an american story
part 1 and part 2

I wrote Sleeping Shadows Lullaby to tell the story of what it feels to be a young mother in a dangerous, chaotic world with your baby strapped to your chest or on your back with lips on your neck. 
And you’re doing everything you can to protect it and to tell that the world isn’t as bad as it seems and to be reassuring and to sing and to whisper and to lull the child to sleep and also to look out into the world and say, you know, here are the beautiful stars. Here’s this beautiful planet that we’re living on and your whole life is in front of you. But in the song, the young mother is also on the run. So it’s that struggle of trying to keep the baby quiet so that, you know, the enemy, the predator, the hunter can’t hear you and yet to remain strong and fierce and optimistic that you’re going to get the heck out of this really bad situation, whether it’s a forest, a jungle, a city street. 
So to a better and safer world, that’s what I’m trying to write about.

2nd Answer:
Sleeping Shadows Lullaby is the last song in chapter three and it’s part of the Seeker Song Trilogy. It’s from the point of view of a mother from any time, from any time since the beginning of time. 
From the neanderthals to humans and it’s about being on the run, whether it’s in a forest or a jungle or in a city with your baby in your arms. Being chased and trying to lull the baby to sleep and hoping that you can make the child feel safe in an unsafe world.

I want listeners to love the young mother and her child and to think that if they were there they would do everything they could to protect them. And if they are a young mother and feel that the world is an impossible place, that this song gives them hope, you know, that there are ways out of terrible situations and there are people who will help you get out of them. 
And mostly to kind of foster a feeling of love and sympathy for people that are in trouble and need us.

“I dreamed that we were far away and gone
on wings of birds, we flew at dawn 
I dreamed I kept you safe and sound from harm
We left this earth and we were gone.”

I think that’s kind of the heart of the tune.  And it’s the dream, the dream that every parent has. And I think more than parents, I think it’s the dream that everybody has for the people they love. That they can protect them, they can set them free and they can take such good care of them that they will never ever be in want for anything.

Definitely my own experience as a mother is central to the tune. And I had my son Ian in a difficult time in my life and he was the most amazing gift to me. But there were circumstances that definitely were challenging. 
So, I’m thinking of that when I was writing the song and I’ve always remained very aware of how hard it is to be a mother. In the beginning, in the middle, in the end. It’s just a difficult path. It’s one I highly recommend, but what it takes to do it and you just never ever know if you’ve ever felt that you’ve mastered it. And you always wish that you could have done some things differently. But mostly I think the longing to protect your child is elusive and somewhat delusional. So you’re kind of fighting that idea in yourself. And because you want to remain optimistic and you want to be strong for your children. 
So I think all of that weaves in and out of “Sleeping Shadows Lullaby.”

2nd Answer:
I think the precariousness of existence and in particular the most vulnerable. But also I do believe that most people on this planet will be extremely vulnerable at some point. 
Whether they see it coming or not and I’m looking to kind of dive into that about how on the edge everything really is and how fraught and what a daily fight it is just to put one foot in front of the other. So that’s I’d say that that was one of the deeper things that’s roiling underneath what I was writing about.