Covered In Clover

The Story Behind Escape My Heart

Welcome to Day 1 of Covered In Clover album diaries! This is a secret page that only YOU have access to. Fancy stuff, eh?! And this is my home office in Nashville, TN. Behind me, you'll see the albums from some of my most inspirational artists - I call it my "wall of saints."

Okay, so the idea with these Album Diaries is that every day I will take you to a different page and explain where the song-of-the-day came from.

Today, we're starting our 10-day journey through the album with the opening track!!!  I'm so excited for you. No, really. I'm SOOOOO excited for you. This album took 5 years to create. I think you'll agree that it was worth every precious minute of patience.

The first track, Escape My Heart, unfurls the album into a HUGE crescendo (this is classical music lingo for "things get louder" - listen to the song, you'll see what I mean.) I wrote the song because after breaking up with a boyfriend and witnessing a couple friends do the same, it was painfully clear that being in love is often not a choice. The heart wants what it wants.

As Lin-Manuel Miranda so aptly once said.... "Love is love is love is love is love...."

Additionally, at the time of writing this song I was musically noodling around with layering vocals and melodies. I began to recognize how intertwined melodies had a similar effect of "lacing the listener in" to swirling emotions - the same kind that come from being in love but not really knowing what to do about it.

Even though the lyrics don't overtly say this, sometimes surrendering to love is the only thing we can do. Hopefully the way we produced the song says all that for me.

This track is one of the more raucous ones on this album. You'll hear that I and my audio team really cranked up the volume and instrumentation to echo this emotional state. Being caught in feeling like a fool for love as an out-of-control quality, yes? 

I really hope you like it.

Please leave a comment below if you do!

The Song 

(Shhh!!! This is for your eyes & ears only!)

The Lyrics

I wrote your name across the sky

It glittered gold into the night

I felt my skin catch the spark

My heart…

I’m a fool for you...

I cannot escape my heart

It’ll just keep beat beating on...

I cannot escape my heart...

Ironclad & buried deep

I reached out through your thorns & your weeds

I felt you pierce with heat

My heart…

I cannot escape my heart

It’ll just keep beat beating on...

I cannot escape my heart...

No it’s not a lot

All we have are scars

When it’s said and done, baby

All we have are scars

I cannot escape my heart

It’ll just keep beat beating on...

I cannot escape my heart…

The Credits

Produced by Emily Ann Peterson / Co-production & engineering by Gary Mula / Mixing by Mackenzie Spear / Mastering by Raelynn Janicke / Vocals, piano & tenor guitar by Emily Ann Peterson / Bass & guitar by Eric Howk / Drums on tracks 1, 2, 4, and 7 by Aaron Benson / Drums on tracks 6, 8 and 9 by Lacey Brown / Violin by Alina To / Cello by Emily Ann Peterson / Bassoon by Coltan Foster / Flugelhorn by Carey Rayburn / Trumpets by Scott Morning & Carey Rayburn / Saxophone by Andrew Vait / Instrumental arrangement on track 5 by Jess Aldredge/ Photography by Laura Schneider  / Cover design by Emily Ann Peterson

This album exists with help from my fans and patrons: 

Margaret Ann Martin, Eugene H. Peterson, Jan Krist, Shelby Earl, Jennifer Monahan, Janet Haney, Nicholas Herring, Hillel Cooperman, Jeff Brumley, James Lenhardt, Chris Burlingame, Karen Schwartzbauer, Hanni Hunderfund, Karina Sprinkle, Mandy Troxel, Steve Eulberg, Freya Kennedy, Heidi Stoermer, Nathan Hollifield, Anna Ungar, Anna Armstrong, Mark Peterson, Cindy Peterson, Melanie Harding, Kye Alfred Hillig, Erin Mae Lewis, Jess Shook, Pepe Doval Conzalez, Jamshid Faryar, Nyhuis Creative, Diane Morissette, Kristi Leksen, Laura Constantino, Karla Johnson, Daniel McBain, Maria Bunn, Kaitlin Winter-Eulberg, Kari Van Gelder, Scott Haydon, Kelly Goss, Cherie Perucci, Charlotte Seawell, Matt Hanna, Michael Clark, Becca Iverson, Chris Nippard, Emily Rose, Renee Escobar, Peter Berkeley, Christina Strand, Chris Mathews Jr., Theresa Kennedy, Cheryl Branz, Billy Brush, Elizabeth Burda, Heather Grady

...and anyone else who's attended a concert, purchased my book, listened to my songs, or joined my Inner Circle. 

Thank you for your enduring support of musical bravery! 

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