can't be killed or denied
Good morning, good morning -
It’s album release day over here in my world & it feels good! Releasing the new music off into the world like a dove always feels significant if for no other reason than it marks a shift in the creative cycle. I’ve been living with and thinking about these songs for years & now they belong to you, too.
I keep trying to think of what to say about the album & attempting to dovetail all the little bits and pieces that feel worth mentioning. I’ve described it as “dense" since I first turned it in. My sister Allison said it’s a record you can really sink your teeth into. Maybe for that reason, brevity is fitting for today’s post.
I do want to say that people keep asking me how or if Tigers Blood is connected to Saint Cloud. I look at it a little more like I’m in a specific chapter of my career and I really think it started when the ground I walk on shifted in 2018. Call it post-sobriety, post-Saturn return, but I often call it post-Brad Cook. I’ve been fortunate to have many amazing collaborators on this record, all of whom helped shape how it ended up. Without Brad as my producer and friend, lighting up this unknown pathway to such a new type of clarity and confidence, the last few albums would not exist. I’m so grateful to him, I don’t know if he realizes what a gift he’s given me by just showing up.
There are so many people who worked on this album, who inspired these songs, who supported me and gave me feedback and gassed me up. I love all of you so much and am grateful for each of you. I used to feel like my albums were just mine when I first made them. I held onto them like little secrets for months and months before releasing them into the wild. This time around, it felt like a family dinner, everyone seated at a giant table, working hard to support this vision I have, passing around thoughts and ideas and keeping the energy all the way up for a whole year as we ramped up to this moment. I’m filled with warmth and gratitude. Thank you to all of you, you know who you are.
And lastly - thank you, readers. I hope you enjoy Tigers Blood. I appreciate you being here. I’m writing from beautiful Chicago. Tonight the Tigers Blood band will take the stage at the Empty Bottle and will play the album front to back. I truly cannot wait.
Tour starts in 3 weeks. Grab tickets here.
Big big love to all of you. I’m feeling it today.
-KC