Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a blessed, restful and peace filled holiday!
So although I originally intended to write a song diary entry every week, it’s turned out to be more like every month… or so (I love how all inclusive “or so” can be!). After another whirlwind couple of weeks – my husband and I bought a new house and business, moved into our new house, catered during the crazy Christmas season, and my sister had her twins 3 months premature on Boxing Day – here I am ready to write another entry about the fourth song on my new album, the title track infact called “Prairie Belle”…
Everytime I sit down to write one of these song diary entries, I have such an overwhelming sense of love and ownership for each one of the songs on my album (and every song I write for that matter). I’m sure every songwriter feels that way about their songs, although some are obviously better than others, each one has a special place in my heart. Each song reminds me of where I was when I wrote it, what I was going through, what it means to me.
“Prairie Belle” is a very special song to me (I feel like I always say that, but it is definitely just as true as ever). I love telling the story of how I wrote it when I play it live, because it has so many meanings and so many applications in my life. My friend Ryan Jacobson who I cherish VERY very much, proudly announced the birth of his new niece one day when we were either rehearsing, or playing a show, or possibly even just hanging out (I can’t quite remember the exact details). He told me her name was “Prairie Belle”. Although as I mentioned I can’t remember the exact details of the moment, I do remember being whole heartedly affected by that name.
Prairie Belle? I felt like I immediately connected to the meaning. Prairie – I grew up in the prairies in Alberta and have always had a fierce, fierce love for my home province and city of Edmonton. Belle – although I grew up in the prairies, I am a city girl through and through. What a perfect combination of words to identify with. I immediately began writing verses in my head. I had the first verse “In my daddy’s backyard there’s a sky stretching out just as far as I can see…” written for months and months before I came up with the pre chorus, chorus and bridge. This song was not one of those “written in 30 minutes” cases. This was a labor of love. Sometimes when I have a hard time finishing a song, I just let go of it and think perhaps it’s not meant to be a finished work. Not this song. I didn’t give up! I knew I wanted to write this story, and that when I finally finished it I would have something that seriously represented me as a person.
I decided to name the album after this track, because I really feel like this song and it’s content truly represent me as a person, a songwriter, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a wife. I am a Prairie Belle through, and through.
Here’s to another song entry coming to you soon. Cheers!