Sandra McCracken

I'm giving away another full album this month, and thinking again about the nature of music, why we musicians make art, and why we hope that someone will hear the art we make and make it their own in some small or significant way.  Like all good things, if you want to keep it, you gotta give it away.  It's become a family motto for us around here...so please go and

download GRAVITY | LOVE at NoiseTrade. 

Gravity | Love is one of my favorite records that I have made, because of the experience of writing and recording it.  We recorded it following "Best Laid Plans" in (2006) after I had made a record and partnered with Shell Records in London.  I had spent some time touring across the pond, performing lots of BBC 2 radio spots and sipping strong, English tea.   Gravity | Love was, in a way, bringing in the things I had learned from these experiences of making a more intentionally commercial record (Best Laid Plans) and also wanting to make a path forward that was mindful of these new insights but at the same time, deeply personal.  

I wrote Portadown Station on the train on my way between Belfast and Dublin. I wrote "All The Miles" pondering the mysteries of marriage, when we were 5 years in.  The bonus song on the download, "Sweet Amelia" was from the same year, written for my friends who were waiting on an international adoption. "Doubt (Speak It Plain)" was inspired by C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces (a must read if you haven't). 

All this to say, I believe in the connection between artist and listener.  I'm writing for my next record, which hopefully will be coming out later this year and am excited to share this free music with you to celebrate where we've been and to lean forward to what's ahead.  

Any time you share this music via NoiseTrade or make a "mix-tape" for your friends, I am grateful.  After you listen to the record, if you leave a tip on the "tip the artist" page, know that it will go right back into paying for the next record (and maybe a trip or two to the grocery).

Thank you THANK YOU, friends.  I couldn't do this without you.  

Craig Young, Peter Collins, Sandra McCracken, Derek Webb, Brady Blade, & Ray Kennedy at Room & Board Studios

(Photo - Jordan Hamlin)