ML - I don't know if I can answer that clearly. We started compiling songs and we had begun to share some of the poetry with people. It seemed that the poems that resonated with people were the ones that dealt with family and situations with families that we all face at one time or another. Some situations are happy and some are intense and difficult like the song about substance abuse ... The Hiding. It's a really sad story about a person that's in that trap, in that cycle of abuse. A lot of people can relate to that in relation to a family member or friend. We lost my husband's sister at 38 to cancer and one of the songs chronicles her testimony before she died. People can relate to those things. So we ended up pulling together mostly themes of grace and of family situations. It seemed that the family things and the message of mercy and grace is what tied it together.

Kim - Do you have any particular song on the CD that touches you more than the rest?

ML - Oh boy. With all that in mind, all those stories of all those treasured people ... I like my songs pretty well, but I love the Rich Mullins tune Nothing Is Beyond You. It is such a bare-bones worship tune, it lays me low every time I sing it. I sing it by myself here in the house and it does the same thing to me as when I perform it live. It's funny because it's entirely different from how Rich sings it, or how Amy Grant sang it. I thought the text was so deep and so from the bottom of our being that the arrangement couldn't be light or buoyant. I like taking it from a more melancholy approach. A little darker and a little more pensive.

Kim - When you write, what comes first normally, the lyrics or the music?

ML - Oh definitely the lyrics. Always. I just write. If I concentrate real hard I can come up with a melody. It's the text for me, always the text. My piano player, who is an awesome pianist, Scott Zimmermon and I wrote Hannah's Song together. That song has been a big deal, people love that song. We didn't know and wondered is it too long, is it too slow? But people love that song. We went to a woman's retreat a couple of weeks ago and my friend, with whom I did the solo was there, with his choir and his band. Those ladies were on their feet, swaying and singing along with the choir. It was so fun. Who knew?

Kim - What has been the overall response to the CD?

ML - It's been good. We released it in May. We did two release concerts here and they were both well attended and really anointed. I go to a pretty conservative, quiet church. There wasn't a dry eye in the room. Some people were really crying. It was just an anointed hour and a half of singing the songs and telling the stories. Even my band members were crying. It's hard for me to grasp that. The guys in my band are all seasoned, for the most part, jazz players. My drummer is behind me with big tears rolling down his face. That is amazing to me. They were listening, you know? I think the response has been good. We released it in May and then we were gone for the better part of the summer so we haven't been able to really get out there and work towards getting concerts. We're just now getting into the swing of marketing and getting new concerts. We're looking forward to getting to do that.

Kim - How long were you in the studio?

ML - Total time was about six weeks. Not all at once. Basically from August through February. I love the studio here. Travis has won three Dove awards. He's a sweet young dad and he's great.

Kim - How do you feel like you connect with your audience? How do you keep it in the road when the audience is all crying and the band is crying?.

ML - First of all, I don't always. I try. At first, for instance, with my husband's sisters death ... she died six years ago and I wrote the song then. For the first couple of years after I wrote it I couldn't sing it without crying. I never sang it in public. It was sort of a therapeutic song for the family. But as the years have gone by and as I've lived with it for a long time, I can tell the story without crying for the most part. I'm a pretty open person and as far as connecting, both of the halls that I was in for the two release concerts were small. I like that. I literally had people sitting at my feet. The room was packed. There were people sitting on the floor in front of the stage. I like it that way because it's like you're just a story teller. You can kind of expound on the story a little bit before you sing it. Not so much a performer as a story teller I think.

Kim - Do you ever get nervous before you take the stage?

ML - Oh yeah. I think it would be abnormal not to. I don't get nervous like I did when I was a kid. Before the first release I cried all day. I kept thinking I can't tell these stories in public. I can't do it. I can't do it. I mean, I cried all morning and then I met the band for lunch. I sat at the table crying, saying I can't do it. I'd never shared these songs in public. But I pulled it together and I didn't cry a drop during the concert ... but the band did!

Kim - I know that there are a lot of young artists out there now. Do you feel like being older than your twenties will limit your fan base in any way?

ML - I laughingly say that this project is a prospective on life from a God-fearing, peri-menopausal woman! I don't think that I'm on the fast track to stardom. I don't think that's realistic at all and it's not even something that I desire. I like to tell stories, to sing songs, to work with good musicians. I like to minister to people with the message of grace. I couldn't have written these stories or told these stories when I was 20. You know? You have to live a while, I think, to be able to write a story like these. I feel like I'm exactly where I need to be. Is my age a hindrance? If I wanted to be a star, yes. If I just want to be a story teller and minister to people where they are, no. I've been to conferences where I've seen young artists up there ministering to a group of older women and, well, an 18 year old just isn't able to minister to a group of older women like someone their own age. You know? It's easier to get something from someone who has had some of the same life experiences and can relate to where you are. I'm not trying to slam young artists at all. They do good things. I'm just saying that since there are older women out there who need ministering to, there is a need for older artists as well.

Kim - One last question. What do you feel like God has taught you from this experience so far?

ML - I think He is teaching me to wait on Him. I think He is teaching me that He loves me. I felt the calling when I was eight to write. My mother couldn't get over it. I used to sit on the porch and just write. She would find me outside all of the time writing in my little poetry book. It didn't seem that there was any value in that, but now God has taken what was just my quiet time with Him and He's said this is what I made you to do. Thank you for spending time with me and writing to me. Now you can share our honest times with other people. I feel like I've waited a long time and just stayed quiet. Now He's allowing me to open up those riches for other people. He continues to search me. I love Psalm 139 and I love the fact that He meets us right where we are. No matter what phase you're in, no matter how stupid you've been, no matter how wayward you've been, He meets you there. Doesn't He? I'm praying at this point that I would be more fervent in seeking Him and falling in love with Him. Presenting myself as a living sacrifice and asking Him to search me and allow me to write. If He so desires so, allowing me to share with others what He lays on my heart.

Visit Mary Lou's official web site at www.notaboutyourecords.com

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