New Album: Live at The Old Church with Members of the Oregon Symphony

I am thrilled to share that my new album, Live at The Old Church with Members of the Oregon Symphony, is out now!

Today you can listen, stream, and purchase the album in all the places you can find music...

Watch the Album Trailer

Video made by Alex Ramey at DJ Cutt Entertainment

This is my first live record, and oh my gosh, what an educational experience. Just wanted to share a few of the things I learned...

• DPA microphones are the BEST for capturing live sound on strings (thanks for loaning us a couple, Oregon Symphony!)

• Applause... it's part of the track. We had to determine how much applause to include before fading it out and which mics on the stage captured it best. Turns out, the overhead mic over the flute caught a lot of the room sound, so we made sure it was turned up good and loud in the mix during the applause sections. And occasionally you'll hear the string players checking their tuning during the applause sections.

• The audience is very important, and they did awesome that night. They were so quiet during the songs! Thank you, my friends!

• Stage banter... to include, or not to include, that is the question. I love connecting with the audience from the stage between songs, but after listening to a lot of live records, I determined NOT to include my little speeches in the mix, because these days, music is often listened to in playlists, shuffled around, on Pandora stations, etc... and stage banter, in my opinion, doesn't fit as well in those settings. I did, however, include my thank-yous and acknowledgements of the symphony players at the end of the final track.

• Our Oregon Symphony musicians are amazingly talented but also extremely kind, dedicated and supportive. It was such a pleasure to do this project with them.

This album includes all my new singles released in 2018, plus some selections from my 3 studio albums:

Track listing:

Sunrise

Love on a Rainy Day

Walk with Me

Angel in the Snow

Forevermore

My Superman

Everything Is Brighter

We Don’t Need Words

Night of Silence

Bright Eyes

These songs already exist in studio-recorded form, and it brought me so much joy to re-imagine and experience them in a chamber-music concert setting. I asked Steve Sundholm, who mixed and mastered the record, to describe the sound. He said, "Unique instrumentation that adds an Old-World sound to modern songwriting. The album exudes charm and grace."

I must acknowledge all of the people that helped this album come to life:

Amy Hawkins - composition on “Night of Silence”

Ethan Sperry - orchestration on “Angel in the Snow”

Steve Sundholm - orchestration on “Everything is Brighter”

Reece Marshburn - orchestration on “We Don’t Need Words”

Oregon Symphony musicians:

Peter Frajola - violin & guitar

Trevor Fitzpatrick - cello

Alicia DiDonato Paulsen - flute

Adam Trussell - bassoon

Sergio Carreno - percussion

Live audio recording by Darren Oberg

Mixed and mastered by Steve Sundholm

Photography by Marjorie Dizon and Scott Frey

Graphic design by Kiel Bishop

PR by Katy Pollock

Concert management by Allison Silverberg

Concert MC by Susannah Mars

Concert videography by DJ Cutt Entertainment

Concert ticketing/ushering by Aliyih Bristol, Marti Mendenhall, Todd Weedman, Tanya Stump

Concert hospitality by Joni Goodwin, Melissa Goodwin, Amy Hawkins, Bette Morton, Shirley Weiler, Catherine Gray

Concert sponsors and patrons: Pat Reser, Saving His Music, Tom & Karol Rykert, Caryn Tilton, Summit Research, Campbell Lane Winery, Lauren Rykert, Mike & Carolyn Lindberg, The Old Church, Precision Graphics, Aliyih Bristol, Amy Thomas, Andy & Annie Johnson, Catherine Gray, Cheryl Canning, Christine Neill, Bette Morton, David Isenberg, Grace & Mike Rich, Christy Peterson, Darcy Castro, David Livengood, Gerry Monaco, David Peterson, Heather Schrock, Jan Schaeffer, Jessica Holt, Jo Anne Holt, Mark Shifflett, Melissa Canaday, Melissa Goodwin, Nora McLaughlin, Steve and Joni Goodwin, Wayne Richards, Jennifer Davis, Jeri Haskins, Mark Shifflett, Melody Boyce, Nancy Rumbel, Rhonda DeBok, Tina Bull, Tom Hallman, Dwight & Penny Van Vleet

My friends at the Oregon Symphony, especially Monica Hayes, Jacob Blaser, Steve Wenig, and everyone involved in the Lullaby Project, for our collaboration and your support.

HUGE thanks to all of these wonderful folks for being a part of this album.

May this music brighten your life, and please share it with your friends! There is SO much that went into making it, and it means the world to me for people to enjoy it.

XO - naomi