Song-by-Song: White Winter Blankets

From Kendra:

My mom is a really big fan of Robert Frost’s poetry, so I grew up reading his work, and while “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” isn’t my all-time favorite of his works (that award goes to “Love and a Question”), I think it’s a beautifully evocative piece of writing. I’ve had it memorized almost as far back as I can remember, and I had thought when I first started composing that it would be a fun one to set for choir. Then I realized Eric Whitacre had tried and failed to get the rights to do that, and if he couldn’t convince Frost’s estate to let him so I was out of luck.

But, like all good musicians, I found a loophole. And thus “White Winter Blankets” was born. Zack started the banjo riff for this one on the front porch of my parents’ house when we were dating. It was fall and there was a chill in the air, and I started thinking about this poem that’s as much in my DNA as playing music is and the lyrics and melody spilled out.

I’m so proud of how this track turned out. The recording captures perfectly everything I had hoped to communicate through this song. And I got to be a total hipster-indie-musician-chick and play a middle-school glockenspiel on it!

From Zack:

This recording is one my proudest achievements as a musician. When Kendra and I wrote this, I thought the chords were neat, the lyrics were beautiful, and we played it well, but it continued to evolve and grow as we played it live. We developed this ever-growing dynamic in the song, culminating in a big vocal crescendo at the last chorus, and I think it's as powerful a musical statement as anything I've ever done. I was listening to this song in my car recently, and I had chills when the crescendo hit. Very few pieces of music have ever done that for me, but White Winter Blankets is the only original recording of mine to ever come close.

There's a lot going on in this track, and a lot of players. I want to thank Adrian Brinkley, Trevor Walker, and Ryan Packett for creating an electric guitar symphony that took a lot of thinking and effort to find the right notes at the right time. Wayne's production is top notch on this, too, giving it just the right amount of subtlety and dynamic build. Kendra's vocal is stunning, and makes me feel humble that she's willing to play music with me every time I hear it. This will be a hard one to ever top, artistically.

Song-by-Song: Rebel

From Kendra:

The way Zack and I co-write songs has evolved over the years. With “Rebel” we wrote our portions separately and put them back together later and I think the finished product ended up being really cool. The chord progression in the chorus has this almost anthemic feel that contrasts really beautifully with the sombre and tension-filled verses. I also love the switch between meters in the verses, contributing to the out-of-kilterness of the lyrical content.

From Zack:

Kendra and I played this one live at a songwriter’s night one time, and it was absolutely shredded to bits. They didn’t like the lyrics, they didn’t like the composition, they didn’t like the message, and they really, really didn’t like that off-kilter rhythm on the verse riff that sits somewhere between a 6/8 and a 3/4. I actually followed that group’s advice for a while, playing the song in a straight 6/8 and it completely neutered the tune. I’m glad I stuck with the original rhythm for this recording, as I think it’s vital to the composition. The way Wayne and Trevor orchestrated their playing around that rhythm is beautiful to me.

This seems to be a favorite among many who’ve heard the album. We knew it’d be the first single as soon as it started coming together in the studio. Also, Trevor’s solo after the first chorus is my favorite thing on the album. That some peak Pudding right there.

Song-by-Song: Swim

From Kendra: 

“Swim” holds a lot of special meaning for me personally, and I'm glad to get to share this version of it with you guys! This is another co-write, and draws a lot of inspiration from a really dark time, though you might not guess that from the upbeat vibe of the music. For me, this song is about facing challenges, and persevering through them even when that seems impossible. This song is a testament to the power we have to overcome.

From Zack:

This is a great example of a song that I’d have never written on my own. I love Kendra’s melodic vocal choices, and the way the song is built around a major 7 chord. Ryan’s modal backing licks are killer and completely unlike what I’d have come up with. The punchy bass line is provided by our good buddy Trevor Walker, and it’s rhythm propels the track in a way that the solo acoustic version never achieves. Everyone made this track better by doing things that I’d have never thought of, and I’m thankful for that.

Song-by-Song: Ship Me Out

From Kendra: 

This song was originally recorded as part of an unreleased project that Zack did with Wayne Redden and Trevor Walker, so most of the legwork had been done on it going into production. This is one of Zack's solo songs, and I've always loved it and the energy it brings to a live set. It was so neat to get to include it in this project because my hands had been off of it for most of its life (except for playing it live). I get to enjoy this one both as a contributing artist AND a fan.

From Zack:

This song has been a staple of mine since I first wrote it. I really like the way it straddles the line between being a rock song and a folk song, and I dig the lyrics. One time, I recorded this onto a 45 in Jack White’s record booth at Third Man records—the very same one that Neil Young recorded “A Letter Home” in. This recording is MUCH better than that one…

Song-by-Song: Miles Will Make Me

From Kendra:

This is one of our older cowrites, so recording it was an opportunity to breathe some new life into it. It's a song all about having a love for adventure, but also a need for a place to call home. I'm thrilled with the production on this one, and love how it builds instrumentally into the more fully-orchestrated pieces in the middle of the album.

From Zack:

I tend to play guitar with a pick more often than not, but find that my playing can be wildly different when using my fingers alone. Miles will make me is a good example of that. I like the neat little melody I’ve got going on in this song, but I like the slapping and popping I do even more. It’s a chance to take some rhythms I have from my bass playing experience and apply them to a folksy acoustic sound, and I dig it. I really enjoy playing this one live, and I’m glad it made the cut.

Also, Trevor’s bass solo, though. I mean, come on. A BASS SOLO on an folky acoustic track. I love it.

Song-by-Song: Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs

From Zack: 

I started writing this on the campus of UNCSA as Kendra and I were waiting to play music with Ryan for the first time. I think that's pretty fitting, as Ryan ended up being a great fit for our band and a great friend. It seems like fate that our self-titled song for our self-titled album was written on the first day that the official members of the band jammed together. Musically, this song seems to go over really well live, and I always look forward to playing. The moments of silence before I first say "I see..." in the beginning is always like a calm before the storm.

From Kendra: 

This is one disagreement I can fully admit I was wrong on. When Zack first said that he wanted to use our band name in a song, I cringed a little inside. It sounded like it would come off corny. But Zack forged ahead anyway, despite my protestations. He played "Brown Mountain Lightning Bugs" for me after he finished writing it and I loved it. We started playing it out, and it grew on me more as time went on. When it came time to record this album, I knew it had to be our opening track. It's a folky-as-heck tribute to the long drive that founded our friendship, romance, marriage, and band. And I'm so glad Zack had the good sense to ignore me on this one. ;)

Have a listen here: https://soundcloud.com/kendrabraggmusic/sets/brown-mountain-lightning-bugs

Grab the album here: www.brownmountainlightningbugs.com/new-products

Becca Stevens, "Regina"

When I started writing this blog I wanted to go into all the masterful, technical, musiciany things that I love about "Regina." I could write a whole blog post about how Becca treats the ukulele as the serious instrument it is (something we don't see enough of) and harnesses the full power of its distinctive timbre to create a somber melodic motif. I could go on for days about her incredible voice and the lush vocal harmonies. 

But I'm not going to. I'm going to get real with y'all about my obsession with this song.

Once in a while you get a piece of music that's a lifeline. You're floating in the water, trying to keep yourself from going under and suddenly there's something for you to grab onto to carry you through. This was one of those songs for me. This time last year I was wrapping up my master's degree, had no clue what direction my life was going to go in, and was battling massive anxiety and depression (those ugly things we often prefer to sweep under the rug). Frankly, I was in a terrible spot, and most of the deep-seated, horrendous things I was feeling were rooted in one word: unworthiness.

I have so many thoughts on that word and how it was and still is branded onto young women at an astonishingly early age. Some examples of exactly how I was feeling unworthy when this song soared into my life? I was about to get my master's in music! Yay, right? But I felt I didn't deserve it. I felt that I had faked my way though undergrad and grad school and people would see that degree and whisper behind my back, "How on earth did SHE get a master's degree? Guess they're just giving them away these days." I was in school and had two jobs, but in my mind I wasn't working enough hours. I was mooching off of my husband and all of his hard work. I was making good grades, but it was because the professors just wanted me to pass so they didn't have to deal with me again. The list goes on and on, and went on and on until I was in a tailspin, losing altitude and heading for a fiery crash.

Even on the day of the workshop with Becca and with Michelle Williams I was feeling deeply unworthy. Spots were given on a first-come, first-served basis. If skill had been a factor, I thought, I wouldn't have made the cut. 

Then Becca played this song, and talked about how the whole album speaks to the idea that women are born as queens and let the world rob us of that over time. 

Oh, did that hit home. It was like someone had turned on a thousand lightbulbs. That was me for most of my life. Constantly hiding behind accomplishments and waiting for the other shoe to drop and reveal that I had showed up to the party uninvited and underdressed.

That feeling of unworthiness had prompted me to jump on the hamster wheel and do all the right things as a person and musician in the hopes that I could hide my unworthiness just enough to get by. Write this kind of song, compose for this ensemble, attend this workshop, make that connection, play this event, say this thing, do that thing. I was doing so many things in my life that were just red herrings to throw people off of who I really was deep down. 

This song catalyzed a change in me. I realized that all of those feelings were false, and I decided to start saying what I really meant, doing what I really wanted to do, and writing the kind of songs I thought I'd forgotten how to write. It's been a lot of work over the last year. I had to go out and find my lost queen and pull her out of the mire and bring her home. Some days I still have to do that. I probably always will, but I'm miles ahead of where I was.

I know I'm not alone in this. I see it all over social media and hear it in conversation. Women have been hiding for a long time behind a lot of walls. I don't know what your wall might be. I don't know how long  you've been behind it, but let this song be your invitation to not just come out from behind the wall, but start demolishing it. You'll probably have to take it apart brick-by-brick but with each brick you break you'll get a little lighter. You'll start to see the true you in the mirror, and you'll take back your crown. 

"To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne." -Revelation 3:21