From Seed To Sprout To Song

I can sit down and put a pen to paper, I can strum my guitar and listen for the melody, I can combine both to create a song, but what does it take to get a song out of my living room and into yours?

On that fateful afternoon, when SIREN was born, I sent the rough draft/Iphone recording to a couple of trusted people straight away and was, surprisingly, told that it didn’t suit to them. Not sure why, but the negative feedback made me want to work at it even harder, to get to know it even better. That I did, and eventually, brought it to the stage with me, observing the audiences reaction. It always delighted me (delights me!) to sing this song, because it evokes certain reactions in people which I do not get from some of my other songs. Reaction, to me, is the most important thing! Good or bad, if it makes you FEEL something, then I am doing something right.

Eventually I took SIREN into the studio at BIG MUDDY in Carleton Place, Ontario, Canada with Brock Zeman (Brock produced my last full length record CHAMELEON in 2015.) Along with Brock’s instrumental skills, I invited Blair Hogan to play whatever he felt like playing and the song became almost what it is today. I had to re record my vocals, as the ghost vocals just didn’t cut it! They rarely do. What are ghost vocals, you ask? When you take a song into the studio (for others to play on) you have to record yourself playing it to a click track, so it does not veer out of time, no beats missed, so everyone can play along also not missing a beat. You can imagine having a “tick tick tick tick” in your ears while are singing can be a little annoying, and singing, annoyed, usually doesn’t come out so nice, so yeah, I had to re record my vocals, this time singing along to the fully produced version. Thanks to Christina Rieder for our vocal recording session. Then the song had to be sent to a mixing engineer, basically a new set of ears, to make sure it all sounded “right.” Not everyone can be trusted to do such a thing, but after working with Steve Foley of Audio Valley Recording Studios for my 2015 record, I knew I could trust his ears, and I was correct! Thanks Steve, I LOVE your ears! After mixing, I had to send it to get mastered. Some might compare mastering to a bowl of Spaghetti. The noodles and sauce are great, but that melted cheese on top just adds to it and makes it that much yummier (vegan or not!) Enter Jason Fee of Conduction Mastering, with those finishing touches and PRESTO! The song is ready.

I wanted to get a lyric video for the song before it’s release, since people (myself included) like to watch and listen so I headed over to FIVERR where I found Youssef from Egypt. And please, do not be mistaken, you think that you can buy a video for a fiver, try multiplying that by about 100 and you might be closer to the truth. Anyway, talk about having FAITH in a stranger. Well, it turned out he really liked the song and did a pretty good job at the animated lyric video. He also put together a forty second teaser for me, which you can watch HERE.

I sent the song over to INDIEPOOL a small Canadian distribution company, and we chose it’s release date for FRIDAY MAY 22nd. This is when this little song I wrote in a two hundred year old farmhouse will be released into the world to all the major music platforms.

So when they say it takes a village to raise a song? They are right.

So Much New! Surprise Ending!

Just over a month ago was the last “outing” I had. Who knew that spending time with David and Miro from Minnow Sessions (an independent video production company out of Switzerland) would be the last in-person socializing that I would be a part of? It was an odd day for me and maybe, looking back, somehow my intuition was trying to tell me something? I had already been sick for almost two weeks and was just at the very end of it, thankfully (if you know me, you might even be able to hear it in my voice in the video.) We decided to meet along the banks of the Wohlensee, near the city of Bern. We were driving down an old dirt road, trying to find the perfect spot for a video shoot. I have always been a water baby, and when I saw the crystal clear blue waters of the lake that day, I felt centered in a different kind of way than normal ( my normal these days is living in a valley at the foot of the Alps… a long way from a deep blue lake) but being around water gives me a feeling of connection, to which I have a hard time finding the right words. Well, we pulled over to a little nook on the side of the road, sandwiched between the skinny dusty road and the glorious crystal clear waters. We found a patch of forest floor with roots, branches, pine cones and, strangely enough, a Canadian vibe. For those moments, when I inhaled a nice, deep breath, I could swear I was back home in Canada. Coincidentally, the song we would record together “Between Two Doors” features the idea of two realms, the cosmos and shiver-inducing moments. It all, somehow, fit together like a puzzle, and those moments, those last, fear-free moments of togetherness will stay with me for awhile. So BIG thanks to the duo team, David and Miro from Minnow Sessions, for that last unique experience we shared.

My guitar chilling by the lake

Soon, life would be forever changed. People would come together over social media in the most creative of ways! Friends of mine over in Luzern (some of whom are from Ireland) have a band called “The Led Farmers.” The lads decided to do a traditional sounding mash-up of a couple of Beatles tunes and asked anyone if they wanted to join in from home! So here was my first time collaborating with others to make some music, together, alone, at home? Check out the video HERE.

Very low res photo of myself and The Led Farmers

We are seeing many innovative ways to keep the long hours of these “Stay At Home” days a little less monotonous, and/or lonely. I am thankful for the internet so I can still make and share music with others. Of course, having my Mum and Dad just seconds apart (instead of actual continents) makes things a little easier. I am also lucky to have a few things around me to keep me interested (and hopefully interesting?) My guitar, for one. The ability to get lost in a new song creates a certain soulful balance in these strange, uncertain times. I have a whack load of new songs which I am trying to learn for NEXT SUNDAY’s (April 26th) Live Stream Concert. There are lots of new platforms popping up online these days and the one I am working with for the Live Stream on Sunday (2pm EST 8pm CET) is through FemFolkUK and will be streamed through their website as well as Facebook LIVE. So tune in for a Lindsay Live Concert!

Photo by David Irvine

Then, I received an email from a music colleague out of Austria, asking me to be a part of a Song Collaboration. He sent me the song, BOAT OF SOULS, which at the time, had only one verse and the chorus written. I sat with it for a few days and put pen to paper. What came from this little planted seed of song turned out to be a permaculture oasis! In the end, there were 25 musicians in total on this one very amazing tune. You can listen to it HERE and have a look at the crowd-funding campaign HERE. Soon there will be a video to watch, but for now, turn up your speakers and have a good listen!

Screen capture of the video teaser for BOAT OF SOULS (LOW res ;) )

I wrote a very poignant song a few months back called SIREN (it is featured as a LIVE VIDEO in the last blog I posted here in October, shot live by David Irvine in Wakefield, Quebec.) Siren has hints of today’s times and in turn, looks like perfect time to release it! I took the bare bones of the song (and a couple of others) with me into BIG MUDDY STUDIOS, a production studio owned by musical troubadour, Brock Zeman. With Brock’s production we created a pretty great tune out of it and soon it will be released into the WORLD with a brand new video to boot! So please keep an eye out for my NEW SINGLE “Siren” … coming soon to ALL platforms.

Screen shot of the new animated lyric video for SIREN, coming soon

New Music Video!

All at once, I awake to the realization I have not yet posted my new video to my website. This should be something I should have done the same day I released said video, if not before! I guess it is true, I won’t shift into the Bright Eyes Bushy Business Tailed Artist anytime soon… Much to the chagrin of that part of me that lives in me. Yes, she is in there, but her voice seems to remain at whisper level. I hear her, I just talk above her most of the time. Well, this morning I awoke to a much louder version of Bushy Tailed Me, and thought, alright, alright, I will get to it, in the case that there are actually people who return to my website looking for something new, well, here it is …

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfToMd32zrc

SIREN was written through a stream of consciousness, one of those songs that comes out in poetic form and quite quickly! This is rare for me, usually I take much longer and over analyze every word, but somehow, this one just arrived. And BOY! Did it ever! What a message. Not the most playful or the sweetest tunes I have written, that is for sure! Alas, here it is, out for the world to take on as their own and make of it what they will. I hope it will inspire you to want to be better, be better to yourselves, each other and oh so importantly Mother Earth. Step by step we can be the change!

This video was recorded in Wakefield, Quebec by David Irvine of Red Boler Videos. The theater I performed it in was also used in a photo shoot I did with David ten years earlier. Time flies when you are having fun!!

Enjoy the new music…

Here are the lyrics:

SIREN

Sitting around on this old couch, strumming my guitar up here in this old farmhouse

I have so many questions I don't know where to start, and I don't know if I even want to go there

See, it's 2019 and there's just so much plastic, filling up the sea, killing you, killing me

That six letter word has become too common, "Capital C" doesn't surprise me

Oooo Ooooo Oooo (etc)

I've lost all sensation, I don't get shocked, I can't be heard, I don't listen, nothing means a lot

Sensory deprivation, over medication, can't hear right, see right, do wrong

You take my joy, filling me up with gray, poisoning my food, taking my innocence away

Too many guns, they're not emptying themselves out, same hands could have pulled me up instead

Ooooo Oooo Ooo (etc)

Talking about triggers, even fireworks, unexpected fears, they even pop pills in your beer, gotta be careful, gotta stay on top, can't take a break, can't think, can't breathe, can't stop

Happiness is just a word on the tip of my tongue, climb another rung, get rich, get higher, go bigger, go better, spend a thousand bucks on a sweater

Made in China, made in Taiwan, made in India "made with Love"

Made in China, made in Taiwan, made in India "made with Blood"

We are all tuned out, tuned into our phones, building walls. protection, stone by stone

We don't talk anymore, I can't look into your eyes, won't get my hands dirty but I'll help you spread your lies

What garden? Where does food come from?

I live in cement, metal, glass and iron

Oooo, oooo oooo (etc)

The Truth And Nothing But The Truth

About a year ago, I called a psychic. Not a psychic who advertises, but rather a man who spends his time with his dogs in St. John’s, Newfoundland. A man, mostly unknown for his intense abilities, except to a rare few, and I was lucky to meet him, even if our encounter only lasted forty five minutes. Some of you started shaking your heads at the word psychic, I too am mostly a skeptic but the stuff he came out with! There was just no way he could have known the things he did. Something he said, (after he proved himself) was that I spend an awful lot of time smiling on the outside, when I am doing exactly the opposite on the inside. A lot of us probably do this, but this rang true to me. It seems like I am always wanting to be at the next place, doing the next thing while I am actually doing something I was (at one time) excited for. I find this strange!! So these days, I really am trying to live more in the moment, and do more of what I really want to do. Sometimes though, you have to go through stuff you do not want to do in order to find the right way, to get back on the right path.

I had to take a step back from music this past winter. It was not a very large step, to be sure, but it was the first time in my life, since I started making music in my twenties that i had such a notion to change focus. Believe me, as an artist with many faces, I have other things that keep me artistically busy. I like to paint, craft jewelry, write, create healing salves. oils and teas from the plants and flowers on our land. There are other ways that I can express myself and I started diving into those more. We watched a movie called “Maudie” and since seeing that, I have been painting our kitchen, colours and shapes and more, stroke by stroke (our kitchen is very small, so this is relatively easy!)

Because I took a step back, I was able to really look at my life as a musician, my life as a singer, my life as a songwriter, touring troubadour, booker, manager, guitarist, and so much more, ME as a performing artist from a bit more of an outside perspective (or so I thought.) Ultimately I was forced to ask myself, why, why do it at all?

You see, a strange reality came into view. I was forgetting the wise words of Keith Urban (yes, I was given a small window of time with him to ask him some questions, once upon a time) Keith said that we must always remember we have our very own path to travel, to stay true to it and not try to get on someone else’s, that our path matters just as much as the next person’s (or something like that.) In February, I was in the throws of a HUGE music festival, called Folk Alliance International, where thousands of people in the music industry come together searching out each other, over the course of five days, in a hotel with five or six floors dedicating every room to live music, workshops, or panels, talks, etc etc. A whirlwind of sights and sounds (see my last blog about it, I found some EXCEPTIONAL new talent to add to my roster of sound.) It was all extremely exciting, but left me feeling like I wasn’t good enough. (I am good enough, I have been working at my musical craft for over fifteen years and when you work at something that long, you simply get better, it is what it is, ego aside.) But I am not good enough within some of the aspects of what I do… I do not have a team, I never check my plays, I don’t know much about what is happening on my Itunes, or Spotify. I just get my music up and out but do not really know what to do after that. (Yes, I have a Spotify channel as well as a Bandcamp platform and a Soundcloud, a Website, two Facebooks, a Twitter and an Instagram, PLUS I like creating music, and learning more about my guitar and what IT can do. There are just so many things we must take care of in the industry that have nothing to do with music. So far, I have few connections with the right folks who can help me get my music played/heard anywhere aside from a few radio stations, (how amazing it would be to get a song of mine on a show I Love.) I can not tell you how many people have come up to me after a show with a “Why haven’t I heard of you yet? I thought by attending this festival I might make some contacts and learn a few (more) things. Instead it made me focus on what I did not know, what I did not have, what every one else’s path looked like. I stayed in this perpetual place of “What is it all for?” for quite some time. After what was supposed to be a life changing event, for the better, it took awhile to see it for what it really was… a life changing event for the better! Some of you may be reading this and you might be thinking “Well. you simply can not have expectations.” But when you spend countless hours honing your craft, and countless dollars trying to get it out there, there simply IS a seed (or three) of hope planted within every musical endeavour that I am a part of.

So, I was down, and questioning it all. I did not even look at my guitar, but still, out on my hikes in the forest, I was writing lyrics and still every morning I awoke with a song in my head. The Universe was giving me signs that I really had no choice, that music is and will be flowing through my blood, and I simply can not (snaps fingers) stop it. I might press pause on the outside world of Music Industry, but the inside world is full of song colour and creative ideas. Once I put my ego aside, there was no more question, one can not silence the soul’s call, and for this I am eternally grateful.

Apologies for not keeping up to date with my gig dates over here on my website but please follow the links to my other sites where you will find out about my next concerts or email me at contact@lindsayferguson dot com…

Here is a poster I created, Lovingly, for a show that I KNOW I will be in the moment for, as it will happen in one of my favourite music venues of all time, The Ship Pub in St. John’s, Newfoundland (where I bought my first guitar those many, many moons ago!)

Poster I painted for my our show in St. John’s!

I will continue to plug away, finding my own way into the hearts of you, through the one I wear on my sleeve. Ultimately this pause gave me new insight, that the music is also for me, not just for you, and I am delighted to have such a gift and happy to have learned that it is NOT a need to share, but rather, a want. The connection we have while I am in full swing of song and you are in full swing of the feel and sounds, that is what it is all about. Also, absolutely nothing beats the feeling of putting the finishing touches on a new song (I JUST finished writing one yesterday!!!) So, I continue to sing and all I can ask is that you will continue to feel those vibes and that we can have that, together.