Wow! You made this song sound amazing! It was such a pleasure cowriting with you. Love the cover picture, too. I hope we can write together again soon. - Laurie

What a comforting song and sound. I could listen on repeat over and over.  Beautiful. 👏🏼🙌🏼❤️

I really like the melody on the chorus, here. Really nice take on the theme.

Very interesting feel, it's like a cross-metre? The fairy house is wonderful.

Y'all really came up with an incredible song here! Really well done, Julia & Easterlings! Really enjoying the instrumentation and the storytelling in the lyrics.

Such a great song with this swaying rhythm that just hugs you and with comforting lyrics. But then you pull out all the stops (ie voices) and I'm completely blown away!

"The Silver Lining" (#444, 210306)

 * Co-written with Mark Anderson / @mark-anderson-474835928 * 

Half the prayer on earth lives in hospitals and prisons
Guess that's what it takes to get soul to listen
A simple conversation can break your heart in two
Funny how we learn to love what we're just about to lose

Doesn't matter who or why it hurts to say goodbye
But even then it's sometimes been a blessing in disguise
Every season I been seein' more and more examples
Life's for livin' and we ain't given more than we can handle

Like hot and cold like salt and pepper
Oh God sure knows how to weave it all together
I can make a plan but I gotta' trust His timing
And find the silver lining

You know that moment when you wake up from a dream
Ain't awake ain't still sleepin' you're somewhere in between
Damn near twenty years I walked around like that
Couldn't see the forest through the trees the good inside the bad

Like hot and cold like salt and pepper
Oh God sure knows how to weave it all together
I can make a plan but I gotta' trust His timing
And find the silver lining

Movin' on when someone's gone is something you can't measure
Holdin' hands or golden bands nothing lasts forever
Wasn't always pretty but it made me who I am
I think I understand

Week 10a - The Silver Lining (210306)

written by prince
vocal and piano by Jim Armstrong

Purple Rain

[Image Credit: https://pixabay.com/en/whiskey-bar-alcohol-glass-scotch-315178/, https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en]

Donna Piano: https://soundcloud.com/donna-piano

Erin Wolf: https://soundcloud.com/erinwolf

Sin Or Whisky (by Donna Piano, with Erin Wolf)

It is Quiet, It is Hushed

WEEK 7
Nik Newark DRUM N FIFE 
CAPO 2
Am
We all recall that moment back in time
when Nik Newark saved our lives
well hold your horses for a moment shut the gate
the songs of nik are rising up again 

his poetry it warms the coldest heart
his falsetto brings you to tears and tears you apart
he ll write an epic song just for you
                           G
on drum 'n' fife mouth trumpet or kazoo

** there’s more to life than drum 'n' fife that’s true
         G
but relentlessly he chases down each perfect tune
Am
whatever genre tempo theme pursued
                                            G
what cannot Nik Newark do

some things in life hit hard and take their toll
we need the art that serves and calms the soul
on these days oh so much more than we've ever known
no one can live by bread alone

his poetry it warms the coldest heart
his falsetto brings you to tears and tears you apart
on drum and fife on triangle and spoon
he ll write an epic song for you

NNDNF SAW 7 - 19:2:21, 8.33 am

"What Else You Got" (#438, 210218)

 * Co-written with Dan Rivers * 

Packed it all up in a rental van
Guitar a girl and a half assed plan
Heard that it's a 10 year town
Better start makin' the rounds

Fifty cold calls 'til they let me in
Tiny office and a guy named Slim
Thought my first song had a pretty good shot
Then he said, "what else ya' got"

I got mouths to feed I got bills to pay
A dog and a wife and an H.O.A.
I got high blood pressure one bad knee
And a Volvo leakin' antifreeze
To top it all off one verse and Slim said stop 
What else you got 

Hot take from my Uber driver
What I needed was a great co-writer
Said he was Tim McGraw's third cousin
Hell he'd written almost a dozen

We wrote a track just right for Garth
Got as far as the driveway guards
Sang it through the intercom
A voice came back, "what else you got"

I got outta' state plates and two flat tires
And a radio tuned with needle nose pliers
I got bootleg cable and uh, Obamacare
And holes in all my underwear
Dann Huff told me son you're really good, NOT
What else ya' got

I got to thinkin' how hard could it be
To start a publishin' company
Get the writers all lined up around the block
Just so I can tell 'em what else ya' got

I got smoker's cough I got whiskey shits
And a mother in law that just won't quit
I got plumber's crack I got athlete's foot
And I'm still a long way from Brentwood
There goes the mansion, the Rolex and the yacht
What else ya' got

Look out Music Row I'm comin' in hot
What else ya' got

Week 08a - What Else You Got (210218)

My contribution to week 7 of Song A Week 2021. The theme this week was Nik Newark's Drum & Fife, which at first I had no clue what to make of it. So, I zeroed in on the Drum & Fife. Just a side note; the song is in Eb minor simply because, being the first time playing the piano, there are less of the black keys to keep track of than the white ones. :)

Lyrics:
When I start to grumble, that's the rumble of my battle drum
and when I've stopped listening watch for the whistling, of bombs in flight
Am I about to start a fight? All because, I want to be right?

Chorus:  There is no victor at the end of a war
	only the wounded with open sores, that time won't heal
	now tell me, how do you feel, about war?

You start to sweat, perceiving a threat that isn't real
all your efforts are in vain, you need someone to blame, when nothing goes right
Are you about to start a fight? All because, you have fear inside?

(Chorus)

I have my opinions and beliefs - and you have yours, you have yours
I also have my baggage to retrieve - and you have yours, yes you have yours
Rarely do we match, so there's bound to be a clash
without negotiation, co-operation, and understanding, we would have ourselves a war

Are we about to start a fight? All because, we want to show our might?

(Chorus)
There is no victor at the end of a war

Song AND image Copyright © Claes Akerblom 2021

Battle Drum (demo)

Song A Week 2021, week 8 the theme was "Change, please".
Please excuse me, if I ended up sounding a bit political again, but these were the words that came to me when faced with those two words.

The ice is melting, the white bear's escaping to town
The waters rising, soon the old coast is nowhere to be found
Wildfires are raging, raging out of control
"This isn't global warming, just something cyclical", we're being told
And Mother Earth is crying out; 
"Change, please change your ways before it's too late.
Change, please change your ways. This wasn't meant to be my fate" 

Storms - devastating, lives and possessions destroyed
The crust is crumbling, as we're greedily fracking for more oil
while Mother Earth is pleading;
"Change, please change your ways before it's too late.
Change, please change your ways. This wasn't meant to be my fate"

This after all is our home, that I,m talking about
If the roof is leaking, foundation breaking, you'd want to fix it, right?!

And Mother Earth keeps crying out;
"Change, please change your ways before it's too late.
Change, please change your ways. This wasn't meant to be my fate"

Song and image Copyright © Claes Akerblom

Change, Please (demo)

Week 8 #songaweek2021. 
by Julia Tindall Bloom, Laurie & David Easterling © 2/24/2021, Saint Paul, MN, and Oak Ridge, TN. 
Photo is a fairy house my daughter built on the banks of the Mississippi River summer 2019.

Please change your mind 
Don’t leave me behind
I was desperate to say
But I left it unsaid
The words wailed in my head
You’re leaving today  

May you never be sad enough to give up
Or too busy to explore the unknown
Remember no matter how far you go
You can always make your way home

I’ve been waiting so long 
To sing my own song
Can’t stay in this place
Stretch my wings and try
To see where I can fly
Cast off my old ways

May you never be sad enough to give up
Or too busy to explore the unknown
Remember no matter how far you go
You can always make your way home

The road is always there
Time may not be fair
The same road that leads away
Leads back home someday

May you never be sad enough to give up
Or too busy to explore the unknown
Remember no matter how far you go
You can always make your way home

Make Your Way Home (cowrite with Laurie and David Easterling)

Copyright Erin Wolf 2021
Instruments featured: Concert Ukelele, Guitar, Mandolin
Video (from "The Songs We Write" showcase): https://youtu.be/8fEsTn8kFik

Week 9 Prompt: You could turn back, but why would you want to?

meet me at the willow tree
where i'll give my love to thee
true to you i'll always be
together 'neath the willow tree

oh my dear
can you hear
our time is near
step out together - no fear

down by the crackling fire
i lay myself down on the wire
no matter what will transpire
here beside the crackling fire

oh my dear
can you hear
our time is near
step out together - no fear

you could turn back but why would you want to
when you know this love is true
side-by-side we'll see it through
you could turn back but why would you want to

oh my dear
can you hear
our time is near
step out together - no fear

meet me at the willow tree
where i'll give my love to thee
true to you i'll always be
together 'neath the willow tree

The Willow Tree

I wrote this when I was living in London England about my mood at the time. 
Recorded with producer Mark Keefner in LA years later.
The late Jimmy Griffin from the group Bread was a big fan of this song!

ROOM TO BREATHE

SOMEBODY'S BABY

Half of folk pop duo Cabin of Love. One-quarter of Americana band The Foragers.

Make Your Way Home (cowrite with Laurie and David Easterling)

Julia Bloom

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