How did you decide which songs to include on this album?
I adore songs and the craft of songwriting and I love selecting songs for an album. I wanted some more traditional lullabies, but not too many and I wanted some contemporary songs that people would be familiar with. I also wanted to include songs that would be new to most of my audience. I think the mix of these three types of songs really works well. I like songs with beautiful melodies and poetic lyrics that make you think. The message in many of these songs is that the time you have with your children is oh so fleeting. I know that the end of the day is frequently a challenging time for families - everyone is tired. I hope that these songs will remind parents - as they snuggle their little ones to bed - of how precious the time is. I hope that these songs will remind parents to feel grateful.
Do you prefer writing your own material or covering other people's songs?
On my grown up recordings, I do a mix of my own songs and songs by others, but all of my lullaby songs were written by others. I feel that there are so many wonderful songs out there and that my own songs have to stand beside them. I adore singing songs written by others but it's a thrill to record my own as well. I guess the truth is that I probably prefer singing songs written by others.
How do you go about interpreting a song? I'm sure it's harder than it looks.
I mostly focus on who I am singing to and the emotion of the song. After that, I just try to get out of the way of the song and let it sing itself. I am not a singer who uses a lot of ornamentation because I think that is one of the best ways to let the simple beauty of each song shine through.
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