Covered In Clover

The Story Behind The Song Velveteen

Today, I want to walk you why this album took FIVE YEARS to create & why it was worth every ounce of patience.

Without boring you with the extensive list of work involved in creating a studio album like this…

The short answer is that when you’re a mostly self-funded musician who values mental health and healthy boundaries, who is also going through a major career identity change, who in the midst of all this finds herself writing and self-publishing a book Bare Naked Bravery: How to Be Creatively Courageous then...  

...producing and releasing an album can take a looooong time. Here’s the brief timeline:

• Soon after my hand diagnosis, I began writing these songs.
• Because it was clear that it was no longer a smart choice to continue to depend on playing/teaching cello, I found myself in the whirlwind of a career change.
• I started working with a producer to record these songs, but had to scrap our work together due to creative differences - a really difficult decision
• Shopped around for new co-producer, found Gary Mula!
• Gary and I spend a couple months rehearsing/recording tracks
• Funding fell through half-way through the recording

After funding fell through half-way through our studio dates, we did a small crowdfunding campaign. But it didn’t reach its ultimate goal. This meant the amount we raised barely covered the cost of the manufacturing costs. which was helpful but, that combined with a diagnosis of another chronic illness, family emergencies, moving to Nashville, and a couple of bouts of mild depression, means it has taken literally years to get this album funded.

I don’t want this tirade to sound like complaining.

Every single step of the creation of this album has been an honor AND a choice. I am so grateful.

As you may already know, I like to do things differently. But throughout all the crazy-awesome things that have unfolded in my life while this album was in creation-mode, one thing hasn’t changed…

Every day is how we are made.

That’s one of the lyrics in today’s featured song, Velveteen, which is inspired by the classic children’s book by Majorie Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit. I love this song so much that at one point it was going to be the title track.

After letting the tracks breathe for a couple years (while self-funding the remainder of the album) my audio engineer and mixing/mastering team mate, Mackenzie Spear and I recorded the cello, tenor guitar, and vocals in Fall of 2018 after I moved to Nashville. I knew the song needed something else…

It felt appropriate to honor the sentiment of The Velveteen Rabbit by allowing this song to be the one that evolved slowly over time. After all, that’s how love & bravery builds… over time.

I hope you enjoy this song as much as we enjoyed recording it.

If you do, leave a comment below!

Listen to Velveteen 

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

The Lyrics for Velveteen

Love stirred, in my sawdust heart

button eyes and a soft pink nose

velvet skin, with hidden seams

life-size dreams underneath

Love stirred, in blanket forts and

berry canes, on those summer days,

We were young and so naive

Oh how we could be

Hopeful & Fragile…

Hopeful & Fragile…

Will love make me real?

Love grew and settled down

Shape & shine forgotten now

Velveteen worn down smooth

from all the days that soothe

Love said I’m beautiful

Even though, it’s not what others see

Every day is how you’re made

And when you’re real, pink will fade

Threadbare & Fragile…

Threadbare & Fragile…

Will love let me last?

These days I don’t want to dance.

So when you sit with me.

Please know, love meant everything

and You will find…

I am real & fragile…

The Credits

Produced by Emily Ann Peterson / Co-production & engineering by Gary Mula / Mixing by Mackenzie Spear / Mastering by Raelynn Janicke / Vocals, piano, cello & 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 / 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! 

all rights reserved · copyright 2019 EAP Media Int'l · PO Box 160404 · Nashville, TN 37216-0404 · United States