Producing an Album in a Little Room

Hi friends,

I wanted to share with you how the past six months have been for me creatively. To give you a glimpse - currently, I’m sitting in the living room, while Sherell (my amazing wife) is in the other room finishing compiling some backing tracks for our duo’s performances. After writing this, I’ll probably join her for a while to practice for our next gig. But most days, I’ll be hiding in the other room and getting lost in finishing some vocals or mixing my new songs.

If you’re new here - Hi! I’m Megan Stoneson, a Bay Area-raised independent music artist of ten years, making songs for other overthinkers and overfeelers. 💜

So as I’m thinking about the beautiful mess that is making music, I wanted to share my thoughts on inspiration. I used to have the impression that inspiration is supposed to come in some big, illuminating moment. A retreat in nature filled with jamming on guitars and singing, where a song is just created. Or one big tough life moment, where there would just be a keyboard and my feelings and again, a song would appear. But lately, inspiration has come to me like square pieces of fabric one by one, and I’m just waiting for all the rest of them to make a quilt. Quietly sewing each piece together, being patient, and artistically choosing where each piece will go.

In a more literal sense, it’s been: right before bed, a melody coming into my mind and then humming it into my phone. The next day, driving to a CVS for stuff, and in the parking lot I get a few actual words written down that go with that melody. Waiting patiently to find the right words, and sitting in moments of my emotions to get there. Then the next day, I’m inspired to create some beats and actual production to go with that little melody I came up with.

Most of the time, the hardest part is finding the words, because I have to wait until I naturally feel something. Angry. Worried. In Love. Happy. Something I’ve learned over the years is that to me, songs become a lot more scary to sing and a lot more important to make when they actually come from something I’m feeling or experiencing. But that’s the most exciting part too.

The second hardest part for me is discipline. It’s not the prettiest word, but it’s been important to me recently. I’ve become disciplined in exploring music, and learning how to mix and master my own stuff, especially when it doesn’t feel fun right away. But then I get sucked into the magic.

However, I give myself a bit of grace for the past couple of years in not writing a lot of songs. Sherell and I had a tough time where we were living, our dog passed away from a grueling 5 months of having cancer, we both felt stuck creatively, and many more things made it hard for me to want to do anything but watch hours of whatever show we were watching and spend time with our dogs.

Now that we’ve moved from a small-ish town to the big Bay Area, I feel so much more grounded. Over the past six months, Sherell’s and I have travelled to see family and celebrate weddings, played shows and made new friends in the Bay Area. In our travels, we’ve seen monuments and explored DC, Virginia, and a little island in South Carolina all for the first time. While that should’ve created a bed of inspiration for me, it was honestly a great time of rest and fun (see photos below).

All that to say, I’m in an exciting season. I’ve been reveling in a creative explosion. No eating, no drinking, just music (well, maybe drinking some hard iced teas). Sherell has gotten so used to it by now, which I’m thankful for.

I didn’t know that I had so much inside my head and heart that needed to be processed. Through writing these new songs, I’ve been finding closure in how the past couple of years have been really tough for us. I’ve found an outlet for feeling confident, for the version of myself years ago that wasn’t allowed to be outspoken. And some polite anger at societal standards. And love songs of course. It’s all coming out.

While I am still hiding my newest creations from the public, Sherell and I are performing quite often these days with our duo Speaking of Roses. You can follow our gig schedule here and come say hello!

Speaking of Roses Shows - BandsInTown

While this is a couple months old, I still feel it 100%. Plus I haven’t created a proper blog/email blast in months, so it’s basically brand new. Enjoy ~