Naomi in Nashville

Yes, that’s right . . . I spent May 2-4 in Nashville, TN. I have to tell you, when I started singing with Dad and Cathy last fall I had no idea where this road would lead. The adventures that have come up since then have caught me off guard and blessed and challenged me beyond what I ever imagined. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been truly amazed—and so thankful.

Let me give you a little history about how the Nashville adventure came up . . .

If you’ve read the past few updates, you know about our weekend in Iowa with vocal coach, Steve Hurst. While we were there, he strongly suggested that since Special Delivery had experienced a membership change (Brenda resigning and me joining), we needed a CD with our “new sound.” He encouraged us to re-record the Signed, Sealed, Delivered album with my voice on it. After thinking and praying and talking with some other groups, as well as the producer of the album, we decided to go ahead with it.

. . . All of that happened the end of March . . . and by the first of May I was on my way to the recording studio in Nashville! We were thankful (and maybe a little surprised) that the plans came together so quickly and smoothly. The only thing that required a little adjusting was the concert we had scheduled at the Church of God in Grand Forks, ND on May 1. Dad and Cathy stepped up to the plate, though, and sang duets . . . and I heard that it was a very special evening with the people there. Dad or Cathy will have to tell you more details about that. I was sorry to miss out on that, but glad to be able to get going with the recording project.

I got to Nashville on Sunday, May 2, and spent the evening with a girl from my mission trip to Peru last summer. It was a neat reunion. 🙂 I stayed there Sunday night and then on Monday morning headed north to Hendersonville, TN where the Mark Five studio is located.

I pulled into their beautiful home in the green Tennessee hills and was warmly welcomed by Rick and Fran Sandidge, the couple who runs the Mark Five Company. We visited for a few minutes and then Rick got the tracks ready to go, handed me the headphones, put me in front of the microphone, and away we went. I sang, Rick engineered, and we both listened for any and every little glitch. We recorded, then listened, then re-recorded and listened some more . . . until 6 hours later when we had all 10 songs from the album recorded. In Nashville, they figure one song per hour so we felt like the recording had gone very smoothly.

I was also fascinated with the culture of Nashville and enjoyed visiting with Rick and Fran when the recording was finished. Rick told me about a friend who was filling her car with gas one day and there on the other side of the gas pump was Johnny Cash . . . now that is cool. It was a great learning experience all around.

I’m seeing that the main purpose in making these projects available is to provide an extension of a ministry that the Lord has clearly called us to. We pray that they will be instruments of worship for you and that He will use them to encourage you.

Keep praying for us and this project. Rick is working on mixing and some other final touches, but we hope to have it available soon. We’ll keep you posted! NJD

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