Woodstock Lily sings for you

Lille Diane and Michael Tsang, 'East Winds"

About a month ago, maybe less, I was looking for an old tape to let Superman hear a version of 'Over the Rainbow' I recorded. This song is one of my all time favorites without a doubt. In my search to find the recording of this one song I found another cassette that I didn't even know I had. Thirty one years this tape was buried. It survived several cross country moves, musky basements, and storage units living in beaten up cardboard boxes. Suddenly, out of nowhere, it appeared in a drawer as if MAGIC. It wasn't even labeled. Why I picked this particular cassette up is a mystery in itself, except to say, something much larger, and grander, than myself is working on my behalf.

Silver Rose, Louie Baker on the left, me on the right with dark hair.

The tape had several live recordings of songs I'd written on it, and didn't even remember I had recorded, as well as songs I'd performed with two bands; Silver Rose with Louie Baker, and East Winds, a duo with Michael Tsang, both during the 70's. This has been an emotional, and jaw dropping few weeks with discoveries of my musical career preserved as a part of my continuing musical legacy.

My Dad played with 50's icons Hank Williams, Hank Snow, and Johnny Horton. He met my mother, an aspiring vocalist, who sang backups on a couple of recordings that ended up on jukeboxes, not as hits but as fillers. My daddy had a drinking problem, as do many musicians, and it got in the way of him having the brilliant career he was born to have. My grandmother told me a story about a night he was playing with Johnny Horton. Johnny told her, "Dub is one of the best guitar players out there but the bottle is his first love. He won't go anywhere till he leaves her behind." Sad, but true, this has happened to too many extremely talented artists, musicians, and writers.

As you all know I have been using creativity, and a creative to do list to help me heal from PTSD. It has not been an A-Z process for me, and truthfully, it wouldn't be nearly as interesting, or rewarding, if everything just "fell into place" with no effort or learning on my part. I'm learning so much from Dr. Ed, and, Michele Rosenthal, at Heal My PTSD. But in saying that, I've experienced some hard hills to climb out of this valley of PTSD, and at times, my body has been dragging my dreams down due to setbacks health wise.

Finding these tapes has given me the courage to begin undertaking one of the goals on my list; to record another album. I will not allow PTSD to rob me of my purpose, my calling, and my God given talents to accomplish my dreams. I've had these dreams since I was 10 years old. My amazingly talented son, Jake, will be working with me on this project singing backup, and laying down all the music tracks. Yes, he can play everything! Superman is at the helm as my producer, and protector. Dylan is in charge of managing me. (hehe Lord knows I need that...)

For the last few weeks, Superman has painstakingly worked to digitize and clean up as much hiss off these recordings as he could, then he saved them to an mp3 format. So.... with a wee bit nervousness, mixed with a huge "I just won the Freaking LOTTERY!!!" attitude, I introduce a collection of songs on my side bar for your listening pleasure.

My personal favorites are: Moonbean, I Never Meant To Hurt You, Over the Rainbow, and Girl In The Mirror. There's one country song on here I wrote called, 'A Child Like Me'. I grew up thinking country music was all there was because of my family history. I've since learned to love and appreciate all music. "A Child Like Me' has a Christian message layered with the idea that we all want to be accepted by our Daddy's, whether it is Daddy God or our own birth fathers. I've always had a spiritual heart, and have always been a seeker, looking for God, for answers, and spiritual love. I worked in the Contemporary Christian music business from 1987-1998. I had the honor of being the opening vocalist for the phenomenal Wayne Watson, winner of tons of Grammy's and Dove Awards, in 1989.

yes, I had big hair... didn't everyone in the 80's????
Wayne Watson, myself, and Scott Alan, a DJ at KDAR, Oxnard CA

If you're on Facebook you can fan me there at Lille Diane: Singer-Songwriter and on Reverbnation. I'd be so honored to have you listen to my songs (they're up there on the top right on the player) and cheer me on to taking my healing to the next level.