I can't believe it's been four years since my last CD was released. A lot of strange, fantastic, surprising things have happened in my life since then. And the journey has been one of soul searching and stumbling, losing my way and finding it again - along with much laughter and God's sense of humor through it all.

With every release there are so many high hopes and possibilities and always, always hard work. But this time it feels a bit different. Maybe because I'm older, maybe because I've had very little sleep, maybe because I am deliriously happy in my personal life. I guess I was not as focused on the success of the project rather more on being in the moment of it all. Whatever it is I feel truly blessed that music is still an outlet in my life and a wonderful opportunity to share my point of view.

I am thrilled with our new CD, Angels and Eagles. It took 2 1/2 years to realize and I think we have created something quite magical. For the first time ever, Marc and I, along with our band, produced the CD with Kim McLean and Alan Sanderson co-producing. Finding Alan was a God thing. My husband read an article on him in a local paper and suggested I look him up online to check him out. I googled his name and was pleasantly surprised at what I found. Alan spent a lot of time working in Los Angeles at Oceanway and Cello studios and has now relocated to San Diego making Strate Sound his home.

Alan's discography includes several Gold and Platinum recording credits. His credits include B.B. King, Weezer, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Fiona Apple, Johnny Cash, Sum 41, Ricky Martin, Janet Jackson, System of a Down, AudioSlave, Slayer, and the list goes on. I was impressed and thrilled to see a Johnny Cash connection and, of course, my first question was, "What's he doing living here?" I had the chance to ask him and his response was a very simple, honest one – "The quality of life is much better here!" It's also very close to LA so a two-hour drive every now and then if necessary works out well. (We recently took that drive up to Universal Mastering Lab and worked with Erick Labson on the final master of the CD. It was my first time being present for a mastering session and I truly enjoyed the entire process. It also helps to have someone like Alan on our team as we got the star treatment.)

So I decided we needed to record a song with Alan to see if we all meshed and to hear his work on one of our songs. Needless to say it sounded excellent as Alan has a great ear and is amazing to work with!! He also has great patience, as I was 4 months pregnant when we started this in late 2006 and Henry was 10 months old by the time we finished.

That being said, I was so grateful to have the support we received from fans in order to take our time during the recording process. They donated most of the budget we had to finish this CD. Just having the luxury of listening to and living with our record before going to manufacturing made a big difference this time round. We were able to go back in and fix things and change tempos that weren't working and sometimes even start over to get the right feel or emotion that the song needed. And this time it wasn't just Marc and I and Kim making decisions. We asked the band on board as producers and everyone stepped up and added their expertise. It was a comfortable environment being able to rely on input other than my own.
Having the songwriters involved in the recording process is always a plus as they know the inspiration behind the lyric and can relate the style and feel they are going for during basic tracking. Marc always has great instincts and Kim of course produced our last two CDs so I felt like the whole project was covered from every angle. Then once we began working with Alan and got to know him better it was an obvious step to ask him on as a co-producer. We cut 12 songs in January of 2007 and finished them to rough mixes.

We then toured the UK and gigged in Vegas before I settled down for some much needed rest and nesting time. I was enjoying my pregnancy and focused on having my baby boy. I needed to birth my son before I could birth my music baby. I am so fortunate to have the support from my husband and family. It is such a blessing getting to be a stay at home mom this time round. Once Henry started sleeping through the night at 5 months old I was able to find the brain cells necessary to finish what we started. Of course, Henry was there through out the entire recording process both in vitro and as an infant. He definitely loves these songs as he probably fell asleep hearing them on the inside as often as he did. It was definitely more challenging having him there in the studio and I don't know what I would have done if it were not for Nella Kressel coming to help with him every day! What an angel…

We recorded eighteen songs and mixed and mastered fifteen of them. We put fourteen on the CD and will be offering the other song as an iTunes only download. All the proceeds from that song, 65 Roses, will benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

We're looking forward to our summer tour in the UK and will be touring Northern California and the Southwest here in the States this Fall. Mostly we can't wait to share our music with the fans that made it possible for us to be living our dream!!