Written For You (2017), by Naomi LaViolette

Written For You (2017)

by Naomi LaViolette

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Sven B. Schreiber (sbs) This is an album about the world's most essential topic - it's all about the power of love in all of its aspects. While some songs have been commissioned by others as gifts to their respective partners, the majority of the songs on this album is dedicated to the most important people in Naomi LaViolette's own life - grandfather, mother, husband, children, friends... and in last consequence, there's also a song about the supreme love of God, which is the wellspring of all human love. Favorite track: Written For You.

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1.	Walk With Me 04:08	lyrics	buy track
Come with me, my love May you be happy Let’s find the path together Will you put your hand in mine? Walk with me You and I, my love We belong together Oh I know it’s true that every step Is a gift with you along Walk with me Don’t wanna waste any more time I realize how amazing you are Gonna make the most of each moment I have With you my love, with you It is spring, my love Cherry trees await us But I know the blossoms won’t compare To the beauty I see in you Walk with me Come with me, my love May you be happy I will be the one to hold your hand As all is solved by walking Walk with me
2.	Sunrise 03:42	lyrics	buy track
It's gonna be a good one today The clouds tell me so Their swells and their threads Have arranged themselves for quite a show I wonder are you still asleep Have you seen what's to come Are you waiting just like me For the rising of the sun Sunrise, sunrise, and I think of you Sunrise, sunrise, can you see it too From where you are? Our morning star The colors glimmer and flow Out of the night Slowing crawling wild fire Through the sky At the break of dawn You're the only one I call So we both catch the glory of it all And you’re there with me A beautiful surprise Every time I realize That when I fix my eyes on painted skies You are there with me In the sunrise
3.	Forever Loved 04:25	lyrics	buy track
Flowing like a river giving life along the banks Your love rippled from a deep source of faith Now you flow into the sea We all were forever loved leaving canyons of legacy We all were forever loved Devoted to your family always unconditionally and the glimmers in your eyes something of a grace divine Yes it was a blessing a hundred years of you Look at all the people your honor lives through You are forever loved
4.	Written For You 05:54	lyrics	buy track
What can be written for you? There’s too much to say Strength eternal, a peace I can’t explain So many ways you appear In my hope, in my fear In sacred prayers repeated for thousands of years You are firelight, firelight in my soul Firelight, firelight, and always love I sit alone by the sea And I feel you where I breathe With nothing more I need to be Beautiful mystery
5.	Waiting To Love You 04:37	lyrics	buy track
Rain falls on my windowpane I’m dreaming of you, though I don’t know your name Wherever you are, do you feel the same? Because I’m waiting to love you Maybe we’ll meet in a crowded room Or a sidewalk café in Paris in June Wherever it is, just meet me there soon Because I’m waiting to love you I’ll wait for you like the shore waits for waves I’m counting the days ‘till I see your face Just tell me the time, tell me the place Every star in the night you see Is the same soft life shining down on me Once I’m in your arms, oh I’ll never leave Because I’m waiting to love you For today, living lives of our own You and I walk our paths alone Darling I can’t wait for us to come home Because I’m waiting to love you
6.	You Are My Own 05:51	lyrics	buy track
Out of the blue, I found you, and I found love And so it seems you came to me from heaven above Somehow you knew my soul right from the start You made it easy to give you all my heart There are days when I lose my way, things are unclear You pull me close, I tell you my hopes, I tell you my fears And when I feel your heart beating next to mine That’s when I know everything’s gonna be just fine Oh I’m gonna love you the best that I can So grateful that you want me just as I am And in your eyes I can see That you’ll never leave me This I know, you are my own Every night hold me under darkening skies And when we rise kiss me in the morning light Seasons will change and we’re gonna age in time Day by day I just need your hand in mine Forever, forever, forever, you are my own
7.	Four Leaf Clovers 03:46	lyrics	buy track
Looking up through her enchanted eyes That jet plane looks like a shooting star in the sky If time would only slow down so I could go And gather all these moments that I find The first day of summer’s here again Feel that sun sinking into my skin Let’s go find a four leaf clover Don’t blink now before it’s all over This young man has got himself a plan Today he’s gonna have his very own lemonade stand Oh freeze this moment now, forever feeling proud Of shiny quarters landing in a can And oh how I love the light in his eyes When he’s chasing a butterfly I just found a four leaf clover Don’t blink now before it’s all over These moments are my four leaf clovers Don’t blink now See her dance with her hands on her hips Wearing a smile on her lips Later we’re throwing a ball at the tree Trying to set our frisbee free These moments are my four leaf clovers Don’t blink now before it’s all over
8.	Up Silver Star Mountain 03:18	lyrics	buy track
Come with me up Silver Star Mountain Take my hand upon the Angel’s Rest Up in the sky you look in my eyes And I show you my soul Up in the stars you give me your heart Kiss me, my love, I’m yours forever Now that we can weave our lives together You and I will rescue each other You give me the world, I give you a home These things we never had before For the rest of my life I won’t let you go Kiss me, my love, I’m yours forever We have been saved We’re no longer alone By the sweetest love we’ve ever known Kiss me, my love, I’m yours forever
9.	Farewell 06:17	lyrics	buy track
Beautiful resonance made by seasoned hands Flying like the wind we loved to watch them dance Farewell, my friend, farewell And now I say farewell Now we all look for ways to press replay Of all the joy you shared with us beyond yesterday Farewell, my friend, farewell And now I say farewell Farewell, my friend, farewell Somehow I say farewell Listen up to the sky, there’s a song It’s your guitar in the stars, the angels sing along

about

With her 2017 release, Written for You, Portland singer-songwriter-pianist Naomi LaViolette is veering in a slightly different direction than her previous albums. LaViolette’s vocals are as smooth and rich as ever, and sonically the album is as steeped in classical music and jazz as it is in folk and pop, but the wrinkle here is in the nature of the content, and that wrinkle is the gift. Instead of solely mining the depths of her life experiences while creating songs for this album, much of the content comes from songs she was commissioned to write for others. Creating a record with this theme happened naturally, but almost accidentally.

“Someone asked me to write a song commission several years ago, and it was really fun to do,” says LaViolette. “Then I got another and that was fun to do. It was this snowball effect. My husband knew how much I loved doing these, so he said, ‘You should put all these songs on a record and call it Written for You.’ So that was how this idea was born.”

The album’s nine tracks touch on subjects ranging from the power of love (“You Are My Own”) to dreams (“Waiting to Love You”) to the beauty of creation (“Sunrise”), but while there is a theme of seeking and finding the beauty in the present, some of the album’s strongest moments occur on tracks which contemplate mortality and the eternal. Whether it’s a song written as a celebration of life for a dearly departed relative (“Forever Loved”), or an attempt to offer God genuinely unique praise, as on the album’s title track, the wonder, the gift in it all is found in LaViolette’s ability to offer something moving, something profound to someone else.

Gifts appear in various forms on the record, most notably on the exquisite closing track, “Farewell,” a spine-tingling piano-led ballad which morphs into what LaViolette calls an “explosive celebration of happy guitar.” Written for legendary Portland guitarist and producer Tim Ellis, who passed away in 2016, the song is LaViolette’s way of saying thank you to Ellis.

“Tim had a huge influence on my development as an artist,” LaViolette says. “He played guitar on my first record, produced my second record, and he was a huge support to me.”

Adding to the magic of that track is the appearance of one of Tim’s protégés, Josh Cary—one of a number of guests on the album. Also making appearances are members of the Oregon Repertory Singers and the Oregon Symphony, as well as Grammy Award-winning artist Nancy Rumbel. But more than the people who have contributed to the record, or the melodies she has woven together as though they were plucked from the stars, the greatest gift she has received has been from the people who asked her to create these songs.

“It's a blessing to write songs out of other people’s stories,” says LaViolette. “They say it’s really special to have their own song, like they’re reopening that gift every time they listen to it.”

credits

released October 15, 2017

All songs written by Naomi LaViolette
Published by LaViolette Music (ASCAP)

Produced by Steve Sundholm
Orchestral & Choral Arrangements by Naomi LaViolette
Engineered, Programmed, Mixed & Mastered by Steve Sundholm
“Waiting To Love You” by Naomi LaViolette and Amy Hawkins

Naomi LaViolette - piano & vocals
Ken Ollis - drums & percussion
Bill Athens - bass
Julie Coleman - violin
Casey Bozell - viola
Erin Ratzlaf - cello
Nancy Rumbel - oboe
Josh Cary & Keith Sommers - guitar
Joseph Rykert, Ben España, Aliyih Bristol & Lucy LaViolette - vocals
Ivy Newport - artwork

For lyrics and song stories, visit www.naomilmusic.com
© 2017 LaViolette Music

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about

Naomi LaViolette Portland, Oregon

A gifted songwriter and versatile pianist from the Pacific Northwest, Naomi LaViolette’s critically acclaimed recordings have earned her comparisons to Norah Jones, Sara Bareilles, and Sarah McLachlan. Her roots are deep in classical music—she has a master’s degree in classical piano performance—but she has also immersed herself in jazz standards, folk songs, soul, pop, and gospel. ... more

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