My New Holiday Single is Out!
A song of comfort and joy
“I believe choosing joy is an act of resistance.”
That’s what Melissa Manchester wrote to me when I told her I was going to record a last-minute single of There’s Still My Joy—the 1997 song she co-wrote with Beth Nielsen Chapman and Matt Rollings. The idea hit me on a Wednesday, and by Friday, I was in the studio with guitarist Peter Calo.
Peter and I live just a few minutes apart, and during the pandemic, we made an album together- Comfort & Joy – An Acoustic Christmas.
That project was also a last-minute impulse. Here’s what I wrote about it in my liner notes:
It was supposed to be one song, maybe two.
The thought of doing a complete album never crossed my mind. I’d been itching to record a Christmas song, and so, as I like to do, put a query up on social media saying I was thinking of recording a holiday single and did anyone have song suggestions. The response was overwhelming.
I had an idea that it might be nice to record a song with guitar. As fate would have it, on one of my daily walks, a friend introduced me to guitarist Peter Calo, who was also taking a walk. (I had heard about Peter for years, and although we were practically neighbors, we’d never met). I got in touch with him and asked if he might want to get together for a little, informal, socially distanced jam session and try some holiday songs. Happily, he was game. I walked the long 5 minutes to his house, and we spent a few hours going through songs and getting to know each other. That night, I sat with my husband Dan and our cat Lennie in front of a cozy fire and listened to the recordings. It was the perfect combination- these songs so beautifully played by Peter and the warmth of the fire. The next morning, I told Dan that what I really wanted to do was to record an entire album of songs with just guitar. A crazy idea- who decides to record a Christmas album on Oct 13th, and during a pandemic? Dan said, “Go for it”. I called Peter and asked if it would be possible to record and mix a 10-song album in 3 weeks. He said, “Sure.” Miraculously this album was born, and it’s been a joy every step of the way.
When I asked for song suggestions for Comfort & Joy on Facebook, Melissa suggested There’s Still My Joy. Peter and I tried it, and while I loved it, we ran out of time to include it.
Fast forward to this past month—it felt like the pandemic, filled with sadness, uncertainty, and loss. The passing of my friend Gavin Creel has stayed with me. I kept thinking about the lyrics to There’s Still My Joy.
I brought my tree down to the shore
The garland and the silver star
To find my peace and grieve no more
To heal this place inside my heart
On every branch I laid some bread
And hungry birds filled up the sky
They rang like bells around my head
They sang my spirit back to life
One tiny child can change the world
One shining light can show the way
Through all my tears, for what I've lost
There's still my joy
There's still my joy for Christmas day
The snow comes down on empty sand
There's tinsel moonlight on the waves
My soul was lost, but here I am
So this must be amazing grace
One tiny child can change the world
One shining light can show the way
Beyond these tears for what I've lost
There's still my joy
There's still my joy for Christmas day
On November 15, I texted Peter my idea about recording the song, sending him a rehearsal recording we’d made back in 2020. Though he was about to leave town, he said, “Let’s do it!” The next day, we got together to work on it, and on Friday, we recorded it in Peter’s studio.
It brought back such happy memories of our first collaboration. I also reached out to my friend Robbie Rozelle, who has designed the covers for my last four albums, and within 24 hours, he’d created the artwork. Tom Brick, who mastered Comfort & Joy, kindly mastered the single over the weekend. It truly takes a village!
Looking back, I’m glad I waited to record There’s Still My Joy. It feels like the perfect song for this moment in time—a beautiful postscript to Comfort & Joy.
I hope you enjoy it. And if you are struggling this holiday season, I hope this song brings you some comfort.
The single is available for streaming and downloading on all digital platforms and on my website. If you can’t play the audio above, you can listen to it on YouTube, here.
In Other News
Yesterday, I finished a 29-hour reading of a new musical, Marathon. It was an intense week—getting up at 6:30 a.m. every day and learning ten songs in a few days—but I loved it.
It’s been a while since I’ve done a show, and I relished being part of a cast again and collaborating on the early stages of an exciting new piece. Marathon was written by Kara Cutruzzula and Kristoffer Bjarke. I first met Kara when I was a guest on her podcast Do It Today in 2022. We hit it off, and she’s been a friend ever since.
Kara writes a wonderful Substack newsletter (Brass Ring Daily) and was my biggest champion when I decided to make my own Substack newsletter. I’m so proud of her for this show with Kris and for doing this industry reading. As we often say to each other: “leap before you’re ready!”
Where in the World is Liz?
After a week of shows with Ann at 54 Below (thanks to everyone who livestreamed our show!), hosting Thanksgiving (I screwed up my timing and my turkey was done 2 hours early!), and doing this reading, I’m thrilled to have 5 days home to recover before going to Owensboro, Kentucky and Venice, Florida for my holiday symphony concerts!
Click here for my full schedule, including London concerts in March.
That’s all for now. I’ve got some fun ideas churning for my next issue of Between Flights- after I catch up on my sleep I’ll get to work on it.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
xoxo Liz
PS If you’d like to order any holiday gifts from my website shop, please do so by Dec 16 for pre-Christmas delivery.
Magnificent 💛💛💛 thank you so much, Liz the Divine whose songs bless the world
Oh, dearest Liz... Comfort and Joy is an all-time favorite Christmas album, and There's Still My Joy is the perfect follow-up!!! THANK YOU FOREVER!!! I LOVE YOU!!! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX