Welcome, and thank you for checking out this site.
My name is Margo and, at 49 years old, I just finished recording my very first album.
I want to tell you the story, because it might be encouraging to someone who has a dream, but doesn’t feel like they have the ability or skills to carry it out. I want to let you know that with God’s help, and some faith, anything could happen.
Almost 18 years ago I was hiking in the redwoods in Northern California, and thinking to myself that it would sure be nice to have more mellow contemporary Christian music available to listen to. It occurred to me at that point that I just might have to write some myself!
I began coming up with a chorus here and there… usually when I was praying and/or hiking. Pretty soon I had a bunch of half written songs, with the tunes all inside my head. Some of them I thought were actually kind of good! So, I got a little more serious about it, and with a lot of prayer, finished a bunch of the songs in a few days. At the time, I didn’t even care if they rhymed or not. I shared one with my mother for the first time, in 1997. Of course she’s my mother, and she supposed to be impressed, so I had to take it with a grain of salt… But she said she thought my songs were good too!
I began to look for someone to help me with accompaniment. This turned out to be a lot harder than you might think. People are busy with their own lives and jobs and hobbies… It’s hard to find someone to spend that kind of time on your little dream. So, I decided I would have to do this myself, as well. (Of course, with God’s help!) I bought a little Baldwin piano from Spencer Brewer, a well-known musician near Hopland where I lived. Immediately I began picking out the tunes, and figuring out some very simple arrangements. It seemed ridiculous actually. I really couldn’t play the piano, even though I had taken lessons several times. And initially I could only play in a couple of key signatures. But, little by little, playing by ear, I came up with some chords and piano parts that I kind of liked. My music actually started sounding a little bit more like real songs!
I started taking voice and piano lessons… but still played mostly by ear. My voice teacher said she liked my music and that someday I should get it on a CD. Little bits of encouragement like this, from time to time, helped give me the confidence to keep writing. Though I enjoyed it immensely, I was very insecure about what I was doing. For years, except for a couple of tunes I sang for my voice teacher, my mother was the only person with whom I would share. After all, even though I played the cello (and used to play the bassoon), I really wasn’t much of a musician. Actually I saw myself as a wannabe. But the more I wrote, the more I wanted to write.
Then one day, I got married. I moved away, and didn’t think about writing again for over five years. That was kind of sad, but I had a lot of other things to focus on! Eventually, I began picking up my songs, dusting them off, and started playing the piano again. Since nothing but the words was written down, I pretty much had to relearn everything. This turned out to be a good thing however, because I was able to come up with better piano arrangements, and my playing-by-ear skills started to get a little better too.
Finally, finally, a couple years later, I gathered the courage to share my songs with one of my musical friends from church. It took a lot of guts for me and I was extremely nervous. But I felt like I wanted some advice and input from somebody else besides myself. I felt like I was finally officially ready to share. And…for the first time, even felt that maybe I had something worthwhile.
After hours of practice, the much anticipated day arrived. However, to my dismay, this person was less…MUCH less…than enthusiastic. I heard words like ‘excruciating’, after only three songs. I know this person didn’t mean to sound hurtful…I know there was absolutely no concept of how that reaction might have affected me…and since then I have forgiven and moved on. But at the time I was utterly heartbroken. I had put so much time and energy into this, over so long a time. This was not exactly what I had envisioned.
I went home…and cried my heart out.
But wouldn’t you know it…God was prepared for this. After I dried my eyes, I read the devotional for that day. It said not to trust in man’s opinions or theories, but to trust in Christ. “In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
I was tempted to think that this was just a coincidence. However, I knew it absolutely was not. I knew God was encouraging me…and I began to see that He had a plan for me.
I held onto those thoughts, and kept on writing.
Despite the devastation I felt from that experience, I inexplicably came back from it feeling like I actually wanted to share some of what I’d written with my sister and my niece. Maybe because I needed some validation? Not sure. But Jan and Ashley ended up becoming two of my biggest supporters, next to my mom. They will never know how much that meant.
Shortly after that, I was asked to sing for church. I got up the courage to sing something I had written. It’s not like I hadn’t ever sung before… I used to sing quite often. But it’s a whole different animal when you’re getting up there and bearing your soul by sharing music that came from your heart. However, I found that playing the piano and singing was much, much more comfortable for me than singing alone. And, I was surprised with the positive feedback that I got from my church family in regard to my music.
For some reason people were merciful. And they asked me to sing more and more. I was never sure just why…but I didn’t ask questions, and just kept on writing and singing.
About a year and a half ago, my friend Tiffany called and said she wanted to make a CD of her little girls singing for her parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. She wanted to know if I would play with them on my cello. She also asked if I knew of anyone in the area who could record this cd. I told her I had no idea, but that I would look.
There are no accidents. It was Cello John, a musician with whom I played often, who referred us to a local audio engineer named Dale Price.
Now it must be said that in the past, whenever I let myself have the fantasy of maybe possibly recording my songs, the dream was always squelched by the fear of actually having to do it. And of course, the reality would always hit me that I really wasn’t a much of a musician… and of course I had no idea whether my songs were really any good or not. So the thought of making myself vulnerable and recording anything, was absolutely horrifying.
But, then, I meet this guy named Dale.
In his studio, Tiffany and her girls and I played our songs together…totally and completely imperfectly. But amazingly, Dale was relaxed and smiling and engaged and supportive the whole entire time.
He wasn’t even a little bit scary! And the recording turned out beautiful. It seemed too good to be true.
I began to wonder. What if he could help me do an album for MY mom? Her birthday was coming up. That seemed like a reasonable excuse to try recording some of my songs. No matter how it turned out, as a mother, she would still love it. And you never know…maybe the experience and the end result wouldn’t be as horrible as I feared.
A few months later I called and asked if he remembered me…and the rest is history. Over the next year, Dale helped me produce my album, ‘At Last’.
Who knew?! I had an expert recording engineer within 40 minutes of my house! And more than that, one who was patient and nonjudgmental despite my musical limitations. I can honestly say I don’t believe the recording industry gets any better than this. I could not have had any better results or experience even if I’d gone to the biggest recording studio in LA. (And I know for a fact no one there would have made me feel comfortable enough to try this, assuming, of course, that they would even let me through the door in the first place!)
Dale took what I gave him and made it sound better than I ever imagined possible. And I was blessed to work with John Mescall and Evan Goodson, who accompanied me and with their improvisations reintroduced me to my music. Working as a team with all three of these musicians was delightful. And I must say my husband Rob never complained once about the time or money that I spent on this project. He graciously supported me in my dream from the moment he first learned that I had scheduled a ‘session’ with some guy in Chico!
It all comes down to this… If God had not led me step by step along this path, I would still be singing in my closet. Part of me thinks most people might have preferred it to stay that way, but the other half is praising God for opening the doors.
My songs are simple, but they are from the heart. Many of the lyrics are largely, if not entirely, scriptural. I hope you will listen to and be encouraged by these songs, and maybe learn some Bible verses in the process.
If only one single person is blessed by these efforts, and brought to Jesus, I consider this whole thing to have been a total success.
Dale and I have another project in the works even as we speak…scripture song Bible studies…on subjects I believe are important to us now. I am hoping this project will be done by Christmas 2014.
So… if you like what you hear, all I ask is that you share it, and give God all the glory. This was His project from start to finish. I feel lucky to be a part of it, a very small part of it.
So take courage. No matter how insufficient you may feel, you just never know what God might have in store.
Margo
August 27, 2014
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