This month I had the privilege of recording an upcoming new book release, So God Made a Grandma. The book is a compilation of over 100 short stories about grandmas, written by dozens of women authors (including the narrator) and read by Leslie. The read took us down paths of lessons taught and learned, examples displayed and taken to heart, intertwined life stories, recipes, memories and much more. The short pallets of text are organized into 10 categories of “grandma characteristics”, with several authors providing input on those topics based on their experiences of a grandma – theirs or another they know or knew well.
As we worked our way through the reads some were funny, others quite amazing, some could seem even tragic – yet hopeful, there were those that provoked memories of our own grandmas with gratitude and appreciation, and some were sad at least at one level as we reflect that life gives us one go around – and people and opportunities move on. With my wife and I at the grandparent stage, the book gave pause to be intentional in cultivating and capturing the moments with each other and our younger generations. There’s limited time for those connections and for passing the baton to the next leg of the race.

From our Midwest origin, the audio files were sent to One Audiobooks in California for editing and processing. It was a privilege to partner with them on this very compelling read.

Leslie’s book can be pre-ordered on her site link, where you can also find her prior book So God Made a Mother. Leslie’s website (herviewfromhome.com) has many articles, resources and purchase opportunities that are well worth checking out.

Thank you to One Audiobooks and Leslie for choosing Tesco Productions for your “next chapter”.

In July I received a call from Tom Mullally in Le Mars, IA inquiring about singing a couple of songs to Country tracks. It turns out I likely was within just feet of Tom and/or his wife in Le Mars more than once when I ate at their Lally’s Eastside Restuarant while attending the National Traditional Country and Old Time Music festival when the late Bob Everhart was hosting it in that city.

One of the songs we recorded was The Family Bible. The track was well done and so it gave us a good palette for laying down his vocal takes. It didn’t take very many and the end result turned out quite well – so well that in September he earned Gold and Platinum Disc Awards from Airplay Express. I just recently heard about it from Tom. The award was given for Worldwide Radio Release through Airplay Express. You can view the promo here on youtube. Tom also released The Family Bible along with Music as an EP on CD. Congratulations Tom for a job well done and for sharing the important message of this song – we need more family Bibles reminding us how to live.