Hotel, Motel, HOLIDAY INN…Birthplace of My Album

Exactly 18 days until I’m in the studio….I can’t believe it!  It seems like yesterday that I moved to Nashville, excitedly writing down goals for the upcoming year and posting them on my wall, one by one. One of those goals was to write songs for my next album.  Not only did I want to write songs, I wanted to write great songs.  I wanted to dig deeper into my soul and heart than I ever had before.  I wanted the listeners of my next record to know me, the good, the bad, and everything in between.   I wanted to spend my days co-writing with great writers, learning from industry veterans, and networking, so that during my nights, I could take all of the new knowledge I was acquiring, and put it to use in my own songs.

They say it takes a lifetime to write your first album, but only a few short months to write your second. This is absolutely true for me as my first album was a culmination of songs made of up thoughts and events from my entire life. Several years ago, I was under no such stress to create a record.  However, when 2008 rolled around and I wanted to put something together, it just so happened that I had now accumulated over 200 songs and ideas over the past few years.  With this sophomore release, what you will hear is the direct result of my life in this past year. In fact, the first song I wrote for this album was created in the middle of my very first night in Nashville…

It was February 28, 2010.  We arrived in Nashville that day a little before noon.  Yes, it is an 8 hour drive, but in true Quick family fashion, Dad likes to get on the road early “to beat the traffic.”  As a result, we got here in plenty of time to shop at Target and stock up on food, toiletries, and that new adorable tank top that I told my mom “I just had to have.” They helped move me into my new place, and because they would be driving back the next day, I decided I would stay the night at the hotel with them.  The Holiday Inn on Broadway is one my favorite places to stay in town. Not only because its a hop, skip, and a jump from downtown, but also because it was the birthplace this album’s first new song.

I was awoken suddenly during that nights sleep by a series of thoughts spinning around my head like a Vegas slot machine. It’s not abnormal for me to be kept awake at night by my overactive brain, but this time something was different.  This sudden urge, I realized, was a song idea that I knew immediately I had to write down. Seeing that I was in a hotel room with two other people, and it was 3:00AM, I wasn’t really at liberty to just turn on the lights and starting playing my guitar. Instead, I searched in the darkness for the complimentary pen and Holiday Inn notepad that I knew surely had to be on the nightstand. I didn’t find a writing utensil, however, I was able to successfully knock over the clock and a spill a half-full fountain drink in the process.  I panicked as the song idea was slowly fading like a Back to the Future photograph.  “I need to write this down!” I thought to myself.  Alas, when all else fails, grab your Blackberry.  I threw myself off the bed towards the outlet where my phone was charging. I ripped it out of the wall and began frantically texting myself the words and thoughts that were in my head.  Before I knew it, I had written an entire song, start to finish, in the dark, on my cell phone.  This was a first. I breathed a sigh of relief, and went back to sleep. In the morning, my parents woke up and went downstairs to use the gym. It was then that I got out of bed, grabbed my phone, laptop, and guitar, and started putting a melody to last nights lyrical madness.  The tune seemed to fit the words of my new song so well, that it was as if I was a merely a matchmaker for a couple of long lost soulmates destined to meet.  Sigh.  The song was complete. There I sat with the guitar in my arms, looking at the words of my new song glowing from my computer screen. I clicked save, closed the computer, and smiled.

My first night in Nashville…a new song…the start of a new life. I had reached my destination.

****SAVE THE DATE!! The cd release party for my new album (complete with the song described above) will take place on Saturday, May 14th at Joe’s on Weed Street in Chicago!!!  Joe’s is the premier country music venue in Chicago and was an Academy of Country Music Venue of the Year.  The stage has seen the likes of Keith Urban, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Sara Evans, Sugarland, and every other country act that has come through the Windy City. Tickets will sell out quickly, so please stay tuned for info in the coming weeks!  Lots of Love, Katie****