When she was younger, Allison Moorer used to believe that she wanted an intellectual existence, a life of the mind. But now, at 42, she sighs, “What I’ve realized that I have is a life of the hands—I’m always just making something, or I’m writing or drawing something, because it makes me feel connected; it makes me feel real. It’s the same way with music—I just want to make it.” Hence, her latest ambitious set, Down To Believing, which documents her recent split from her husband, Steve Earle, and even the motherly guilt she felt when their son John Henry, now four, was diagnosed with autism two years ago. Moorer will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on her.
Moorer: “But if there were no music, then I would not get through.” The first thing I do after I drag myself out of bed in the mornings, usually at 6 a.m. (I have a four-year-old son to get to school), is put the kettle onto boil. I’m old school, no Keurig for me. I’m a French press kind of gal. And it just so happens that I’m a music and not a television gal. I don’t want any morning news in this house unless something’s blown up or blowing through. There are the random mornings when I don’t want to hear anything, but most mornings I do, and as quickly as possible. Sometimes I know exactly what feeling I want to float through our two-bedroom apartment up in the sky, and I put the appropriate record on straight away, but some days I peruse the collection on my iPod, looking for just the right thing, just the right notes and words to set the tone I’d like for my day, or at least my morning. It helps me ease in; it supports me, and brings me to life.
Video after the jump.
