Lyrics to all six songs shared in this episode by Wendy Luella Perkins

Notes: Wendy Luella Perkins sings to telemarketers, tells of her brother choosing her for his show-and-tell, and why she has a tik-tok channel. She talks about auditory memory, singing as refuge, and the reclamation of her voice. She describes the transition from singer/songwriter work into the Soulful Singing in 2002, and the challenges unique to this kind of therapeutic singing which is not professional therapy. We have the awkward conversation about money -- is it possible to make a living as a songwriter without commodifying song, which is a birthright? Patty Piotrowski has created the most appropriate beautiful art in my mind because of the generosity and openness of the bloom.

Be one of the first to know as new episodes are released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me. Click here.

Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins has been singing and making up songs since she was a very young child. When she was three years old, her older brother, Tim, took her to school as his Show+Tell item saying, “this is my sister Wendy Lu, listen to her sing!” She's been going strong ever since. As a singer-songwriter, Unitarian Universalist community minister, and founder, in 2002 of Soulful Singing (singing meditation for all) Wendy Luella leverages the power of song to build authentic, healing and joyful communities.

A prolific writer of folk songs and meditative chants and supportive guide who helps others to create their own songs, Wendy Luella's greatest joy is to bring friends and strangers together in the transformational circle of song. Wendy Luella has produced three CDs of original music, which you can find on her website. As a response to pandemic restrictions and recognizing the need to keep on singing in community, especially in difficult times, Wendy Luella transitioned Soulful Singing to online sessions in March 2020. Soulful Singers from all over have been gathering online EVERY SINGLE DAY since then and once a week on THURSDAY evenings.
​
Everyone is welcome to join Soulful Singing via Zoom. Singing daily over the last 875+ days with wonderful folks from Kingston and around the world has encouraged Wendy Luella to share her original songs more broadly in what she calls her “Song Liberation Project” (The SLiP). She has written hundreds of songs and with The SLiP is sharing them one by one on TikTok. Wendy Luella grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and has lived in Kingston Ontario for over 25 years with her sweetheart and fellow musician, Charlie Walker. She loves waking early, walking daily, eating communally, crafting publicly, sharing deeply, gardening bountifully, laughing abundantly and of course, singing soulfully!

Links: 
Wendy Luella's website: https://www.wendyluellaperkins.com
and tiktok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyluellaperkins
To email Wendy Luella: info@wendyluellaperkins.com
To join Soulful Singing every day from 9:00-9:45 a.m. Eastern Time, please click here for information: Wendy Luella Perkins | SoulfulSinging
(notice you'll need to email ahead of time to receive a link for joining, so don't leave it to the very last minute!)
Album that mattered: Joni Mitchell, Blue
Songwriter Wendy Lu wishes more people would listen to: Coco Love Alcorn

Nuts & Bolts: 
​Loving-Kindness: 3:4, major, zipper.
When All Is Swirling: 2:2, minor, zipper.
We're All Connected: 4:4, major, unison.
Trust In the Power: 4:4, major, zipper.
It's Good to Have a Song or Two: 4:4, major, unison.
To Love I Do Return: 3:4, major, zipper.

Notes: This poignant song by Wendy Luella Perkins comes from early on in the pandemic -- a time of fear and grieving -- yet also, in the early mornings, the streets were so unusually quiet in the cities that birdsong was clearly audible.  You'll be able to hear the echo of a dove call in the melody, which I teach with extra care so you can feel comfortable and relaxed singing it. This song helps me notice what I'm hearing around me -- and when I notice the sounds around me, I drop into the present micro-second, where all is well. In the next episode, there's a songwriter conversation with Wendy Luella, which includes not one, not two, but four songs that can be personal assistants as we heal, adapt, and grow.
​
Be one of the first to know as new episodes are released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me. Click here.

Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins has been singing and making up songs since she was a very young child. When she was three years old, her older brother, Tim, took her to school as his Show+Tell item saying “this is my sister Wendy Lu, listen to her sing!” She's been going strong ever since. As a singer-songwriter, Unitarian Universalist community minister, and founder, in 2002 of Soulful Singing (singing meditation for all) Wendy Luella leverages the power of song to build authentic, healing and joyful communities.

A prolific writer of folk songs and meditative chants and supportive guide who helps others to create their own songs, Wendy Luella's greatest joy is to bring friends and strangers together in the transformational circle of song. Wendy Luella has produced three CDs of original music, which you can find on her website. As a response to pandemic restrictions, and recognizing the need to keep on singing in community, especially in difficult times, Wendy Luella transitioned Soulful Singing to online sessions in March 2020. Soulful Singers from all over have been gathering online EVERY SINGLE DAY since then and once a week on THURSDAY evenings.
​
Everyone is welcome to join Soulful Singing via Zoom. Singing daily over the last 875+ days with wonderful folks from Kingston and around the world has encouraged Wendy Luella to share her original songs more broadly in what she calls her “Song Liberation Project” (The SLiP). She has written hundreds of songs and with The SLiP is sharing them one by one on TikTok. Wendy Luella grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and has lived in Kingston Ontario for over 25 years with her sweetheart and fellow musician, Charlie Walker. She loves waking early, walking daily, eating communally, crafting publicly, sharing deeply, gardening bountifully, laughing abundantly and of course, singing soulfully!

Links: 
Wendy Luella's website: https://www.wendyluellaperkins.com
andtiktok page: https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyluellaperkins
To email Wendy Luella: info@wendyluellaperkins.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Ionian (major), unison, harmonized

Notes: This is a vacation episode! I'm on vacation with my dear friend, Joy Truskowski... and what do you think we're doing together? We've been having such a good time singing, and on this episode (I think the shortest yet) you get to hear us together, singing a song I wrote just as a particularly difficult time was beginning. It helps me to not jump ahead to the future or gnash over the past -- that I can be right here, right now, and usually that's a pretty good moment. I asked the A Breath of Song listeners via the email list where they've experienced sanctuary, and they wrote the lyrics we sing... here are some of the other options that came up: in my swing, in this garden, in this choir, with this book, as I'm cooking, with this patient, with my cats, with my ponies, in my loved one's arms, in a canoe, while I'm painting, meditating.
​
Be one of the first to know as new episodes are released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me. Click here to sign up.

Songwriter Info: I'm bringing you this podcast, so you've already got a sense of me! You can find more about me at the juneberrymusic website, or pertaining specifically to this podcast here at abreathofsong.com.

Links: 
Find Joy at joytru.com -- all kinds of awesome things!​
Juneberry Music -- everything I'm doing professionally, and some less-than-professionally
A Breath of Song -- lots of extras about this podcast, including a Year One art tile page, atip jar, and songwriter collaboration information

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4; Ionian (major), zipper song, unison

Notes: I keep singing this to myself... so grateful that Kaitie caught this song-morsel that provides so much release. This idea that life keeps rearranging, sometimes feeling awkward -- but that's not the end -- I get to keep moving through that... for some reason I can hear this so much more easily when it's coming in a song. Kaitie isn't done with this song -- she is still listening for the harmonies -- which means you're getting it at this sweet moment of openness and exploration -- how will you harmonize it, or will you stay with the melody, singing the reassurance into your bones? The songwriter conversation that follows ranges across the Ubuntu philosophy origin and how/why it applies to choirs, caring for a group, straight talk about singing in groups when not everyone's on pitch, what we can learn from small children, musings on flexibility versus predictability ... and more!

Sign up for the A Breath of Song mailing list (the little form on the home page; you might have to scroll down a bit) to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

Songwriter Info: Kaitie Ty Warren (she) is a Bay Area-based songleader, teacher, writer, cartoonist and performer. Passionate about creating joyful experiences through music, Kaitie uses simple yet luscious harmonies to build bridges within communities and bring people together in song. In early 2020, Kaitie's Living Room Choir moved online, and that fall her first child was born. Living Room Choir continued online, and in 2021 Kaitie added Simple Harmonies: Songs for Babies & Their Grown-Ups. Nowadays, Kaitie is still leading online but also exploring pandemic-conscious opportunities to sing together in person. Her dream, pandemic-willing, is to host a vibrant, in-person, intergenerational choir for babies, children and adults of all ages to sing together. ​

Links: 
To contact Kaitie directly: kaitietywarren@gmail.com
To learn more of Kaitie's songs: https://thelivingroomchoir.com/original-music/
To sing with Kaitie: thelivingroomchoir.com
Kaitie's cartoons: https://www.instagram.com/kaitietywarren/
For cartoons & things for sale: https://society6.com/kaitietywarren

Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morrisette MORISSETTE,ALANIS - Jagged Little Pill Acoustic - Amazon.com Music
Simon Webbe: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/simon-webbe/78729485
more about the Bird/Cat/Dog idea for community reengagement
Ubuntu and Bishop Desmond Tutu... here's an article about ubuntu by Desmond Tutu’s granddaughter

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Major (Ionian), melody with optional harmonies

Notes: My interest in Eli Marienthal's song, "Ocean Wide" comes directly from how it expands my capacity to be present with deep grief and pain -- that of my own or that of others. My fear of feeling -- fear that somehow the world will crumble if I recognize how much pain I feel -- that fear is eased by the sense of having enough space inside me -- an ocean of space, in fact -- that is wide enough, deep enough, capacious enough for every drop of pain, every howl of grief. I love that this song has so much space for the singer inside it -- do you need to just sing a melody, over and over, to soothe and center yourself? Do you want to experiment, explore, let your voice speak to you? I hope I left space in this for you to fill in your own way -- and I hope you, too, find it healing to sense that oceanic space inside you.

Songwriter Info: Since 2014, Eli has co-led one of Northern California's wilderness immersion and rite of passage organization for youth. He has wide interests -- geography, comparative lit, poetry, songwriting, spoken-word performance, theater, peacemaking, nature awareness, cross cultural respect, qi gong, leadership development and more.

Links: 
Eli's website: www.backtoearth.org

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Minor, unison

Sign up for the A Breath of Song mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

Notes: This song by Alexa Sunshine Rose has been a huge resource for me as I’ve gone through big transitions and grief this spring. I think that’s in part because it is so direct and short -- it settles inside me without worry or fret. And then the potential complexities of possible harmonies keep me interested, as well as the way it feels inside as I sing. You might start by humming one of the drone notes… then maybe humming with the melody. Eventually, when the words start pushing inside you, wanting to come through, let them appear in your mouth. Feel how your tongue moves against your teeth, how the air moves against the roof of your mouth, the way f and v vibrate against your lips. So my invitation to you: let singing this song be a physical experience that draws you into your body -- how does it feel?

Sign up for the A Breath of Song mailing list (the little form on the home page; you might have to scroll down a bit) to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

Songwriter Info: Alexa Sunshine Rose describes herself as a singer-songwriter, mother, artist and mystic who has dedicated herself and her life's work to being a clear channel for peace on earth. Her songs are prayers, which bridge worlds; the inner and outer, the mind and heart, chaos and calm. She has been touring and teaching across the West Coast and Hawaii since 2009. I met her on Zoom through the amazing songcarrier Aimée Ringle during the pandemic, and knew immediately that more of her voice in my life would only be a good thing.

Links: 
Alexa Sunshine Rose's website
One of Alexa's video recordings of I Release Control
Alexa on Bandcamp(buying her music here means more of the money actually goes to her)


Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Mixolydian, Harmonized over drone

Notes: "Hope lingers on"... I love singing this to myself as a reminder that a pandemic is not the only thing lingering around. There are so many beautiful recordings of this piece online, I encourage you, like always, to use this podcast as a way to learn the song, and then if it speaks to you, follow the links and sing along with gorgeous professional recordings! Sometimes, honestly, it makes me uncomfortable to put my voice with loops out there when there are such polished renditions available (that honestly might sound better!) -- but then I remind myself that I'm not here performing for you... I'm here sharing a song that makes a difference to me when I sing it to myself -- and maybe it will do that for you, too? Planting songs for wellness...   
  Next week I'm hugely excited to share a songwriter conversation with the composer of this song, Lissa Schneckenburger. We talk about some of the differences between voice and violin as instruments, music as a way of distilling learning and helping heal from trauma, how not to lose heart as a change-maker, touring on a bicycle and more.

Sign up for the A Breath of Song mailing list (the little form on the home page; you might have to scroll down a bit) to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

Songwriter Info: Lissa Schneckenburger is a fiddle player and singer whose roots are in folk music in Maine. She lives in Brattleboro, Vermont, now, and says, “To me, music creates community. Music is what people sing along to, dance to, fall in love to… music brings people together." Giving concerts on her own or as part of the trio, Low Lily, as well as supporting other musicians with practice challenges (and jokes) through her website, Lissa consistently does her part to build community. Her solo album, Thunder In My Arms, is a tender, powerful collection of songs about attachment, parenting, and trauma. We talk about its origin and development in the next episode's conversation.

Links:
Lissa's website: lissafiddle.com
Low Lily's recording of Hope Lingers On: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv9R60CSQ54
The totebag with the chorus lyrics: https://lissafiddle.com/store/hope-lingers-on-tote-bag/
Learn more about Thunder in My Arms :  https://lissafiddle.com/store/thunder-in-my-arms/
Vancouver Youth Choir singing Hope Lingers On:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0bmhcvPwTI
A combination of a college and middle school choir made one of the infamous virtual choir videos of Hope Lingers On:
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=506zikTDSMs

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, Ionian, 3 verses & harmonized chorus

Notes: I stumbled upon Wendy Luella Perkins a few weeks before recording this episode, when I was browsing in facebook groups of songleaders, looking for new music I loved and wanted to share. I heard "What Am I Rushing To?", and went hunting online to learn more. Several Soulful Singing sessions later, I can say that this intuitive songleader and gracious, gentle song and space creator has become a great gift in my life. Not only do the most beautiful, varied songs seem to pour through her with ease and fluidity, but she understands how to tend herself and those around her with laughter, loving-kindness, and acceptance.
  Wendy Luella tells the painful origin of this song in a time of grief and conflict... and also how she and small groups of singers have sung it in bus depots, shopping malls, and other public spaces in the month of December, and the delighted reaction from passers-by. Wendy Luella has always dreamed of having this song pop-up in other communities, led by other folks, so if there are podcast listeners who are inspired to offer What Am I Rushing To? in your communities, please do and let her know about it!
  It can be sung beautifully as a unison song -- and today, I add harmonies to it that were created by members of my family. Rebecca Csuy, Elyse Wadsworth, and Elizabeth Norton joined me in singing it over the American Thanksgiving holiday, and as we played with different harmonies, this combination struck me as particularly suited to the song. It was magical, and gave me a way to imagine you all in the room, too... if I'd been really on top of it, I'd have brought a microphone and recorded us all together! 

Sign up for the A Breath of Song mailing list (the little form on the home page; you might have to scroll down a bit) to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me.

Songwriter Info: Wendy Luella Perkins has been singing and making up songs since she was a very young child. When she was three years old, her older brother, Tim, took her to school as his Show+Tell item saying “this is my sister Wendy Lu, listen to her sing!” She's been going strong ever since.  
  As a singer-songwriter, Unitarian Universalist community minister, and founder, in 2002 of Soulful Singing (singing meditation for all) Wendy Luella leverages the power of song to build authentic, healing and joyful communities. A prolific writer of folk songs and meditative chants and supportive guide who helps others to create their own songs, Wendy Luella's greatest joy is to bring friends and strangers together in the transformational circle of song. Wendy Luella has produced three CDs of original music, which you can find on her website.   
  As a response to pandemic restrictions, and recognizing the need to keep on singing in community, especially in difficult times, Wendy Luella transitioned Soulful Singing to online sessions in March 2020. Soulful Singers from all over have been gathering online EVERY SINGLE DAY since then and once a week on THURSDAY evenings. Everyone is welcome to join Soulful Singing via Zoom. 
  Singing daily over the last 600+ days with wonderful folks from Kingston and around the world has encouraged Wendy Luella to share her original songs more broadly in what she calls her “Song Liberation Project” (The SLiP). She has written hundreds of songs and with The SLiP is sharing them one by one on TikTok. 
   Wendy Luella grew up in rural Nova Scotia, and has lived in Kingston Ontario for over 25 years with her sweetheart and fellow musician, Charlie Walker. She loves waking early, walking daily, eating communally, crafting publicly, sharing deeply, gardening bountifully, laughing abundantly and of course, singing soulfully!

Links:
Contact Wendy directly to join Soulful Singing, or to let her know how this song moved you at info@wendyluellaperkins.com
Find Wendy on TikTok and sing a duet with her! https://www.tiktok.com/@wendyluellaperkins
Explore Wendy's website: https://www.wendyluellaperkins.com

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, major, unison, harmonies optional

Notes: I met creator Elise Witt online during the pandemic, when we were both in a course led by the extraordinary improviser Rhiannon… I was honored, because I already knew of Elise as a composer of unusual choral work that I had explored doing with my community chorus. In fact this piece was conceived as a choral piece, and Elise very generously let me excerpt a bit of it to be a pocket song. I love the way the rhythm wakes me up from an uninspired, tired place -- whenever I sing this, I almost always end up moving somehow. And now that I know Elise a little, I can see why -- her brain is the definition of fertile, and she exudes energy and joyfulness you can almost touch through her little Zoom rectangle. Elise says, "I believe that if we listen deeply, we can hear music in the wind, the water, the earth, and deep in our bones. And no matter how disconnected we get, that music is always there, when we are ready to return and listen."

Sign up for the A Breath of Song mailing list (either go to the home page, or the songnotes of Episode #15) to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address.

Songwriter Info: Elise’s concerts of Global, Local & Homemade Songs™ and her Impromptu Glorious Chorus™ workshops create and connect singing communities around the world. Born in Switzerland, raised in NC, and living in Atlanta since 1977, Elise speaks 5 languages fluently and sings in at least a dozen more. The Elise Witt Choral Series features choral arrangements of her original compositions and she recently published All Singing, a songbook with 58 original songs including music notation, lyrics and chords, stories and photos. In addition to her global touring, Elise serves as Artist-in-Residence & Director of Music Programs at the Global Village Project, a non-profit, special purpose middle school for teenage refugee girls in Decatur Georgia.

Links:
www.EliseWitt.com -- Learn more about Elise on her website
"Song Deep in Your Bones" as recorded by Malcolm Dalglish’s Ooolation Singers in rehearsal at Yosemite National Park
Recorded on "We're All BORN SINGING" EMWorld Records 1012
Available for SATB, SSAA, TTBB in the Elise Witt Choral Series
​Included in ALL SINGING: THE ELISE WITT SONGBOOK

Nuts & Bolts: Mixed Meter (5:8, 3:8, 3:4 or 6:8), Mixolydian mode, and in this teaching, unison.

Notes: Ishka Shir says, "I created You've Got To Move Slow when I was hiking an area called Shining Rock wilderness in North Carolina. It was part of a healing from an abusive narcissistic relationship that I had been in." I learned it from Aimée Ringle at a Zoom circle, then shared it first with my Pocket Songs singing group in the summer of 2020. Personally, this song gives me a sense that I, myself, can create the space I need to heal. I love the practical, grounded approach Ishka has to singing and song making.... and for the next episode, #20, I get to have a conversation with them!!! Our conversation covers a lot of ground, and she shares a song of theirs that I've loved since I first heard it in the spring of 2020 when she and two of their good friends recorded a few "Fermentation Station" videos of songs to share.

Songwriter Info: Ishka is someone who sings from their heart.  She has been making up songs since she was a child and has been sharing songs at community song circles since 2007.  Ishka integrates song into most aspects of their life which include, hiking, gardening, cooking, biking, and cuddling clients.  Professionally Ishka is a therapeutic cuddler in Asheville NC. Ishka is especially drawn to songs that have simple yet powerful lyrics and believes that songs can help us heal.  

Links:
Ishka's Soundcloud site- https://soundcloud.com/user-943187430
Ishka's Therapeutic Cuddling website- holdmeavl.com 

Nuts & Bolts: 2:2, mostly Aeolian minor (the harmony is mostly Dorian), either unison, harmonized, or round.

Notes: I was so surprised when I first learned this song from Roy Willey by how difficult it was for me to actually sing these words to myself. One of the beautiful things about mantra singing -- short phrases, repeated over and over -- is that you have time to notice how it feels to sing these particular words. You have time to get distracted and come back. And if you hear yourself singing the words often enough, maybe they become less surprising? I sent the email list a description of how I think this particular melody supports -- ensounds? -- these words. (You can join the list, too, by signing up on the homepage. (Scroll a bit...))
​  Macrina Wiederkehr, O.S.B., wrote a book called Seven Sacred Pauses: Living Mindfully Through the Hours of the Day. Velma chose texts and moments from this book to create a collection of 28 songs to sing during these pauses, which is available in CD and book form on her website, www.velmafryemusic.com. I love the way this particular song invites me to look at myself anew.

Songwriter info: Velma's mother gave her the choice of washing the dishes or practicing the piano, so Velma became a musician! With six years of college music training, she was confident to diversify into singing, teaching piano and leading choral groups, performing (including 9 times on "A Prairie Home Companion"), and recording six solo CDs. As she was ripening into middle age, she wrote this song, "The Truth," using words by Macrina Wiekerkehr, for singing circles. For the past year, Velma taught piano and Song Salons weekly on zoom, and was a guest two times on Heather Houston's online singing classes. Particularly fun was a Happy Hour that Velma and Becky Reardon offered to a national audience on zoom. More to come!

Links:
Velma's website https://www.velmafryemusic.com/
Velma on facebook https://www.facebook.com/velmafryemusic
Seven Sacred Pauses https://www.facebook.com/SevenSacredPauses
Velma on youtube  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=velma+frye

Nuts & Bolts: 4:4, unison or round, mixolydian flat-6 scale (sometimes called major-minor scale because the first half is major, and the second half is minor.)

Notes In 2018, Lyndsey made a quick facebook recording of Well Held, and she said, “This little ditty tapped me on the shoulder, came through intact, and has basically been hanging out in my lap…” That's very much how this song is for me -- it just gently rumbles around in my head, letting me know that even while there is part of me that is anxious or jittery or grieving, there is another part of me singing this song -- it  has my back, can remind me to breathe, and reassure me to pay attention to this very moment, in which all is well. Such a relief!
​  Here's Lyndsey singing the original song, shortly after its appearance in the world...

Sign up for the A Breath of Song mailing list (either go to the home page, or the songnotes of Episode #15) to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... plus occasional extras when they seem vitally important!

Songwriter info
Born and raised in Rantoul, IL, Lyndsey is no stranger to the strange, plain beauty of small town spaciousness. After studying painting at the University of Illinois, she fled to St. Louis, MO for a decade of community art & rambunctious collaboration, letting kids nurse back the creative soul that art school stole and letting the south side streets be the hard knocks school of social justice. One healing crisis, two superhero bike tours, a yoga teacher training, and a permaculture design course later, she followed insistent gut-tugs to move back and rekindle the Home fire, with these new treasures in tow. Led by the embodied inquiry: "What does earthspeed, restorative culture feel like from the inside?" ~ for 7 years, she practiced weaving a hyperlocal web with Song, gardens, circles, and art, as well as creating a small yoga studio and doing healing work with her blood family. During the pandemic, she closed the yoga studio, moved, taught art at the local juvenile detention center, and began gathering online groups to dismantle internalized scripts of patriarchy and white supremacy through community singing, study, & story-sharing. Now she’s asking in (covid-safe) travel motion:: if “grief and Love are sisters”, what rituals and pathways are needed now to tend this unique cultural threshold wisely and grow our bandwidth for building Beloved Community?

Songwriter contact
You can find Lyndsey lots of different ways online:
At her Patreon Account 
On Facebook: We Belong Community of Song
​On Youtube - "Song as Prayer" channel 
On Instagram @lila.gaia
​And a website! 

Nuts & Bolts 4:4, melody with optional lower harmonized layer, Aeolian (natural minor)

Notes: Today’s song is by Gabriel Paul, of the Crow and Eel Clan of the Penobscot, whose homelands are located along various waterways in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. The song is a song to thank and honor water. I encourage you to learn and take it to water near you to sing -- and then maybe create your own water song and connect to the water that is near you!

Gabe describes the song's origins on this webpage, and he and his niece, Leigh, have given permission for this song to be sung and shared freely. It is a privilege to be invited to sing in the language of the Penawahpskek nation, and I’ll help you learn it with care – but know that we are guests, and I'm sure I have an accent – it’s okay to be uncomfortable, and honored at the same time. Then visit the Penobscot nation site to respectfully learn more about these people who claim one of the oldest continuous governments in the world.
​
A people who have lived in one place for 11,000 years have a very different perspective than mine, as a child of immigrants. In this episode, I quote Weh'na Ha'mu' Kwasset (She Who Brings the Light), an Indigenous writer and visionary who was raised on Penobscot land, and is also known as Sherri Mitchell. Her book is Sacred Instructions: Indigenous Wisdom for Living Spirit-Based Change.

Youtube recording of Leigh Neptune singing this song.

​Be one of the first to know as new episodes are released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me. Click here.

Nuts and Bolts: This song is unison, unmetered, Ionian (major).