Life is but a dream came about in a most unusual way. A family member, who is an architect at a hospital in Denver, installed a sound system throughout the building. One of the goals was to play 10 seconds of Brahm's lullaby throughout the hospital every time a baby was born. The architect asked me if I had a version of it. I searched and couldn't find one that felt magical and gentle enough, so I just decided to record it myself. With just a simple Celtic harp and a glockenspiel (bells), I recorded a version and sent it over. The hospital played the lullaby whenever a baby was born and people were so charmed by it. They wanted to know what the music was, could it be played longer, and how to buy it.

Fast forward one year; two family members had their first babies. Again, I looked all around for a recording of baby lullabies as a gift and couldn't find one that I found totally gentle, so I decided to record a dozen more lullabies and give it to them as a gift. They all had the same response as folks in the hospital. The songs are fairly short so it only added up to 30 minutes of music, which is not enough for an album. Friends and family were adding this music to their baby photo slide shows, I was amazed on how cute that was. Inspired by, "The wee ones"

Fast forward another year: I now play my harp every week between concerts at the pediatric units of two Kaiser hospitals in Los Angeles; and Huntington Memorial. When I interacted with the children, they sing along on the songs they know.

That moved me to find all the lullabies and children's melodies I could think of; and some tunes I loved as a little girl when I first started playing guitar. I wanted to record them all to give to patients and families that I met.

I dove into recording all the rest of the tunes. It was actually a challenge because these are the simplest arrangements I've ever recorded. It's not as easy as it sounds. I had a mocking bird keep showing up at my studio window every night. So if you listen closely on some of the tracks, you will hear him singing. The songs are all so short, and since there is no singing on them, I added some of my own sections to compliment the magic melodies inherent in the tunes.

As I looked for cover art, I wanted something special and put the word out to my circle of friends. One dear friend, who owns a beautiful gift store called Gypsy Palace in Gainesville, Florida, brought me her favorite baby card. I loved it right away and wrote to the artist and photographer Valerie Tabor Smith, asking what it would cost me to license the cover for this album. The artist was warm-hearted, gracious, and moved by my work in hospitals. She gave full permission and wanted to contribute the work. She herself is actively involved in helping kids. You can see her other work at www.valerietaborsmith.com/.

This project has had its own life force. I hope it will be useful in soothing little people, and big people too!

1. Rock A Bye Baby
2. Row Row Row Your Boat
3. Are You Sleeping
4. Brahm's Lullaby
5. This Old Man
6. Hush Little Baby
7. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
8. Ode To Joy
9. You Are My Sunshine
10. Kumbaya
11. All Through The Night
12. Aura Lee
13. Light Of Love
14. Ashgrove
15. As Ye Lay Sleeping

Listen to: the entire album.

Release date: 08/03/2015
Lisa Lynne lives in California USA

Tagged as: World, New Age, Children, Harp

1. Music of Fernando Sor by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
2. Meditative Guitar by Jeff Wahl: acoustic new age and jazz guitar.
3. Sabbath Day's Journey by Lydia McCauley: intriguing piano compositions with dynamic accompaniment
4. The Airs of Wales by Cheryl Ann Fulton: World-class performer and teacher of Medieval, Baroque, Welsh triple, Celtic and Concert harps.
5. Hidden Sky by Jami Sieber: enchanting cello compositions
6. Christmas Music by Magnatune Compilation: the best music from Magnatune
7. Holiday Frost by Cari Live: thoughtful expressions through intelligent new age
8. A Harper's Holiday in Wales by Cheryl Ann Fulton: World-class performer and teacher of Medieval, Baroque, Welsh triple, Celtic and Concert harps.
9. Dowland on 8 String Guitar by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
10. Nun Komm by The Bach Players: baroque instrumental and vocal gems
11. SL Weiss on 11 Strings by Paul Berget: renaissance lute, modernized.
12. Reverie by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
13. Bach Cello Suites on 8 String Guitar by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
14. Old School Old Time by Fiddle Whamdiddle: foot-stomping, heart-pumping, head-bobbing music that snags audiences and reels them in!
15. Mistral by Shira Kammen: early folk and celtic music.
16. Bach Harpsichord Suites on Guitar by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
17. JS Bach on Solo Ukulele Volume 2 by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
18. JS Bach on Solo Mandola by Daniel Estrem: colorful classical guitar
19. Second Sight by Jami Sieber: enchanting cello compositions
20. Christmas Through the Gateway by Osamu Kitajima and Chris Mancinelli: pan pacific ambient dance masters

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