“We were all going so stir crazy because we had been quarantined for a year,” Hartswick said. “We hadn’t been playing shows or seeing each other. I was struggling creatively and I wanted to be able to have some sense of normalcy in my life. Nick and I write together all the time. He’s such a huge part of my life and I hadn’t seen him in so long so we made the decision to hole up somewhere. We just made a cozy little writing session for ourselves for about a week-and-a-half.”
The isolation allowed Hartswick and Cassarino to work at a leisurely pace.
“We’d write a few hours in the morning and then take a break,” she said. “We’d go for a walk or something. Then we’d write in the afternoon or the evening. It felt great to be doing it. We ended up with nine songs on the album but we wrote significantly more than that. It was just so lovely to be together again, to be playing music and doing what we love.”
Credit: DANI BARBIERI
Credit: DANI BARBIERI
In addition to her solo work, Hartswick has been a member of the Trey Anastasio Band since 2000. While she was more than ready to tap into her creativity at the B&B, she admits the break during lockdown was much needed.
“When we first got sent home, I was really happy for the solitude and the break,” Hartswick said. “I’m on the road almost 300 days a year so the first three months I was home, I went into complete decompression mode. I finally got to relax and not think about stuff since there was no possibility of going back out. The first couple of months were actually nice and a total gift. You realize your priorities are starting to shift.
“During that year, we all did a lot of soul searching,” she continued. “We thought about what matters, how to find balance and all those kinds of things we’re all normally working too hard to even think about. For me one of the greatest gifts of the pandemic was just the time away to ask how I’m doing. That’s not something I’m very comfortable with but it was really special to be able to write music with a fresh brain, fresh body and fresh heart.”
Her creative rejuvenation carried over to the recording of “Something in the Water.” It was Hartwick’s first studio session in the place she has called home for a decade.
“It felt like the right thing to put my little stamp on Nashville and have Nashville put its stamp on me,” she said. “I sort of joke that I pay my bills in Nashville but I don’t really live there. I live out of my suitcase. It was really nice to be able to make an album where I live. I usually don’t do that. We tracked at Sound Emporium, which is an amazing studio. Then we got to take our time with overdubs and make it what we wanted. It was nice to be able to work on an album and sleep in my own bed and have it be in my own environment.”
Recording in Nashville provided a level of comfort that was a carryover from the laidback songwriting session.
“So frequently, when people are making albums they’re on a strict budget,” Hartswick said. “I was also on a budget but a lot of times that budget is going to hotel rooms, flights and all kinds of stuff like that. I didn’t have to worry about any of that. When Nick is down, he stays at my house and we can just take our time with it a little bit more. If I needed to go in for a couple of more days to take care of some things, it wouldn’t break the bank. That was really nice. So many projects are rushed but we really got to finish this album exactly the way we wanted to finish it.”
Contact this contributing writer at 937-287-6139 or e-mail at donthrasher100@gmail.com.
HOW TO GO
Who: Jennifer Hartswick Band
Where: The Brightside, 905 E. Third St., Dayton
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 13; doors open at 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $20
More info: 937-410-0450 or www.thebrightsidedayton.com
Artist info: www.jenniferhartswick.com
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