Autumn McEntire's Blog

Summer of Eleven: Track #2 – “Greener Grass”

autumnmcentire — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 17:38:23 +0000

“Greener Grass” is one of those songs that just poured out almost by itself, start to finish. As a songwriter, for me, that is not how I usually write. Most of the time, I have a general idea or “hook” to start from and then I build the chorus first. But sometimes, the emotional inspiration for a song over-powers the structure and somehow you just know what to say before the idea for the chorus even comes to you. That’s what happened with Greener Grass.

At the time I wrote Greener Grass, a close friend of mine was going through a divorce. My parents divorced when I was in college and for me, it’s one of the most tragic things that can ever happen to a person, even though most of the time it eventually works out for the best for everyone. The brokenness, the betrayal, the love lost, and hearts forever changed and bruised from a breakup of a marriage is so intense. While writing the verses, I imagined how I would feel if I ever lost my husband Mark. It was easy to find the words for the song, but really hard to put it down on paper.

Recording the song was REALLY FUN. My producer, Ginger, had some great ideas for the tonal sounds of the electric guitar parts. Mark helped me recruit Kevin Arrowsmith (who plays for Luke Bryan) to play fiddle. Between the two of them, the emotional quality of the song was brought to a whole new level. This is probably my favorite track on Summer of Eleven. You all know how I love those sad songs!

So that’s the inspiration behind “Greener Grass”. You can still get a physical copy of Summer of Eleven on my website http://www.autumnmcentire.com for $4.99, or you can download on iTunes, Amazon.com, or Cdbaby.com. Thanks again to everyone who has bought it already!

Thanks for listening!

autumn

http://www.autumnmcentire.com
http://www.facebook.com/autumnmcentiremusic
http://www.twitter.com/autrum25

Summer of Eleven: Track #1 – “Get To Me”

autumnmcentire — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 20:08:36 +0000

“I wouldn’t go back…I wouldn’t change time. If I had the chance again, I wouldn’t make you mine. But ooo, there are moments every now and then…”

No regrets, the past is the past, I’ve moved on…but then again. “Get To Me” is one of those kinds of songs. From a very early age, we develop our ability to love and be loved every time we let someone into our lives and into our hearts. The way we choose to love them and be loved by them directly affects that ever-developing ability in either a positive or negative way. Then when they go, we take that experience and sew it into the capacity of how we love the next person. But that previous experience, that person, never really goes away.

I wrote this song with my friend Fred Shafer (www.fredshafer.com). I had most of the lyrics already written when I brought him the idea. Then Fred put his spin on the melody and chord progression and added the turn-around melodic hook which completed the song perfectly! I’m so glad I chose Fred, although I never regret choosing Fred. I love all of the songs we’ve written together (60 Seconds, Into the Ground, While You’re Gone, Last Song, etc.). It just works.

So, that is a little “behind the music” info about the inspiration for “Get To Me”. If you haven’t picked it up, you can still purchase my new EP “Summer of Eleven” on my web-site (www.autumnmcentire.com) for $4.99, or download it on iTunes, Amazon, or CDbaby.com.

Thanks so much for listening and thank you for all of the comments and reviews for this new batch of songs! Makes my heart happy.

autumn

http://www.autumnmcentire.com

http://www.facebook.com/autumnmcentiremusic

http://www.twitter.com/autrum25

“Summer of Eleven”

autumnmcentire — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 22:34:33 +0000

Hello friends! I am so glad to finally say that yesterday, I released a 5-song mini CD called “Summer of Eleven”! I began recording this project with my friend Ginger Ludlow in May or June of this year and it feels great to finally share it with people. Thank you to everyone who has purchased it so far! We had record-breaking pre-order sales (for this lowly indie singer/songwriter…ha!) and your compliments on the songs have been so encouraging and great to hear! Thank you.

If you have not purchased or heard it yet, you can still order a hard copy on my web-site www.autumnmcentire.com for $4.99. Hard copies feature some great photos by Evin Photography (as does my newly designed web-site). You can also download the CD on iTunes, CDbaby.com, Amazon, and pretty much anywhere else you can buy music online.

Over the next week or so, I will be blogging some “behind the scenes” info about each song on the record. I always like it when songwriters share their inspiration or back story about their music so I thought I would do the same. Please subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss any good stores! I had a great time writing and recording this record (while pregnant!) and had some amazing people contributing their talents along the way.

So, that’s it for now. Thank you again for everyone’s support! You guys make it really fun to be a singer/songwriter!

autumn

The Making of an EP

autumnmcentire — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 00:15:04 +0000

Hello everyone!

We are officially underway with making my new CD, a 5 song mini-record, or EP as they call it these days. It’s been a while since I have released new music (2008)…a LONG while! For this record, I have recruited an old college friend of mine, Ginger Ludlow, to help me record. Ginger is a self-made, super-talented producer who has a lovely little studio in the basement of her home (soooo Nashville!). I played Ginger about 15 songs that I have written over the last several years and out of those we chose 5 to record and release this coming Fall. If all goes well, our plan is to release another EP in the Spring to give you guys more music, more often! We are currently in the middle of track number three. Track titles will be released once we’re all finished and ready to go though many of you will recognize a few of these songs from my live shows.

Last Monday, I had a photo shoot with Evin Krehbiel (Evin Photography) for the EP photos and artwork. Evin happens to be my sister-in-law so it was extra fun to hang with her and watch her work. She’s super talented as well! We shot in downtown Franklin (just south of Nashville) at one of my favorite little hang’s, 55 South. A few behind-the-scenes shots are shown below, but the official photos will be out in a few months. Can’t wait for you guys to see them!

So, stay tuned for more news…release date, track list, pre-orders, web-site changes, give-aways, show dates, and more! Also, see my website (http://www.autumnmcentire.com) and my Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/autumnmcentiremusic) for our Autumn McEntire T-SHIRT CLOSE OUT SALE we have going on.

As always, thanks for listening.

autumn

New music play list…

autumnmcentire — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 23:05:45 +0000

I just put together a play list of music that I’ve been listening to. I do this a lot. It’s a good way for me to remember what I’ve purchased on iTunes because I often forget (I buy a lot of music). It also usually displays my mood at the time and helps me work through life. Like praying, kind of. This new play list is REALLY GOOD so I thought I would share. Check it out:

1. Poison & Wine – The Civil Wars
2. I Just Realized – Matt Wertz
3. Misguided Ghosts – Paramore
4. These Hard Times – Needtobreathe (Play this one real loud. Like, uncomfortably loud. Feels great!)
5. Something Beautiful – Needtobreathe
6. Haunted – Taylor Swift
7. Decode – Paramore
8. Sing My Lonesome Away – Matt Wertz
9. Dirt Road Anthem – Jason Aldean
10. Don’t You Wanna Stay – Jason Aldean & Kelly Clarkson
11. Beautiful One – Jonny Lang (Old, but soooo gooooood. And sexy.)
12. All I Wanted – Paramore

Enjoy! Lots of love.

autumn

Music Weekend

autumnmcentire — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:07:09 +0000

I still don’t think I’ve completely recovered from this last weekend. Still need sleep! Three shows in two days that all began last Friday night in Nashville at The Rutledge with Fred Shafer. We had an awesome crowd and man…did Fred and the boys pour it on! I got to do my BGV thang (back ground vocals) and had a ton of fun doing it. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us! We are hoping to do that more often, so if you missed it, you’ll get another chance very soon.

Then Saturday morning, bright and early, we drove to Findlay, Ohio for a show at Coffee Amici. If you’ve never been there, Amici is this groovy little coffee shop in downtown Findlay that features live music a few times a week. Fred and I did our singer-songwriter thang and then headed over to Nino’s bar and did the rock-n-roll thang with the band. Again, AWESOME crowds! Findlay always makes us feel welcome and we can never wait to go back. After the bar closed, we ended up having a bonfire at Mark’s uncle’s house and hung out with our friends and fam. Definitely went to be at 5am!!

The weekend ended with a breakfast gathering and an afternoon cookout with a nap or two here and there, then we drove back to Nashville on Monday to resume our normal lives. Ha!

I have a couple of videos from the Amici Show that I will post to YouTube soon, so be on the lookout!

Can’t wait to do more shows! Love you guys!

autumn

From the mailing list…

autumnmcentire — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 03:44:16 +0000

In case you are not a current member of my mailing list, the following is what you almost missed. To join my mailing list, please send an email to digsmusic@gmail.com with subject titled “mailing list”.

Hello everyone!

Long time…no mailing list update! How’s it going? Hope everyone is well and surviving this awesome HEAT we’ve got going on during these last Summer months. I’ve got a few updates I want to share with you all in case you haven’t heard about them already. Here we go…

FIRST of all, autumnmcentire.com is now officially up and running! Please visit http://www.autumnmcentire.com for all things related Autumn from here on out! You’ll find all the latest updates, music, show dates, and photos as well as a merchandise store and much more. Please send the website page to your friends, post on your Facebook and Twitter statuses and help us spread the word! And be looking for new show dates to be posted very soon.

SECONDLY, I was fortunate enough to be included in a charity compilation CD called FOR NASHVILLE:FOR HAITI. The CD features a wide rage of music from Nashville singer-songwriters and all proceeds raised go to victims of the recent Nashville flood and Haiti earthquake. Please take a moment to check out their website and make a purchase (you can find the link on MY website autumnmcentire.com). You will definitely get your money’s worth, plus it goes to two great causes.

THIRDLY…new blog http://www.autumnmcentire.wordpress.com. Please become a follower!

LASTLY, I am currently in the process of writing my next CD which looks like will be an acoustic record. I’m really excited about writing and releasing this one because some of my favorite albums of all time are acoustic (think Patty Griffin, Patty Loveless, Emmylou Harris, Jewel). But…I need our help and I need MONEY! (Ha!) So please spread the word about my latest CD “Seven Seasons” available for purchase on iTunes, CDbaby.com, and my website along with t-shirts as well. The more I sell, the sooner I can get more music to you! (Thanks in advance for the support.

That’s it for now. Thank you to everyone of you for being so awesome to me and supporting my music. Couldn’t do it without you!

Until next time,

autumn

Web-site, traveling, and new album…

autumnmcentire — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:00:47 +0000

Hey everyone,

Updates updates and more updates! I haven’t blogged in a while and as you can see I’ve switched my blog from blogspot to wordpress. So if you were a follower of the blogspot before, please switch and be a follower on this one! And tell your friends…thank you.

I guess the latest news is that my website autumnmcentire.com is finally up and running! Yeah!!! I’m fantastically excited about it because it’s the perfect way for you guys to keep in touch and let you know what’s going on. You’ll find all of my music, as an artist and a songwriter, pictures, updates, merchandise store, show dates, and all the fun music and social pages you can join. So please check it out often and spread the word to your peeps who you think will enjoy my music. And thank you in advance for that!

For those of you who follow my Facebook and Twitter updates, you might have noticed I have been traveling A LOT for my new job. Aside from my music, I am also in the fashion industry. I’ve been working as a merchandise coordinator for a clothing line since April doing store visits traveling from Ohio down to Florida, Arkansas to the Carolinas. It’s been really fun for me thus far. I am working on dropping a few acoustic shows in here and there a long the way, so please keep an eye on my tour dates page on the website to see if I’m coming to your town!

Lastly, I am currently writing for my next album which (I think) will be an acoustic record. It will include some old and some new songs with broken down, simple production. Hopefully it’ll be a very chill, easy, sit in the dark and drink wine kind of a record. I’m pumped! Fred Shafer will have quite a bit to do with this record as well, which is very exciting! If you don’t know who Fred is please check out www.fredshafer.com and come out from under that rock where you’ve been!

So that’s pretty much what’s been going on with me lately. Please keep in touch guys…I love hearing from you all! And please check out the website autumnmcentire.com and let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for listening,

autumn