Souvenir Vinyl Release & Listening Party
Friday, November 7 at 7:30pm CST
The Rosette Theater in Austin, TX
In-person and livestream tickets on sale NOW at RosetteATX.org.
Erin Ivey’s acclaimed album Souvenir makes its debut on vinyl. Join us for this milestone celebration at a distinctive new venue in Hyde Park, featuring a full spin of the newly-pressed record and an illuminating conversation with Erin and the album’s producer, Brennen Leigh. Moderated by fellow songwriter Wendy Colonna, the event will include a live audience Q&A. Experience the heart of Texas music through stories of resilience, collaboration, and craft.
BEST FOLK 2025 Austin Music Awards
BEST COUNTRY on Bandcamp
KUTX Song of the Day ("I'm in Awe")
BUY TIX to the release party
In-person and livestream tickets are now available!
ALBUM BIOGRAPHY
by Cillea Houghton
Erin Ivey’s new album Souvenir takes its name from the French word that means “to remember.” These 10 songs are a recollection of a time in Ivey’s life where perseverance meets purpose. “This album really is a survey of the landscape of my life and also a very real souvenir from this really difficult time,” Ivey proclaims. In November 2023, the Austin, Texas-based singer-songwriter was diagnosed with lung cancer. After a successful surgery on December 26, 2023, Ivey was in the midst of months-long recovery while recording Souvenir. “I had the album to work toward and look forward to, but I wondered if I would even be able to make it. I had to let go of the outcome,” explains the singer, who made the album while still recovering from the surgery. “In the past, I had certain expectations of my work and my ability both in writing and singing. With this project, I had no expectations because I didn't know what was possible.”
The album’s title comes from the defining line in the opening track, “Amarillo KOA”: So I stop and I buy a souvenir/The truck stop map says You Are Here. “I don't want to rush through my life anymore. I want to mark the chapters with ritual and celebration as much as possible now in a new way,” she affirms. “That song in particular has taken on new meaning because it’s almost like a premonition of the tumor in my lung. I talk about laying down the burden deep in my chest. I think that the song knew more than I did, and that's true throughout the whole album.”
The versatile singer was able to make the album with grants she received from the City of Austin and Howlin’ Dog Music Group. Describing her writing and singing as “inherently folk,” Ivey wanted to blend that with her affinity for the classic country music of her home in Texas. Marrying into a family from Amarillo that hosts an annual hootenanny where they play covers of Willie Nelson, George Jones, Charley Pride, and other greats, she has long wanted to pay tribute to these roots. When making Souvenir, Ivey carried a piece of wisdom from her friend and Grammy-winning collaborator to the late Leonard Cohen, Jennifer Warnes. “She said, ‘If you're going to create in a new genre, go all the way. So someone who is deeply invested in that world could say you honored the real heart of it,’” Ivey recites.
To accomplish that, she called on country western aficionado Brennen Leigh to serve as producer. Ivey was first introduced to Leigh when she was stopped in her tracks hearing her song “Distracted” on an Austin radio show. The two later connected through the Austin music scene. “She is the only person that I wanted to work with,” Ivey professes of the “country western angel.” “She is so dedicated to the craft and she is so in love with country western music.” Leigh proved her prowess as a producer early on when she challenged Ivey on a line in “Tricks of the Devil,” asking her if it’s true that she always falls for the tricks of the devil. Her question prompted Ivey to change the lyrics to: I don't always fall for the tricks of the devil. “The notes she had were so precise. One little word changed the whole meaning of the song for me,” Ivey recalls. “That's such a good encapsulation of Brennen’s economy with words and her ability to get to the heart of things.”
Ivey also entrusted Leigh with putting the band together. She assembled a core team of female musicians (Ivey on lead vocals and acoustic guitars, Leigh on harmony vocals and electric/acoustic guitars, Ashleigh Caudill on harmony vocals and upright bass, and Karrie Sheehan on drums and percussion). Collaboration is a key word in the creation of Souvenir, as Ivey tapped co-writers Jennifer Warnes, Nicolette Good, Sarah Walker, Ethan Fox Tucker, and Joel Van Horne on four of the songs, more than any project she’s previously released.
Ivey’s graceful vocals tell a wide variety of tales, including “Build a Fire,” which finds the singer “ready to stand there and watch it all burn so we can re-empower ourselves to move forward.” The mariachi-inspired “Caminante” also serves an ode to her adopted home state of Texas, showcasing the range of this collaboration. Then there’s the lively “High Time,” a pedal steel heavy “road song” with a deeper meaning. “It is about trying to keep a couple steps ahead of our own thoughts that are self-sabotaging, but in doing that, we are self-sabotaging,” she analyzes. The meditative “The Moon was Born in Texas” was written on a syrupy hot night in the hill country, just a few days before the Souvenir recording sessions.
The stunning closer “Dream” ties the whole project together. Ivey was called to write the song in the dead of night when her heart was calling her to wake up. “It was singing to me,” she says. Feeling a tightness in her chest, Ivey felt compelled to go outside where she was met with the biggest shooting star she’d ever seen. “It was as beautiful as my heart said it would be,” she recalls of the special moment. “This song is the artistic manifestation of this message that I needed to hear from my body, but until then I wasn't paying attention.” “Dream” is merely a few stanzas, yet delivers a touching message as Ivey gently sings: Now I’m breathing in the symphony / Of the stars and their gleaming.
“The idea of breathing comes up a lot for me,” she reflects. “When you sing, it organizes the energy in your body in certain ways. It's literally a healing thing to breathe and to sing. As long as you're singing, it's healing you.”
She closes the song, and album as a whole, with the meaningful lyric: When I can’t sleep, I dream. “I love that idea of not having to sleep to dream. If you can't dream while you're sleeping, you should dream while you're awake,” Ivey expresses.
After she completed the song, she went to the doctor and received her diagnosis. While awaiting surgery, Ivey had an internal conversation with her lung, becoming in tune with her body in a way she never had before. “The lung spoke for the heart and said, ‘Now that I'm sick and I have to go, you need to take care of the heart and pay attention to the heart,’” she recites. “Souvenir brings me back to, ‘How can I connect with my heart and listen to her messages in a way where she feels safe speaking to me in her way?’ I feel like I'm able to foster that connection and really hear what my body is telling me now.”
The creation process for Souvenir has connected Ivey to her voice in a profound way, allowing her to let go of expectation while still honoring her calling to music. “I think the authenticity that I brought to this project was forced upon me by not being able to have any preconceived notion about my abilities anymore. It didn't have to be anything but what it would become, so that was very freeing,” she professes. “It’s like our subconscious prescribes music to us and through us. Songs know things before we do because they come from a place that is more than we are.”
HIGHLIGHTS
First-time producer Brennen Leigh is the darling of country western music at the helm of this true country-folk collaboration, one that could maybe only have happened in Austin. It is an ode to the many musical genres that intermingle there. As Guy Clark noted colorfully, "Brennen Leigh plays guitar like a motherfucker" all over this album.
"The Moon was Born in Texas" was co-written with Jennifer Warnes, winner of multiple GRAMMYs, Oscars, and a Golden Globe for songs like "Up Where We Belong" and "I've Had the Time of my Life," as well as her celebrated collaborations with Leonard Cohen.
The legendary Cindy Cashdollar (Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Ryan Adams) plays dobro on "Amarillo KOA" and console steel guitar on "I'm in Awe."
2020's Texas State Musician Emily Gimble (Asleep at the Wheel, Merle Haggard) plays piano on "Build a Fire" and "Empty House."
... and many more badass musicians (predominantly women) grace this album.
CREDITS
Produced by Brennen Leigh
Recorded and mixed by James Stevens at EAR Studio in Austin, TX
Additional production and recording engineered by Erin Ivey at The Recording Fort
Additional recording engineered by Kevin Skrla at Wolfe Island Recording Company
Additional production support by Cam Rogers
Mastered by Michael Romanowski at Coast Mastering
All songs written by Erin Ivey, including
“Amarillo KOA” by Nicolette Good and Erin Ivey
“Caminante” by Sarah Walker and Erin Ivey
“Prize Fighter” by Ethan Fox Tucker, Joel Van Horne, and Erin Ivey
“The Moon was Born in Texas” by Jennifer Warnes and Erin Ivey
Erin Ivey - vocals, acoustic guitars
Brennen Leigh - electric & acoustic guitars, harmony vocals
Ashleigh Caudill - upright bass, harmony vocals
Karrie Sheehan - drums, percussion
Cindy Cashdollar - dobro on “Amarillo KOA,” console steel guitar on “I’m in Awe”
Suzanna Choffel - harmony vocals on “Build a Fire” and “Prize Fighter”
Emily Gimble - piano on “Build a Fire” and “Empty House”
Ginny Mac - accordion on “Caminante”
Rebecca Patek - fiddle on “Empty House,” “Prize Fighter,” and “Tricks of the Devil”
Chuck Pinnell - guitar on “Prize Fighter”
Cam Rogers - percussion on “Amarillo KOA” and “Tricks of the Devil”
Kevin Skrla - pedal steel guitar on “Dream,” “High Time,” “Prize Fighter,” and “The Moon was Born in Texas”
Oliver Steck - trumpet on “Caminante”
Cover photograph by Brian D. Smith
This album was funded in part by grants from Red Sky Records, the City of Austin’s Live Music Fund Event Program and Howlin’ Dog Music Group, and by my patrons at patreon.com/erinivey
Works cited under fair use:
Steve Goodman. “The City of New Orleans” (“High Time”)
Antonio Machado. “Caminante, no hay camino” (“Caminante”)
© 2024 Erin Ivey. All Rights Reserved.
Souvenir is currently available online at Bandcamp and Patreon, where a meaningful exchange of value still exists between artists and fans
Also available on streaming services.
LINK TO HI RES ALBUM ART AND PHOTOS ON DROPBOX
