Things to do while geese migrate.

Library conversations, hidden gems and the completion of something big.

Dear friends,

I worked very hard on something and it has finally come to completion. It took five years and every dollar earned at every gig played. I am releasing this collection of solo songs on December 13 at The Parlor Room prior to a lush set from my beautiful band. Tickets are here. And more on that below. But first…

I’ll be at the Hadley Public Library in Hadley, MA tomorrow, Friday November 21, from 7-9p.m. with host Harry Remer for his new songwriting series “The Art of the Song.” The night will include thematic song swaps, examining a particular song and some original sets of music from both musicians. I’m excited to do something a little out of the box and I do love to talk about songwriting. Then on to this upcoming week where the band will be at the magical The Dream Away Lodge in the Berkshires on Saturday November 29 from 8-10p.m. I believe we’re the last of their booking scheduled for the year, as they’ll close for winter after our set. We’re planning on having fun. Oh! and December 6 I’ll be playing a little solo set at one of my new favorite places in the valley, Sena Farm Brewery. After I sing, Vanessa Kerby (of Dire Honeys—I loved that band so much—still do) and her new project “Nightmare Alice,” then closing the night with an epic set will be Paper City Picture Show (one of my absolute favorite local bands). It’s going to be a really great night of music so come on out to Worthington MA if there’s no snowpocalypse.

You can pre-order a new collection of solo songs on my Bandcamp Site here. No one buys music anymore, but I guess you’re still invited to do so. I hope add merch on the band camp site in the coming days—to put more effort into that space that actually supports independent artists. It’s great what they’re doing and what their pushing against.

(L to R—Nick, Mom, me, Holly)

So about this album…

Some years ago I was a Mom of three in the early days of a pandemic with two newborns (twins), a kindergartner on zoom and a spouse attempting to return to work in our closet upstairs. Some of these songs, the earliest ones, were written from that isolation of new twin Motherhood (songs like Lily and Me, Rambling Love, and a handful of others that don’t appear on this collection). Then later in a women’s songwriting retreat funded by Club Passim through the Iguana Music Fund, I was able to write a couple more in stolen minutes sprawled in a meadow with my guitar and notebook (what a dream that was). Later, through School of Song, I took two workshops with Adrianne Lenker and then Laura Marling (two of my songwriting heroes)—these workshops gave me Blue Light, Holding a Dream, Girly Girly Days, and finally Nicholas.

During the months before and after my brother’s death, songs have emerged in ways hard to explain. The songs have seemed to arrive with intention and with messages—words of how accept and to move forward. Their existence became some form of acknowledgment—what it was I needed to process. The songs written in recent months have held the parts of me still holding onto Nick in his physical self-the humanity he expressed that I was struggling to let go of in our shared timeline together. You don’t grow accustomed to losing someone like a brother, but you have an opportunity to meet change you otherwise might never know. My own life met some kind of ending and beginning—much like when Mom died—an unplanned threshold simply takes hold and that time collapse/warp of grief twists and turns you—reshapes you into something that is not what it used to be.

The album was recorded and mixed by Grant Wicks of Uncanny Audio. It was mastered by Golden Mastering. Matt Wilson worked on these from afar at his home studio in the midwest, adding pedal steel and electric guitar to many tracks over time. Tom LeBeau added a second acoustic guitar part to Blue Light, Carolyn Walker brought viola and violin for a track, and Lexi Weege added her harmonies on a few tracks. We worked at Studio 1357.

Completing this collection felt impossible at times. It took the patience of my partner and every penny we could spare. My recent birthday present was my spouse paying off the last songs to be mixed. Truly, getting to the finish of this is something to celebrate. I release this collection, and perhaps something bigger than these songs, on December 13 at The Parlor Room in Northampton, MA. This release will include a short opening set with my dear friend Michael Stephens, followed by a lush joyful set with my band, Christa Joy and the Honeybees.

I do hope you’ll come. Need a ticket? Here is where you can find one.