This song could have been called “Daddy’s Little Girl Had a Little Boy,” but the fact that this all happened on leap year made that the more relevant song title for my co-writer.

I’d written one other song in the past with Michael Erdos, and when his wife was about to give birth to their son, after just losing her Dad, Michael asked me to co-write and produce this song for her as a surprise gift. I know, right? How amazing. (You should hear the story of how he proposed – and that other song we wrote! If I can find it someday…)

The song still gets me a little weepy (although it has quite a breezy feel, as was his mission), especially when it gets to the very end: My daughter Emilia, only 9 at the time, sings the background vocals with her friend Anna.

Enjoy the extra day this month!

I’m also launching the new site, and will be adding new music, video and news over the coming weeks.

The PledgeMusic drive was a huge success – I really appreciate all the support! With all your help, we easily reached our goal of creating a budget for radio and publicity. Hope to see you out there in 2012.
-BK

“After taking a decade-long hiatus from record-making and touring to focus on her family, she’s back with 10 gems wrapped in her exquisite voice and shining with the joy that comes from aging, acceptance and boatloads of gratitude.” Performing Songwriter

It occurred to me that I will be releasing this new CD almost exactly 9 months from the start of recording. There are so many ways this is like gestation, this process of recording a CD. So many apt analogies. Except, as Fran-my-co-producer says, there’s one difference: that baby’s definitely coming. With a CD, or any other creative work, you have to keep showing up and making it happen, every day, till you’re done. And in this case it just happens to be about 9 months later.

Reading about everybody’s gratitude this Thanksgiving, and contemplating the art of appreciating and giving thanks, I am moved to tell the story of my song “You Give it Away” (track 1 on What You Keep, my upcoming CD). After writing it, I discovered the proverb “what you give away you keep” and that was the inspiration for the album title. It’s a song about sharing – not only what you have, but the essence of who you are. The song was originally inspired by a very moving letter from a fan, basically thanking me for sharing a part of myself from the stage. I found this letter (which had been filed away) during my retreat from performing, as I was trying to re-discover the joy I had once felt in my music and career. The song is my gift back to that letter-writer.

If you find your way to this link, you can download the song now – a gift to you too.

Look for the official release of What You Keep the first week of January.

Facebook Page

artwork by Sue Pelletier

I think of this as a “roll the window down and chill” song… don’t have too many of those!

SOUNDTRACK ©ⓟ 2000 Barbara Kessler

Get that stack of old 45′s
I’ll get my Frampton Comes Alive
I’ll roll down the window you drive
Into that Horizon

Remember when you knew every song
But always got the lyrics wrong
You would let me tag along
‘Cause I memorized them

Chorus:
Turn the radio loud
Tell me what that song’s about
Can you hear the sound?
Of the soundtrack of my life

All the world’s a movie and I ‘m the star
And the music swells at all the right parts
The art of making life an art -
Before the credits roll

Chorus:
Turn the radio loud
Tell me what that song’s about
Can you hear the sound?
Of the soundtrack, the soundtrack of my Life

Paint It Black: An Alt-Country Tribute to the Rolling Stones

You can hear samples of the songs – from artists like Hem and Cowboy Junkies and Matthew Ryan and Mary Gauthier – on iTunes or on Amazon. Let me know what you think!

I will be at Club Passim, Cambridge MA, on Saturday June 18, opening 2 shows for the lovely and lilting Catie Curtis, 6 & 9PM. Please join us.

Club Passim Calendar

Thanks for keeping in touch. More news on the new recordings soon…

BK

Some things I’ve been up to (since you dropped by, thought you might like to know):

Recording with young songwriters – a couple of my students are recording their debut EP’s with me. So much fun, such energy, fresh voices, fresh perspectives. Good to hear.

Working on various songs – a new tribute album (recording a cool version of a lesser-known song by a classic band – more soon); basics for some of my unrecorded songs; collaborating with other writers and producers on occasion.

And this weekend, I’ll be playing a benefit in New Jersey that a dear friend of mine is organizing.

But mostly, I’m enjoying home life with my family, hanging in our newly renovated barn (and studio!) and watching as time whizzes by.

Wait a minute, what’s that crashing sound?

I am excited that my song “Happy With You,” from my CD Stranger To This Land, has been receiving airplay again after all these years – on Sirius satellite radio’s channel 30, The Coffeehouse. If you’d like, you can request it from their website!

http://www.sirius.com/thecoffeehouse

It’s so amazing when a song finds a life of its own, and this little song certainly has – I’ve heard from so many people over the years who have used it as their wedding song. (I was lucky enough to have Jennifer Kimball sing it for us at my own wedding, 14 years ago this summer. It was quite the surprise; I had asked her to sing, but was stunned when she began to sing that one. Her version was so haunting and lovely, it was hard to imagine I’d have to sing it again myself after that.)

The song I’m working on at the moment is “Ways to be Brave,” which some of you may have heard if you’ve seen me play anytime in the last couple years. Bringing it to life in recorded form is most fun, as I am happily playing around with Rhodes sounds reminiscent of my beloved Queen – one of my earliest influences! (Can’t you hear it? Ha!)

Keep in touch and you’ll be among the first to know when it’s done. Thanks, and hope you’re well, and Happy, too…