Songwriters talk a lot about “writing” songs, but it seems to me like I spend most of my time “waiting” for songs. Writing is just something I do to kill the time until they get here. I guess that makes the whole thing sound pretty easy, that is, unless you’ve spent much time waiting for something, not knowing when or if it will arrive. It can make you think you’re going crazy. It can make you wish you would.
This record represents two-and-a-half years of waiting, broken up here and there by 11 glorious visits. I know a lot of people will listen to these songs and hear them as anything but glorious. Some of what I’ve said will make some people mad. It might even make some people hate me. I don’t like the idea of being hated and I’ve lost a little sleep lately thinking about it, but if I hid the truth about how I think and feel in order to be liked, I would hate myself, and I like that idea even less.
The most difficult song for me to put on this record was “Letter to Mom.” It is not a letter to my mother and it is not my story. It’s pretty straightforward. The meaning is not covered up. Some people will be offended by it. Others will be helped. I left the song on here for those people – and because it was the right thing to do.
While getting these songs was often like walking through hell, recording them was the trip to heaven. I spent four days in the studio with Randy Scruggs and six musicians: Steuart Smith, Chuck Leavell, Dave Pomeroy, Tammy Rogers, John Jennings, Harry Stinson and one engineer – Chuck Ainlay. We recorded 11 songs. Everything we did is here. Everybody got along. And, thanks in large part to Randy, everybody felt free to contribute ideas, and did. It was fun; it felt natural and I was sad to see it end. They said they were too, and I believe them.
Over the next couple of weeks, some other talented and sometimes legendary people came by and did what they do with the tape running: Earl Scruggs, Delbert McClinton, Mark Knopfler, Lonnie Mack, Paul Franklin, Brent Mason, Tom Roady and a few singers – Bekka Bramlett, Billy Burnette, Russ Taff and Melodie Crittenden – who, along with everybody else, made me sound a lot better.
By the time you get this music it will, in a lot of ways, be old for me. The thrill that came with the arrival of these 11 songs will be a memory, and I will have already spent several months killing time waiting for the next song and, no doubt, feeling crazy all over again.
The waiting is not exactly what I call fun, and after 10 years of doing this and asking myself why, I believe I know the answer. As corny as it will sound, the fact is that I am in love with the songs. I guess that’s just what you do when you’re in love.
So long,
Iris
May 1996
Kansas City, Missouri, USA
