People talk about a trajectory for artists‚ where they can start‚ where they're going and where they are now. I'm never really aware of that stuff‚ but after answering some questions‚ I realize the singing record was really the next step after 12 Songs. That was really the answer to a question I posed myself of how far I can take a lyrical‚ non-word melody. What is a song without words‚ and how can I get that kind of impact and clarity out of a line that I'm playing on violin? How close can I get to a singer? And that left me at a point where I wanted to sing. I started thinking about the music I grew up with‚ and I wanted to experience what it was like to really sing. I've always sung‚ but I mean to sing in front of an audience and have that energy.

But one thing I do argue with my band about often is‚ I'm aware of how much spotlight I get in a tune‚ and if I sing‚ I often don't want to follow it with a violin solo‚ because then I feel like the audience is getting a whole bunch of Jenny. It feels like it's me expressing stuff. I've done a bunch of gigs where I play like a rhythm guitar thing on the violin. I was playing with Charlie Hunter recently‚ playing a bunch of repeated‚ arpeggiated patterns. And then with Bill‚ I was playing down in Nashville and it was a lot of country-influenced stuff‚ but there wasn't a rhythm guitar player‚ so I ended up absorbing some of that role. Anyway‚ this is all to say that I can go fluidly between singing while taking a solo and playing rhythm violin‚ but to go from singing to being the dominant voice‚ feels very similar. That part of the violin is very connected to singing.