeking fame and fortune?

To be honest, yes, at times. That pursuit is surely a sad and empty one to follow. We are to blame for circumventing Love’s greater, eternal plans to suit our own selfish motives and habits. Thankfully, our ultimate direction is defined by that person bigger than us which we strive to pour ourselves into, at the expense of our deepest evil, to gain the greatest good directly from the hand of the Lord. We don’t know how things will play out in the future, or how long we’ll be doing what we do. We just want to make some good art and care for the souls of the people we meet during our short time on planet Earth.

What are you guys reading and/or listening to currently?

Jonathan is reading “Marine Sniper” by Charles Henderson and “Desire” by John Eldredge; listening to Jimi Hendricks, Our Lady Peace, and The Supertones.

Justin is reading “A Year with C.S. Lewis”; listening to “Blue Sky Noise” by Circa Survive.

Brandon is reading “The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne; listening to “Plunder, Beg, and Curse” by Colour Revolt, “Brother, Sister” by mewithoutYou, and “Storyboards” by Sleeping at Last.

Zack is reading “The Reason for God” by Tim Keller, “Making Shapely Fiction” by Jerome Stern, and “The Problem of Life with God” by Tommy Nelson; listening to “Storyboards” by Sleeping at Last, “20,000 Ghosts” by The Rocketboys, “Mending” by The New Frontiers, and “Go” by Jonsi (check out more of Zack’s listening habits at http://last.fm/user/wallarecovery).

I know that at least two of the members of your band are married, how has that affected how you play together as a band?  How do your wives feel about you being in a band?  Do any of the band wives play an active role in the band?

Yes, two of us are married. Our wives are central to who we are as individuals; we aren’t who we are without them. And it’s a good thing, too, because they are the most supportive people we’ve met. Brandon’s wife Sarah and Zack’s wife Brittany have filled many roles in The Walla Recovery, including (but not limited to) graphic designer, photographer, nutritionist, promoter, merch enthusiast, travel agent, vocalist, manager, distributor, chef, roadie, psychotherapist, and band mom. Not to mention the fact that they’ve put up with endless hours of practices and shows where the nights are late, the music is too loud, the venues are dirty, and the highway does not relent. We wouldn’t be able to do this without their encouragement.

—

The Walla Recovery is:

Jonathan Kaylor – cello/guitar
Justin Luningham – bass/cello/guitar
Brandon Reynolds – drums/percussion
Zack Smith – vocals/guitar/piano

Pick up their new album, “With Trembling”, along with other merch at http://thewallarecovery.storenvy.com/

“Thanks for wanting to get to know us! Please take some free music at http://rcvr.me/free and reach out to us on Twitter (http://rcvr.me/tw) and Facebook (http://rcvr.me/fb). Blessings…” – Zack

This week I am giving you some music PLUS I am introducing you to a band that I love.  Please as your listening to my songs for the week, open up a new tab and check out the interview I did with The Walla Recovery.  I’m posting two songs that go with the series I set out for myself – one is a birthday song, and one is a one run through only.  I promise that next week I will get back to the writing series, as well.

Genie in a Bottle was really fun to record because it’s one of those songs that anyone over the age of 15 knows.  It was one of the first big pop songs that I remember clearly the first time I heard it and how awesome I thought it was.  Also, Christina had those orange pants in the music video.  Natalie Whatley knows what I’m talking about.

This song is a very easy song vocally, but the guitar part was challenging for me.  I have never referred to myself as a guitar player.  I feel like if I did that, I would be insulting people who actually played the guitar well.  I can strum the mess out of it, so I’m really good at worship tunes, but when it comes to picking I have to really practice a song to get it down.  So I did practice this song, for hours on end, and I’m happy with the way it turned out, I hope you guys enjoy it was well.  The song is Nothing Fancy by Dave Barnes.  The first time I heard it is actually a funny story – it was on an episode of 17 and Married or some show like that on MTV.  It was the song the 17 year old couple had their first dance to.  Either way it’s a beautiful song, and I love it.

I’m grateful for you all reading, and I’d love to hear your feedback.  Don’t forget to check out the interview with The Walla Recovery!