How "Come Alive" Came Alive

The making of  "Come Alive" was full.

Full of everything you can imagine.

We wish we could share EVERY little behind-the-scenes detail...but then you would know that Whitney wore the same thing two days in a row, Soni purposefully ate Thai leftovers that were sitting out all night, and Brooke almost swore (twice) when her car broke down on the freeway.

And things like that don't need to be shared.

So instead, we've compiled a list of 8 “glimpses” we thought you'd find interesting. The struggles, the stretching, the miracles, the inspiration. Oh, and the food.

1) THE MOVE

Whitney moved to Idaho. To a teeny farm town 45 minutes from Costco. We could tell you about the stress of relocating her family while simultaneously making song selections, writing and arranging music, and prepping for recording, but we won't. Because it would give you anxiety. Incidentally, one of our songs is called, "Move." (Which has nothing to do with moving to a farm, but nonetheless helps you keep your chin up through stressful/difficult/Costco-less times.)

Whitney, all the way in Idaho, holds Baby Luke on her lap and participates in a cello session for "Holy Ground" via the internet.

2) THE MONO

During the photo shoot for the album cover, Soni was horribly sick. The shoot was outside (it was freezing) and she had the chills. We draped her in coats and rubbed her back and arms between shots. About lunchtime her doctor called with the results of her bloodwork. Mono. For the next YEAR Soni struggled to recover from the illness, and restore her physical and vocal strength. Let me tell you. It was a nightmare.

3) THE FOOD TRUCKS

Producer Scott has a gift for discovering amazing local food trucks. A hamburger and fries burrito?? Brick oven flat bread pizza?? (Which we scarfed and then immediately got back in line to order another. We almost wrote a song about it.) Soni daydreamed about lunch every morning.

4) THE COVER SONG

Our executive producer, Bob, has always urged us to do a really well known, upbeat cover song. We've resisted the idea for years, but finally decided to give it a try for this album. We searched and SEARCHED to find a song that would work, or even trickier, that we all agreed on. (The Beatles? Jackson 5? Milli Vanilli?) After almost giving up (and talking Brooke off the ledge) we settled on the Katrina and the Waves hit, "Walking on Sunshine."

5) THE MYTH

Much of our inspiration for this project came from a character in Greek mythology. This deserves its own blog post, but to sum it up, Orpheus saves a group of sailors from the dangerous music of the sirens by playing music that is louder and sweeter than theirs. Orpheus sort of became the "mascot" for this project.

And lest you think we're really smart and sit around talking about how Greek Mythology inspires us, this idea came from a discussion we had with our friend, S. Michael Wilcox. (Or, as we call him, "Smichael.") We aren't smart. We just have smart friends.

Our mascot, Orpheus

6) THE RESCUE

The piano arrangement for one song (Restless) wasn't working. Whitney and Soni were especially sick about it, and we even considered pulling the song off the album altogether. Producer Scott had the idea to send it to Jason Webb (an amazing pianist in Nashville) and he agreed to take a stab at arranging a new piano part. (Enter Hallelujah Chorus here.) Jason literally saved the song from the MR recycle bin!

7) THE NEW SOUNDS

Electronic: It was Producer Scott's idea to infuse current "electronic influences" into this album. He played us a few examples and sent us a rough track of "Who I Am" and we loved it (so much that the "rough" track turned into the real track).

Classical Strings: It was also his idea to flirt with classical strings on the song "Sing It Out," we were dizzy with joy over what it did to the song.

Rock: "Move"- the first MR song you can actually run to- helped us channel our inner rock stars. (Many thanks to our friend Jenny Frogley for coaching this out of us!)

Accapella: "How Deep the Father's Love for Us" is our first song to feature some accapella, which we have ALWAYS wanted to play around with. Whitney suggested doing the first verse completely track free and we never looked back.

All of these "new sounds" stretched us, personally and collectively, but somehow made a nice home for themselves on the album.

The Mad Genius, Scott, hard at work

8) THE HEART

Milli Vanilli and mythology aside, the making of Come Alive is all about our hearts. The hearts of three tired mommies who love to sing, love to make music, and love each other. This was our most satisfying project yet, and we can’t WAIT to share it with you.

Soni and Brooke hold the finished product for the first time.

So pick up an album, grab a burrito with fries in it, and prepare to COME ALIVE.