Dear friends,

I have been very absent, but not terribly far away. The jazz singer Sheila Jordan says, “You support the music until it supports you” and I have clung to those words for almost 20 years. I have built a life that supports my love of music and music making, and I have asked many of you along on this journey with me. Your support and love have been a guiding force for me.

I very quietly released a new single a couple of weeks ago. I had some good plans to promote it and let the world know, but then something beautiful happened: my little niece was born. I was immersed in family time, and I got to play one of my favorite roles on this earth: being an aunt.

So the single, called Good Company, floated into the world unannounced. Maybe you heard it. Maybe you didn’t. It was one of many songs I wrote with Dave Brophy during the pandemic, but this one felt special. Every single word I wrote, and even the whistles, mean something to me. I original wrote the melody to a completely different track, but after hearing what I did, Dave decided to start from scratch and build something new. Music is patience. We contemplated rewrites and even tried out a few. We signed it to a licensing agent, thinking it might be good for sync licensing. But ultimately, the message feels like it needs to be shared on a larger scale.

The act of forgiving myself for “missing” my release is exactly what Good Company is about. This is a time for all of us to take care of each other. It seems to me the greatest gift we can give someone else is to take the time to see them, and love whatever we are seeing.

My sister helped me with the design for the cover of the single. It’s a photo of my aunt Rosy and her friend Alice in their teenage years around 1960. My aunt Rosy was a champion of my music and got to see the release of my first album before she died. I think she’d be quite chuffed to see her picture on a music single (and Alice, I hope you don’t mind!).