Fiddler · Singer · Songwriter
Performance – Recording – Instruction

Song origins

February 16th at the Walnut Room 8:00 p.m. (Denver) – Katie Glassman trio opening for Milk Drive

February 23rd at Rocky Mountain Center for the Arts 7:30 (Lafayette) – Katie Glassman Quartet

 

I’ve had many people ask if I would start a blog about the seedlings of my tunes.  Where did they come from?  In listening to to other songwriters, I often enjoy the magic of not knowing and coming up with my own ideas.  However, after singing a few Leonard Cohen songs at the tribute concert last weekend, I’ve realized that knowing the story of a tune deepens the intent of the tune and continues the story.  So, I’ve decided to gradually start sharing the stories of some of some of my tunes.

Track 14 Deer Brush Waltz

I wrote this tune in winter of 2011.  It was a Wednesday and the night before, I had been driving between Fraser and Grand Lake, Colorado on hwy 40.  It was about dusk and light snowflakes were falling.  I was driving and listening to Lyle Lovett’s Natural Forces album…… when a 150 pound deer ran in front of my car.  There was nothing I could do.  The blue Ford Escape crashed heavily and bounced back with a jerk as the poor deer fell to the ground.  The car smoked, I cried.

The next day, I sat in my music studio and picked up my violin, I played through the entire waltz once, then hit record on my phone in case there were any good ideas in there.  After that, I kept every note and every chord the same.  I felt like the deer had left me its song.

Later that same day, I wrote Uncle John.  That’s another story…..

A few months later, in the studio we had Sally Van Meter, Eric Thorin, Yaniv Salzberg and I.   Shortly after, my engineer, John Macy, mentioned that Sam Bush was going to be in the studio and did I have any tracks he could play on.  We both immediately thought of Deer Brush Waltz.  I was in Texas when Sam was in the studio, but I am thrilled he’s on it!




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