Did that really happen?
This was definitely one of those trips I knew would swirl around in a hazy daze as soon as it was over. The highest highs are the hardest to come down from and I've done my best upon my return from LA to be gentle and simply let myself take it easy and be really, really proud of what I've done.
So here went the timeline:
March 2014 - Joss Whedon backed my Kickstarter campaign for A Long and Precious Road
April 2014 - Campaign ended and we began emailing about the personalized song I was to write for his reward
A week later - song was in progress but a whole different set of spin off lyrics were inspired and sent my way
A day later - Big Giant Me was born, and the decision to keep writing together was made
August 2014 - Big Giant Me was released as a single from the now upcoming 6-song EP we planned to make
Later that day - we had our first telephone conversation
February 2015 - We met for the first time
January 2016 - I flew to LA and we made a record
That's Sara Watkins in the top corner! Swooooooooooon!
You can see this was a long time coming! I was feeling so anxious for it to hurry up and happen already, but now I'm so incredibly grateful that it didn't. I'm much more ready than I would have been a year ago, and definitely feel that we're right on time.
In the studio Joss and I were an interesting mix. He clearly has a ton of experience directing people, but has never made a record. I have a lot of experience making records but had never been in such an active position of manning the ship. We did really well together. There were afternoons when he had to leave and it was all on me. The guys started calling me Boss, including him. I knew I was earning it, and it felt good.
The true soul of the songs were all discovered, and uncovered, as we went and it was just magical. I started getting good at hearing my gut instinct and acting on it, reinforced by the fact that amazing things happened when I did. We still had one very unfinished song by the time our last day in the studio rolled around, and we managed to make it happen, making the final lyrical tweaks between takes in the sound booth.
I will soon be able to share video footage of this with you, which was such a tremendous blessing. My friend Chris Fuller did an amazing job capturing photographic moments, capturing us, and on that last day capturing our creative process as we went through it. All photos shown here are his.