Evokes images of putting your feet up and relaxing on the front porch with an old friend. Every one of us can look back and say we've hurt someone and been hurt, we feel awkward and misunderstood at times. We all need a safe place. This song is like talking to a best friend you can tell anything.

If You Don't Mind

This song ponders the different types of loves, lovers and heart-breakers we all encounter in our romantic lives. "The One who..." can apply to someone each of us never forgets. The Edge is full of imagery, expressed by a vulnerable, knowing female narrator, blended with a passionate harmonic chorus.

The Edge

A girl sings of the deep mutual feelings she shares with the man who plans to marry her.  She's absolutely secure in her relationship with a man who is gone sometimes but always comes back to be with her.

Change My Name

You can't sleep, so you decide to write something, but you can't think straight, because you can't stop thinking about how you screwed up what could've been a great love, so you have writer's block.

Writer's Block

A journey in a piano solo, with the melody in the bass and a drone fifth to represent bells tolling for the lonely.
Came home at 3am one night, nothing made sense, sat down at the piano and my hands just played it.


Bells Ring Somewhere

This girl is at a crossroads. She's anxious about the future and eager to find out how her life will turn out. She ventures to guess if she'll be happy, married, still scared and angry or all-powerful. She thinks she's headed in the right direction but still wonders what will become of her.

Become

I have a crush on you, but I'm okay with that. We see each other every once in a while, and I'm glad to know you, and while I'd really like to get to know you better, I'm way too shy to confess my feelings. So I'll Just Smile. :)

*In memory of Matthew Shumway*

I'll Just Smile

This was my thought process when I had a crush on a friend one summer and wanted to tell him but wasn't sure if he felt the same way. It was a light and happy crush and all I really want to say is Hey, you light up the room and I really enjoy your company. The song also highlights the dangers of waiting out the shyness, because the opportunity to make one's feelings known can slip away before you know it. The instrumental break reflects being bummed out that he was gone the moment you were ready to fess up, and then sort of knowing the moment has passed and being okay with it, not ashamed of having felt that way in the past. It's super catchy and sweet.

I Thought You Should Be Notified

You can't sleep because he's are still on your mind. It's raining outside, and you wonder where he is but just hope he's okay. You think about fond memories and maybe how to get him back, but it's been a long time. Sleep would be good but in the morning you'll just have to pretend everything's okay and you dreamed it all.

You Were But A Dream

The protagonist sees her crush leave the room. She laments, as he seems cold and it's confusing for her. It's the kind of obsession you can't get away from, reminiscent of middle school. While the lyrics may seem invariably depressing, it is juxtaposed with an upbeat, staccato piano accompaniment, which brings out the silliness of teen angst. The harmonica solo also reflects the flustered pathos of the song.

Disgrace

The subject of this very sad song had a heart condition, so his heart was literally broken, and it gave him this sadness, but he also had this kindness that came very naturally. I loved him for it but I was trying to not drink and consistently go to bed at a decent hour, so I tried not to love him and never told him I did. When he died I was absolutely crushed and don't know if I'll ever really get over it.

*In memory of Matthew Shumway*

Apart

Upbeat percussion, including bongos to go with guitars, bass and organ.  Wrote it for my first love and it's been a good friend since.


Optimism

This person had struggles with relationships that kept repeating themselves, as she found herself attracted to the same sort of guy who was bad for her over and over. When she finally figured out that she didn't have to be ruled by these feelings for people who didn't feel the same way, she had overcome her own self-defeating behavior and had an epiphany that she had found her Happy Place.

Blank - Hearted

Syncopated synths and dance floor beat with a tight, memorable hook.  Paints a lyrical picture of an unlikely moment between two people who don't know why.

I Don't Know Why

Still licking my wounds from my first major heartbreak, I was reflecting on the fact that life goes on.
Wrote it on my 25th birthday, 10/29/2004, in Pembroke, N.C. 

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

See Yourself To Be Yourself

In Dreams

It's difficult to articulate my journey as a rugby referee over the last nearly ten years, but this song is the closest I've ever come.  Because of friends I made along the way, I was able to keep battling and figure out how to thrive and actually enjoy myself.  Composed 9/25/2016 in Oxford, Florida.

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

Said and Done

Turns out my scumbag-ex was robbing me blind so I had to dump him.   So much for loving me to the ends of the earth!  After three months of repression, this song came pouring out on 8/31/2017.

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

To Make A Fool

Wrote this the summer after I graduated from UF when I was living in Chapel Hill.  It was the final nail in the coffin of feelings that were truly dead and ready for a resting place but needed a funky coffin - so this song happened!

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

Apologies

Was having trouble sleeping the night before my WPL semi-final (11/9/2017) out in Tucson, Arizona.  Turned my nerves into a peppy little love song!

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

Make a Memory

Make A Memory

Didn't think I'd ever share this song with the world, because the lyrics are deeply personal and some still ring true to this day, if I'm honest, even though I wrote it 15 years ago, fall of 2002.   It details the evolution of pain through my first real heartbreak and it's one of my best friends.  It still blows my mind that I was able to even write this stuff down, much less sing it.

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

Over

The idea of loving someone like this fascinated me.  Wrote this whilst in graduate school in Pembroke, N.C. in 2005.  

This is a live recording, done in Athens, Georgia by Diarra Mosley on 11/21/2005 during the, "Broken Finger Session,"  so named as I'd busted my ring finger playing catch at a tailgate the day before.

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

Can't Ever Get Enough

This song was composed by Daniel D. Johnston, my favorite songwriter!  It's been covered by many other artists and I've always wanted to record my own version.  Background vocals by Bella Peoples, recorded in Gainesville, Florida on 12/13/2017.  IDBLM license 074714.

Produced by Sean Hunter and Haylee Slaughter.

True Love Will Find You In the End

True Love Will Find You In The End

Hardly imitative, Slaughter springs from the familiar and timeless roots of folk and gentle folk rock to tell stories of personal disappointments and optimistic resolutions in ethereal melodic trances propelled by gentle pop beats.

Haylee Slaughter

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