Wendy Rule

ABOUT MEADOWLARK: A MESSAGE FROM WENDY 

 My new album is named after our home, Meadowlark, in the Northern New Mexico countryside, a few miles outside of the small High-Desert town of Las Vegas NM (no, not the big famous city!). With the help of friends and family, we bought this wonderful Victorian home in July 2021, a few months after my Dad had passed away. I fell in love with it as soon as I'd seen it, and knew it would be my forever-home. We called our home Meadowlark after the Western Meadowlark, a local bird with a beautiful song, and a yellow chest. It felt fitting for our yellow house! 

The home sits on 4 1/2 acres of high-desert Juniper woodland, high on a hill overlooking farmland and prairie, with the beautiful Sangre de Christo mountains in the West. I discovered that being immersed in the gorgeous New Mexico Nature is just so healing and inspiring for me, and upon moving here, I began to write songs in honour of the land, and my home. With such beautiful views and clear horizons, I could witness the turning of the seasons and the stars. 

Connection with Nature is at the core of my spiritual practice, and, after the epic mythic journey of my last album, Persephone, I felt that I needed to emerge from the Underworld, come up for air, and embrace all the powerful Magic of my immediate environment. Most of the songs on Meadowlark began when I was on one of my daily hikes in the nearby wilderness, or when I was sitting on my porch with my guitar and watching the sky. It's essentially a set of folk songs that explore my emotional, creative, and spiritual connection with Nature. 

THE SONGS

The album consists of 11 songs, plus one bonus track for the CD and digital versions. Most of the songs were written after moving here, though I did include two older songs - An Invitation to the Muses, (which I'd written for Persephone, but decided to hold over until my next album, and which fits in so beautifully on Meadowlark)  and Butterfly's Wing, which Tim and I recorded a few years ago for the Green Album Pagan Music compilation. I was never really happy with that arrangement, and wanted to honour this ode to Nature in a more gentle way. I think you'll really like the new version. And the bonus track, Longest Nights, was written by my son Reuben during a long Melbourne Winter during the Covid lockdown (Melbourne had the longest continual lockdown in the world!).  I loved it from the moment I heard it, and asked if I could include it on this album, which is so anchored in the turning of the seasons. Here's a list of the song titles: 

• MEADOWLARK
• AN INVITATION TO THE MUSES
• FIRST LIGHT
• RATTLESNAKE
• EARTH UNDER AUTUMN
• BUTTERFLY'S WING
• A THOUSAND WAYS TO START A FIRE
• EVE
• WHATEVER IS BIG, WHATEVER IS SMALL
• DIAMONDS
• BIG SKY 
• Bonus Track: LONGEST NIGHTS (written by Reuben Bloxham)

THE RECORDING PROCESS

With the album being anchored in my connection to home, it made sense to me, and to my husband Tim, to set up a home studio and record my parts here. Tim had been teaching himself the art of studio recording for the past few years, so we invested in some fine equipment, and recorded all my vocals and guitar here at Meadowlark! This felt really special and important to me.  We'll be making a movie about the recording process, and the story behind each song, as part of this fundraiser campaign, so if you'd like to know more about the Meadowlark journey, you can choose 'The Making of Meadowlark Movie' as an add-on reward. 

OTHER MUSICIANS

REUBEN BLOXHAM 

I am thrilled an honoured that my son Reuben is a major contributor and co-producer of the album. Reuben is an excellent musician and multi instrumentalist. He is a member of the award winning Melbourne band RVG , as well as a creator of his own ambient projects which you can check out HERE . He's a busy guy, often off on tour, so it felt extra special that he would dedicate time to my album. The intention was that he would do all the other instruments (guitar, bass, percussion, synths etc) on the album, and that his partner Sarah, who is an amazing studio engineer, would mix the album. Unfortunately, last month Sarah, who is only 28, was diagnosed with breast cancer and has just begun an 8 month journey of chemo, which will be followed by surgery. Naturally they both had to withdraw from the project so that they could focus on Sarah's healing. We're all devastated, of course. (If you would like to contribute to the GoFundMe campaign that has been set up to help them through this awful upheaval, you can do so HERE ) . Reuben had completed 6 of the 12 songs, so this is where Carisa and Andrew, from the LA based band Night Tongue stepped in. 

CARISA AND ANDREW - NIGHT TONGUE BAND

I already had an Australian tour booked, and the Brunswick Ballroom in Melbourne booked for the album launch on June 23rd, when we received the terrible news about Sarah's diagnosis. We needed to find musicians who were willing to jump right in and complete the album within the tight deadline. That's when Tim and I thought of our talented Los Angeles based friends Andrew and Carisa from Night Tongue . Both, like me, are fellow Aussies, now living in the USA. Carisa and I have been friends for years, and I have always been impressed by her dedication and talent, both as a Witch and as a musician and producer. And her husband Andrew is an equally talented multi instrumentalist and wonderful person. Well, in record time they completed their parts - percussion, bass, guitars, synths and cello. We just received their final two tracks, and, of course, they are amazing. 

RACHEL SAMUEL

It just wouldn't be one of my albums without my beloved friend Rachel Samuel adding some of her cello Magic. Now that we live on different continents (she's based in Devon, UK), it's tricky for us to make music together like we did when we both lived in Melbourne. But luckily one of our trips to Australia coincided last year, and we managed to spend a day in the studio recording a beautiful cello part for one of the songs. 

PHOTOS AND DESIGN

KAREN KUEHN AND VICKI TEAGUE COOPER

I'm once again thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with the celebrated New Mexico based photographer Karen Keuhn, who did the striking photos for my Persephone album. With my very dear friend, artist and graphic designer Vicki Teague Cooper as art director, we spent a fun and productive weekend here at Meadowlark for the album's photoshoot. The results were great, and many will be included on the CD and Vinyl artwork, which Vicki is in charge of,  and in the PDF lyric booklet.