True love changes singer’s work
JOCELYN MURPHY
jmurphy@nwadg.com
Candy Lee wasn’t sure she was going to release her album “Ozark Mama.” The Fayetteville indie singer/songwriter had written a group of intimate love songs for her husband and newborn son and had every intention of just recording them for herself and her loved ones as a memento of this moment in time. But after sharing the solo acoustic music with a few friends, she realized the subject was one a lot of people could relate to.
“I feel like I’m entering a whole new phase in my life and a lot of my friends too, and people that I know,” Lee shares. “It’s kind of like a whole change in worldview and perspective and just a complete life shift. It’s the end of something but also the beginning of something beautiful that you didn’t know could exist before.
“Like, people tell you, ‘Having kids is the best thing ever!’ But until you get to experience that for yourself, you can’t really fully understand it,” she goes on contemplatively.
“And the same thing goes for falling in love with someone so deeply. Because, I am on my second marriage, so I had to find that and I had to go through all these different things to get to where I am and to be able to experience that love. It’s really changed me as a person, and I think it’s had a really big impact on my music and on my songwriting.”
So much so that Lee is exploring writing topics she has traditionally avoided. She used to find love songs to be cliche, she reveals. So her writing was more philosophical or about “everything under the sun, except for love.” Now, it’s the truest thing in her life, and she has to write about it, Lee shares.
“Ozark Mama” is the result: a collection of seven songs featuring guitar, ukulele and banjo, about loving life as a wife and mom in the Ozarks — equally inspired by the roots of the region’s music as by her own personal experiences.
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FAQ
Candy Lee
CD release party
With Dandelion Heart
WHEN — 7 p.m. Nov. 15
WHERE — Roots HQ, 1 E. Mountain St. in Fayetteville
COST — $10-$15
INFO — candyleemusic.com
