The early shut-in days of the uninvited guest that is refusing to leave offered all of us plenty of time to get some things done. Just as the to-do list was extending off the page, many were given a forced stretch of freedom, as days stretched into weeks then months, with many in the music business still doing the thumb twiddle.
Local musician Sunny Gable seized instead of squandered that opportunity, busting out a five-song EP that was released at the end of July. “Little Things” dropped just seven months after her previous record, filling the musical gap from multiple festival dates that circled and sank down a drain into an ocean filled with canceled shows, disappointed fans and soon-to-be-broke musicians.
“Just like every other musician in the world, it was kind of a shock to the system to all the sudden have everything canceled. It seems like it happened over night, and I very clearly remember that first email I got that said, ‘this festival is canceled.’ I was already packed up and ready to go, and it was shocking,” Gable said. “I really felt like I had to do something productive and creative to keep myself motivated.”
Gable is busy. She’s a parent, a farmer and now DIY producer and sound engineer, turning the sewing room in her home into a makeshift recording studio. She didn’t have to hole up in a studio and crank the record out in one long session, instead finding time to record whenever a window of time was available.
“I took my time and did enough takes to get the product I wanted,” she said. “Because I have this situation where I have kids and a farm and so much going on, it was recorded in little bits and pieces. I think altogether it took me about a month to record, but in little, 30-minute sessions.”
“Little Things” is a singer-songwriter’s record – a laid-back acoustic offering with subtle hints of twang. Cuts like “Little Things” offer doses of quiet folk, while “Love Me Not” is a jazzy shuffle and “Seventeen” is acoustic rock. Layered with guitar, mandolin and fiddle, Gable handled the bulk of the instruments, save for the bass, which was played by her longtime bandmate Guy Ewing.
It’s also a personal record. Gable hits on themes of connection and acceptance, living in the moment and loving what you’ve got, while also writing what she calls a “cautionary tale” about dating, written after a conversation she had with her daughter.
Gable first started playing out in the mid-’90s, performing covers at open mic nights at old venues like The Summit or Chelsea’s. Songwriting for her then was a tough deal, something she could have abandoned all together had she not just put it on the back burner for a few decades.
“At one point, I said, ‘I’m going to write a song,’ and I wrote this song about being in love and being up in the mountains and above 13,000 feet, and it was the worst song in the whole world, and I was like, ‘Oh no, I can’t write,’ so I abandoned ship. But then life happened and I came back to it in my 30s and started writing again, and I found this songwriting pocket that I feel comfortable in.”
That pocket includes writing about real life. Day-to-day doings and interactions have a way of making it into Gable’s songs, songs that reflect her, her relationships, friends and family.
“There was one thing my father, who is a writer, told me when I was younger – when you’re writing you have to be honest, and you should write about the things you know,” Gable said. “So I use my experiences. I call it true fiction. You have to write stories and not everything is 100% accurate, but it’s definitely all in there.”
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
