{"id":30077,"date":"2025-09-01T00:11:24","date_gmt":"2025-09-01T07:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/?p=30077"},"modified":"2025-08-30T11:22:02","modified_gmt":"2025-08-30T18:22:02","slug":"its-a-small-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/its-a-small-world\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s a Small World"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Over the past month, I found myself far from the familiar grounds of Melody Ranch, exploring the lush landscapes of Costa Rica and the vibrant energy of Southern California. I love buzzing around and visiting the different corners of my life. These past six weeks I\u2019ve been in Costa Rica\u2014my home away from home\u2014and crawling (honestly, crawling<\/em>) down SoCal freeways, weaving from San Diego to Los Angeles and back again.<\/p>\n

I travel a lot, as you\u2019ve probably noticed by now. Travel is the musician\u2019s prerogative\u2014and maybe my favorite part of being a big project creator. Costa Rica isn\u2019t just where my second home and the monkeys reside\u2014it\u2019s also home base for Horacio Paris, one of the drummers I work with most closely these days, and Josu\u00e9 Gonz\u00e1lez, a guest pianist on a few tracks I\u2019m currently mixing for the new album.<\/p>\n

This time around, I got to reconnect with my dear friend Meg Baier, an influential songwriter and one of my longtime people. We hadn\u2019t shared a Costa Rican adventure in two decades. While we caught up, she got a glimpse into my remote-collab world, watching over my shoulder as I mixed with Guilherme Medeiros in Brazil, took meetings with Athxna in Nashville, and played guitar by the pool. She kept calling me a pollinator<\/em>, someone who carries connection from place to place. And honestly, it stuck. That\u2019s exactly what it feels like sometimes.<\/p>\n

After Meg flew out, I spent most of my time with my best friend (my guitar), swinging in the hammock, and dangling my feet in the pool. I like to use time away from the studio to get my fingers back in shape. I\u2019ve played guitar since I was four, and even though it\u2019s no longer my primary instrument, I still think in guitar. Ideas come to me in motion\u2014on planes, in cabs, pacing a sidewalk. So, I make time to work my hands, improvise, and write with the instrument that shaped how I hear the world.<\/p>\n

Believe it or not, I write a lot away from instruments too. On this trip, I wrote a new tune on my phone during the flight to San Diego, and another in the ER (long story), sitting in a hallway next to my dad with a notepad and a pen. Music finds its way out, no matter the setting.<\/p>\n

When I landed in San Diego, I arrived just in time to join my friend Steph Johnson and my choir family at Voices of Our City Choir. Right before I flew stateside, I got the news that we\u2019d lost Juan Campbell, a founding member of the choir. Juan was a creator, a presence, someone who\u2014like many artists\u2014spent time living on the streets. He was only 61. You might\u2019ve seen him with Voices on America\u2019s Got Talent<\/em>, when Terry Crews slammed the Golden Buzzer. But what you don\u2019t see in those moments is how homelessness shaves decades off a person\u2019s life. Since I started working with the choir, we\u2019ve lost nearly a dozen members. It\u2019s something I didn\u2019t understand when I first showed up to volunteer.<\/p>\n

It felt like the universe dropped me right where I needed to be. I got to mourn Juan in song, back in rehearsal with people I love, supporting Steph and the team through grief. Even with the heaviness, there was joy in being there\u2014seeing members of the choir still thriving, still showing up to practice, perform, create. Some are even stepping into new creative roles at La Jolla Playhouse.<\/p>\n

I also caught up with some incredible humans doing advocacy work in San Diego\u2014many of whom are now trying to hold the line as social programs disappear around them. They\u2019re overwhelmed. The last eight months have made their work infinitely harder. But still, there\u2019s this resilience. No one I talked to dwelled on the hardship. They talked about restoration. About joy. About finding beauty where you can. And connection. There\u2019s always connection. From the second I walk through the door to the moment I get back in my car, someone\u2019s grabbing me for a hug or a quick catch-up.<\/p>\n

To close out my Southern California trip, I went to see Heart at the San Diego Sports Arena. Let me just say: those gals still have it<\/em>. At 72 and 75, the Wilson sisters had the entire crowd on their feet, dancing and singing every word. We had great floor seats, and\u2014perfect small world moment\u2014I looked to my right and saw Olivia Tosic sitting next to me. Olivia runs The Rockin\u2019 Rag<\/em>, a San Diego-based video \u201cmagazine\u201d focused on rock \u2018n\u2019 roll artists. She threw her arms around me and said, \u201cHow is it that I get to see Heart and sit next to one of my favorite singers?!\u201d Classic San Diego magic.<\/p>\n

Sidenote:<\/strong> Todd Rundgren opened for Heart. And I\u2019ll admit, the age gap showed a little. I didn\u2019t quite \u201cget it.\u201d But I went to the massive pool of talent on my socials and asked them to help me out. I\u2019ve been listening to Todd all week and\u2026 I\u2019m getting into it! How can you not<\/em> like a guy who raised Liv Tyler as his own? That\u2019s right\u2014Steven Tyler might be her biological father, but Todd was the one who drove her to school and showed up at talent shows. That\u2019s another story for another day, but I\u2019ll report back on my Rundgren rabbit hole soon. In the meantime, feel free to message me your shock and awe\u2014or your must-listens\u2014at FrancescaValle@yahoo.com. Who knows, maybe I\u2019ll include your picks in my next article.<\/p>\n

HOMEWORK<\/strong><\/p>\n

🎧 Listen to \u201cUnlovable\u201d by Meg Baier
\n<\/strong>I\u2019ve been a devoted fan of Meg Baier for two decades, and her sixth solo album might be her most arresting work yet. These songs are deceptively catchy\u2014full of wit and classic songwriting craft\u2014but there\u2019s something raw and unflinching beneath the surface. It\u2019s about mental health. About creative struggle. I had to take breaks while listening\u2014not because it faltered, but because it hit so deep. This isn\u2019t an album you throw on in the background. It asks you to sit with it. To feel it. To face the cost of genius. It\u2019s gutting. It\u2019s gorgeous. It\u2019s worth every second.<\/p>\n

🎤 Keep an ear out for Steph Johnson\u2019s upcoming album, Cartwheel Galaxy<\/em>, with her new band Happy Baby
\n<\/strong>After nearly a decade of pouring herself into Voices of Our City Choir, Steph is finally making space for her own music again. She\u2019s working with a young, up-and-coming producer, Cameron Keezer, and exploring new vibes\u2014stuff that leans more into pop, downtempo, and dreamy textures. I\u2019ve heard a few of the tracks, and I\u2019m loving this new direction. It\u2019s still Steph, just softer around the edges. Trancelike. Hypnotic. I can\u2019t wait for you to hear it.<\/p>\n

📺 Rewatch the Golden Buzzer performance by Voices of Our City Choir
\n<\/strong>It\u2019s easy to find online\u2014just Google it. Voices also has an album of original songs in post-production, with a documentary set to release in 2026. If you\u2019re in San Diego, you can catch one of their open rehearsals every Monday at 10:30am at St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral on 6th Ave.<\/p>\n

💿 Dust off some Heart
\n<\/strong>Start with Desire Walks On<\/em>\u2014a hugely underrated album and a personal favorite that heavily influenced my own writing. Or go with the better-known Dog & Butterfly<\/em>, which features \u201cStraight On\u201d\u2014Heart\u2019s third single from that album and, according to my mom, the first song I ever requested at age three. She swears Heart was the first band I loved on my own. Apparently, it showed early.<\/p>\n

Shameless Self-Promotion
\n<\/strong>By the time you\u2019re reading this, I\u2019ll have just released a new single and video: Not Like You<\/em>. It dropped August 24, in honor of National LGBTQ+ Youth Day\u2014and yes, that\u2019s Meg Baier on harmonies.<\/p>\n

The song came out quiet and steady, almost like a hymn. But there\u2019s ache in it too. It\u2019s for the kids growing up queer, or different, or just feeling outside of things. One in four high schoolers identifies as LGBTQ+ now. They\u2019re four times more likely to attempt suicide. I wanted to make something that says: I see you. You matter.<\/em><\/p>\n

The video is simple but deliberate. Visibility can be a kind of shelter. \u00a0All proceeds go to The Trevor Project. Every parent should listen hard to this one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past month, I found myself far from the familiar grounds of Melody Ranch, exploring the lush landscapes of Costa Rica and the vibrant energy of Southern California. I love buzzing around and visiting the different corners of my life. These past six weeks I\u2019ve been in Costa Rica\u2014my home away from home\u2014and crawling (honestly, crawling) down SoCal freeways, weaving from San Diego to Los Angeles and back again. I travel a lot, as you\u2019ve probably noticed by now. Travel is the musician\u2019s prerogative\u2014and maybe my favorite part of being a big project creator. Costa Rica isn\u2019t just where my second home and the monkeys reside\u2014it\u2019s also home base for Horacio Paris, one of the drummers I work with most closely these days, and Josu\u00e9 Gonz\u00e1lez, a guest pianist on a few tracks I\u2019m currently mixing for the new album. This time around, I got to reconnect with my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":28224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[190],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lessons-from-melody-ranch"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30077"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30136,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30077\/revisions\/30136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandiegotroubadour.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}