Amazing Grace

Ariana and I singing at The Listening Room in Nashua. Photo by Kevin Mason.

I just had a Mother milestone. I was aware of it before I came down to Nashville. On Sunday, March 8, I sang back-up to my daughter at her first solo gig. There was a small appreciative audience at the Listening Room, who had no idea how momentous this was.

Ariana and her brother, Max, grew up with music in the house, from my classical vocal music to the family rock and roll my husband and I began writing when the kids were born. On the cover of our first record (and it was a record), Ariana is a 2-month old baby-sitting in my lap. That was 29 years ago.

In radio interviews, Ariana talks about spending week-ends with Max at our Peggosus gigs, carrying mic stands and selling our record, tapes, and eventually CDs. Now she is writing her own songs, playing guitar, tending bar, living the alternative life of a singer-songwriter, and happy to be pursuing her dream.

When Ariana was in junior high, I gave her a few voice lessons. We soon discovered that the mother-daughter dynamic in lessons was not going to work. Ariana began lessons with Ellen Nordstrom at Concord Community Music School, where I was then voice department chair. Ellen was upbeat and savvy. She had Ariana singing all kinds of songs, stretching her musical self-concept.

In college, Ariana majored in musical theater and sang back-up on a couple of my CDs. A friend once asked me, “Who’s singing back-up? Is that you?”

“No, that’s Ariana.” Our voices are so similar, it’s hard to tell us apart. When Ariana asked me if I could come to Nashville to sing with her at her Sunday brunch gig, I said, “Yes!”

Ariana and I singing Amazing Grace.

Being in Nashville for an 11:00 am gig meant getting up at 3:30, flying at 6:00, and singing through arrangements in the car as she drove us to The Listening Room. We sat on stools side-by-side on the dark stage for a quick sound check.

Our first song was “Amazing Grace.” And it was amazing. We sang the first verse in seamless unison. When I moved up to a descant for the second verse, I felt a moment of sheer joy at the beauty of our voices together. “Don’t miss this moment,” I thought. “It will be over way too soon.”

That was a week ago. The two-hour gig passed in timeless time. I just wanted to keep singing together. There will be other times.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound.