Constant Companions –

Mark and I wrote this song in July 2009, about the bond between sisters.

Our mother always told us to be kind to each other because we would need each other down the road. When we were younger and fighting over clothes and other foolish things, I refused to believe I would ever need my sisters for anything. Now that we’re older and life is a little more complicated, I’m shocked to realize how many times we actually do need each other. We’ve been in this thing together from day one. Near or far, it’s a bond that can never be broken.

Newfoundland – Mark and I wrote this song about our love of Newfoundland.

Karen and I are very fortunate to be able to travel the world because of our music but Newfoundland will forever be the only place we call our home.

Sing You Home (Song for Steve) –

This song is written in the memory of our cousin Stephen Patrick Brocklehurst who died October 17th, 2008. We considered him more like a brother to us.

Mark and I wrote this song in one of the darkest moments of my life. It was written the same night that the memorial service for the Cougar Helicopter victims was being held at the Basilica in St. John’s, NL.

This song has helped in my healing process. I hope it does the same for whoever needs comfort during their time of grief.

With You –

Mark and I wrote this song in Lower Island Cove, NL-August/September 2008. We had just moved back home from Nashville, TN and were in between living arrangements. A fabulous friend of ours, Kay Haynes, graciously offered us her summer home (an old merchant’s house, in Lower Island Cove) so we could be inspired. All she asked in return was that we sign the guest book.

What a spectacular view of the ocean from that balcony.

We had no TV or radio. There was no cell service or internet.

There was a landline phone in the downstairs hall for emergencies only, a beautiful old fireplace, and a deck of cards.

I am so the queen of Crazy Eights. If Mark tells you any different it’s just his sore loser side surfacing. Not pretty.

We saw the moon rise every evening before the rain clouds took over the sky. We could see when the bad weather was moving in on us for miles out over the ocean.

The house is right beside an old graveyard. Some of the dates on the graves are from the 1700’s…So much history.

You’d think the writing process would be too easy. However, I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of the place that I didn’t even know where to start. The dreaded writer’s block had come to take part in the festivities. I allowed the frustration of its unwelcomed visit to take me over.

Poor Mark…

Then my dearest friend in the world, Tracie Redmond, said she was going to make the three-hour drive out to hear what we’d written. We had one song completed and I was determined to have at least three by the time she came out for a visit in a few days.

A few days later, as she was pulling into the driveway, Mark and I were putting the finial verse in this song. Oh Tracie: my muse. What would I do without you?? She knows how to get me off my butt, that’s for sure.

This song is about the awkwardness of falling in love. You know, the point where there are more questions than answers. When nothing makes sense and the most perfect of words can’t explain the way you feel inside.

Certainly Blowing

This is the tune in “With You”.

I wrote this about something our Grandfather, William Ennis used to say.

It didn’t matter if it was the lightest of summer breezes or the stormiest of winter gales, if my Grandfather saw the leaves on the trees moving the slightest little bit, he’d look out the window and say, “It’s certainly blowing”. It was one the many little things he’d say that will forever make me smile.

I’m Leaving - .

It’s definitely my favorite song on the CD.
Mark and I have been writing this song since 2002. We finally wrote it about coming back to Newfoundland after a year in Nashville, TN.
Nashville – what a learning experience for all of us. I don’t think either of us would change a thing about it, good or bad.
When we crossed that Canadian border, I think it was 4:30 in the morning. We were surviving on very little sleep. Two days into our road trip. Ingrid Michaelson on repeat in the car. We were trying to make the Ferry that was at least a day away in North Sydney, NS. We didn’t have a moment to spare if we were going to make it in time.
And we were going to make it, darn it.
Poor Mark…
I was so homesick that I stood up underneath a Canadian flag in the pouring rain while Mark filled the car with gas.
I cried, no sobbed, with relief knowing that I was heading home while I sipped on a cup of black Tim Horton’s Coffee.
I’m a Newfoundlander through and through. It took me leaving to really understand the depth of my love for my home.

High Up There –

  • I wrote this song about a robin I heard singing on one of my summer evening walks. I wrote the entire song from a female robin’s point of view. I thought it would be genius if I could somehow use the actual robin’s song in the song somewhere, so I decided to do some research.

I found out that only the male robin sings.

BOO!!

That’s when I cleverly replaced “robin” with “small bird”.

This song pretty much captures the way I think when I’m walking.

I think this song is proof that I think way too much.

Cecilia –

  • I was getting ready to write one evening, waiting for Mark to finish with the ENNIS business so we could write together. Again, I was inflicted with a frustrating case of writer’s block. I was wondering why I was so inspired one minute and the next I had nothing. So I asked St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music, where she was when I needed her. And just like that I had the inspiration for the song.

Our mother’s name is Cecilia. She was somewhere in my mind as I was writing this as well. I wanted to be clever when it came to the ambiguity of the two but we ended up writing more about the saint.

Mark finished up the ENNIS business for the day and for the rest of the evening we worked away on it.

This was the final song we wrote for “Lessons Learned”. The night before ENNIS started pre-production.

Until Then –

Mark and I wrote this song because Karen and I wanted to have an original song to end our shows with. We were singing songs that delivered the same message but it never felt sincere enough to us because they were always someone else’s words we were singing. Now, we have it in our own words and music.

Until then…much more appropriate than good-bye don’t you think?