KISS ME (Shelly Fairchild/Stephony Smith)
I love to kiss. I mean, who doesn't? That's basically where the idea came from. I wanted to have some songs that had an underlying sexiness to them without being risqué. I want to go there and make people feel good and free without being inappropriate. I feel like I can play my album for my 9-year-old niece, so I don't feel like I crossed a line.
I also love how that song starts out so bluesy and swampy and builds and builds until it explodes. I love singing it.
READY TO FALL (Lisa Carver)
People are going to know the name Lisa Carver. She's a great songwriter who's just starting to get recognized for how truly wonderful her songs are. She entered this song in a John Lennon songwriting contest and won. She write it by herself. It's just so fabulous. When I play it for people, you can see them react, even when they're hearing it for the first time. It has that kind of impact. It's a very modern lyric in one way, but it has this old-school sound to it. Johnny Cash could have sung it. It's got that boom-chicka-boom thing.
TINY TOWN (Shelly Fairchild/Stephony Smith)
That song is all based on real stuff for me. It's about having strong ties to your family and your hometown and everything that you go through when you decide to move away for the first time. It can really pull on your heart, and I think it's something a lot of people experience.
For me, I wanted to go chase my dreams and live my life, but my family didn't want me to go, and they didn't necessarily understand what I wanted to do or why I had to leave. With this song, I wanted to tell my family to know how much they've given me, how important they are to me. It's me re-assuring my mom and dad that what they've given me; I will take with me forever.
The first time they heard my parents heard it, I played it for them. I didn't want them to hear it on tape; I wanted them to hear it live, from me. They both bawled. I'll never forget that moment.
YOU DON'T LIE HERE ANYMORE (Shelly Fairchild/Sonny Lemaire/Clay Mills)
That's a song I wrote early, early on, so I'm amazed and thrilled that it ended up being my first single. I had the title and a little bit of the melody when I wrote it with Sonny Lemaire and Clay Mills. We wrote the verse and chorus that first day, and I walked out saying, "This is my first single." I just had a strong feeling about this song, I really like it. Vocally, it goes from low to high, so it really shows my range.
It's a good attitude song for me, too, because it's about a woman who is drawing a line and being strong and saying she won't be treated with disrespect. She's past her anger, now, she's even being a little sassy. She's telling him he's messed up, and she's over it and moving on.
I WANT TO LOVE YOU (Shelly Fairchild/Stephony Smith/Lisa Carver)
Stephony and Lisa are both good friends who understand me. We sat down to write, and I said, "Let's write a love song. I don't really have any songs about love, and that's a big part of who I am." I love people. I love to be in love. Stephony came out with the lines, "I want to feel your face in my hands/ I want to see your eyes take me in," and Lisa and I just looked at each other and said, 'Oh my God yes!" I mean, how does that happen? The songwriting process is just so magical. When she came up with that lyric, I knew we were onto something. We finished that sucker right away.
