Songs For Sojourning By Katie Lawson - Thoughts On The Album
Updated: 2 days ago
Over the past few months, I’ve had the joy of getting to be a part of recording, mixing, and mastering an album for the artist Katie Lawson entitled: Songs for Sojourning. In this post, I’m going to share some reflections on the album, the process of making it, and share links to check out the songs, and support Katie’s work.
Who’s Katie Lawson?
Katie Lawson is an artist and songwriter based in Gainesville, Georgia. I actually first connected with Katie years ago when she needed drums recorded on her song “Warmth.” I got to record drums on that song, and have been a fan of her music ever since. Katie is a wife, a mom, a worship leader, and a member of the local church.
Katie makes prayerful, faith-based (Christian) folk music. It doesn’t take long to realize that Katie has been a student of songwriting for a long time, and has the ability to perceive her experiences in the world with a perspective that is both fresh and authentic, full of hope and realism.
I reconnected with Katie through the Lantern House - a non-profit organization who’s mission is to “Cultivate a Christ-centered community for artists and art-loving folks in and around Athens, Georgia.”
At the first Lantern House Conference (the next one is happening November 7th by the way), Katie told me she was working on an album and needed a producer/help recording and getting it out there.
Why I think Katie’s Music Is Important
In a world that feels like it is becoming increasingly focused on dividing people up into more and more personalized bubbles enabling them to never have their beliefs challenged, Katie is making music that is not church music, and is also not deconstructing or lamenting the existence of the church.
She’s doing what art has always done and algorithms will never do: exploring the intersection of two seemingly contradictory realities - faith in God, and the everyday mundane lives that we all encounter, no matter how spiritual or unspiritual we claim to be.
Who Is This Album For?
I think this is a great album for anyone who’s looking for honest, well-crafted, hopeful folk/singer-songwriter music - whether you identify as a Christian or not. If you’re a Christian, maybe this album will help you feel less alone as you seek God in your everyday life. If you’re not a Christian, or even if you feel wounded and upset by Christianity and Christians, maybe this album can be an encouragement that there are Christians out there trying to walk out their faith with humility, peace, and a desire to create beautiful things.
The Process of Making The Album
Over a few months, Katie and her husband Lucas made the drive from Gainesville to the north side of Athens, Georgia to work on her album.
We took a hybrid approach to creating this album: we recorded her vocals and acoustic guitar parts in person, and then I tracked the drums on my own at the studio, and pulled in various musicians to fill out the tracks. We communicated over the phone, and Sessionwire video calls to dial in edits, mixes, and final masters.
Where And When You Can Listen
Katie has released four songs so far, and her full ten song album comes out on October 16th on all streaming platforms.
1) Beauty Up Ahead
This song is the first single off the album, and the second song we recorded together. It’s a simple but beautiful song that features Katie’s acoustic guitar and vocals, with some piano accompaniment by Lane Marie O’Kelley (my better half). While the song didn’t need drums, Katie let me sneak in some cymbal swells :). Recorded, mixed, mastered here at the studio.
Here’s how the song sounded in voice memo form:
Here’s the final version:
2) Know/Known
The song is an ode to the local church, and really took a village to pull together. Katie knew she wanted the song to start intimate, and end with lots of voices singing along. She also knew she wanted her friend Graham Jones to be on this song.
We tracked Katie’s vocals and guitar, and then I added drums. We sent the song to Graham to record his vocals, and to Matt Osburn to add some bass and electric guitar. Graham and Matt both killed it, but we weren’t sure how we were going to get all those voices at the end of the song.
Meanwhile, Katie played a house show in Athens opening up for Caleb Christopher Edwards (another great artist). I was running sound, and when Katie finished her set we were waiting for Caleb to take the stage. All of a sudden I realized, we had what we needed: a group full of people who could sing the last choruses of the song, so I promptly got Katie to teach the room her chorus, got a few people around the room to record on their iphone voice memos, and captured a stereo recording of everyone singing the song.
I was able to line up the tracks with the recording, and that’s what you hear at the end of the song!
Here’s how the song started in voice memo form:
Here’s the final version:
3) 3 a.m.
This song is about Katie better understanding the love of God through becoming a mom. This song features the talents of Ian White on electric guitar, Lee Moody on bass and yours truly on drums.
This one came together really easily and quickly.
Here’s how the song started in voice memo form:
Here’s the final version:
4) Feast
This song came out this Friday, and is the most rock n roll song on the album. As soon as Katie tracked the guitar and vocals, I knew this song needed some roomy John Bonham inspired drums and big guitars. This one also features Ian White on electric guitar, and Lee Moody on bass. Katie also played acoustic and electric guitar on this song.
Here’s how the song started as a voice memo:
Here’s the final version:
5) Honeysuckle
This song is a beautiful, acoustic ballad that wrestles with the experience of miscarraige. It features the string arrangements and performances of John Richard Curran. John composed the strings from his studio in the UK. Other than John's strings, the song features acoustic guitar, and percussion.
Here's the voice memo:
Here's the final version:
The rest of the album comes out on October 16th. You can presave the album here:
How You Can Support Katie
Katie is doing this album completely independently. That is a hard (and expensive) thing to do. If you like this album and want to support Katie’s work, the best way to do that is to send her a donation via Venmo:
@klawmartin - https://account.venmo.com/u/klawmartin
The money will go to recouping the cost of making the album (paying for studio time, musicians, etc.), and go towards helping her support her family, and make more great music.
You can also follow her on social media, and subscribe to her Substack where she’ll be sharing about her album and musical endeavors.
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