Marsha Swanson - Quite A Year
2007 was an ambitious year for me in many ways. December 2006 was the first month that I was walking properly again following a serious car crash earlier in the year that left me in a wheel chair with a broken pelvis. Having my full mobility back in early 2007 was empowering and I was looking forward to taking bigger strides towards getting my music career back on track. I already had a clear direction in mind. It was to record a second album. I had begun this process just before the crash, but the accident certainly had an effect on my desire to complete the album to it's fullest potential and without compromise.
The literal steps of putting one foot in front of the other was a helpful precursor. Recording the album was a pleasurable experience in the main. Not only is music making healing (as is any creative outlet), but the experience I had clocked up over the last ten years was now starting to yeild results. I was able to get involved in the production with more confidence than on previous recordings, and my singing voice was now noticeably my own.
The difficulty that can sometimes accompany the virtues of individual expression is that it can make the process of collaborations that much more complex! One of the things I am most pleased about with this endeavour was that all the voices were heard, whilst still maintaining the albums integrity. Similarly, the result of my collaboration with the legendary Storm Thorgerson on the album's artwork was a design that felt more me in an uncompromised way than anything I could have done on my own.
The stress of meeting manufacturing and distribution deadlines was another struggle that retrospectively feels quite comedic. At one point when phoning my manufacturer from abroad requesting one more day whilst informing him of the latest turn of events that meant I did not have the finished proofs in time, he said to me "Marsha, isn't this telling you something? Maybe it's not meant to be". I could tell he was somewhat unnerved by my dogged determination to meet the deadline despite all evidence to the contrary! Meet it we did though, with the help of a lot of friends and family.
The highlight of 2007 for me was finding out that I had been nominated in 5 categories at the Glasswerk New Music Awards and then later winning both the "Best Folk Artist" and "Best Album Awards". And now (deep breath)....for 2008!