Behind the Making of Auntie Energy

Auntie Energy started as a voice memo recorded in a Tulsa kitchen at two in the morning. I had been singing for years as a personal passion, but that night I heard something in my own voice I had been avoiding: a woman who was done apologizing for taking up space.

Most of the record was written in Houston. The city has a slowness in the low end — the drums sit back, the air is heavy, and everything wants to breathe. I leaned into that. We tracked live Rhodes, upright bass, and brushed drums first, then stacked harmonies last so the vocals would sit inside the room rather than on top of it.

There are nine songs because nine is how long the story took. "Who Am I" is the question. "I'm Enough" is the answer. "Aunt Flow" is the benediction — the closing statement where every harmony on the record finally stacks into one voice.

Auntie Energy is not about age. It is about arrival. It is the woman in the family who tells you the truth kindly, keeps a plate for you, and refuses to make herself smaller so a room can stay comfortable. That is the frequency I wanted the whole record tuned to.