Thank You, Tree – Single Release

This is a very big day for Land Heart Song! Today the first song, “Thank You, Tree”, from the forthcoming album “Songs for Tree” comes out! You can now find it everywhere to listen to and sing and dance along!

Here are some of the places you can find it: BandCamp, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon Music, Deezer, SoundCloud and YouTube.

This is a gratitude song for the land. The land where I live means everything to me and is at the heart of all I do at Land Heart Song, and it feels good to sing this song and share love and gratitude for the land. I live in the beautiful land of the Anishinaabe and the First Nations of the Williams Treaty, who are the Chippewas of Rama and Beau Soleil and the Mississaugas of Alderville, Curve Lake, Hiawatha and Scugog Island, and closest to me, the Chippewas of Georgina Island. I acknowledge and honour these Nations and all Indigenous Peoples I share this land with. As a settler and a treaty person, my hope is for this song to nurture love, gratitude, respect for, and connection with the land.

This is a very special song to me, one that delights and inspires curiosity, while supporting us in exploring our voices. I love singing this song live with children and families- we have so much fun! This recording of the song, which I created with Toronto-based producer Joel Schwartz and my family, captures the joyful essence of the tune, and I’m sure you will have a lot of fun singing along with it! I hope you do, and then I hope you run off with the song in your pocket, to sing and have fun in the land where you live!

If you would like some ideas and resources to support you with taking this song out into the land with you, please check out my original blog post about “Thank You, Tree” HERE.

“Thank You, Tree” is the song that first nudged me to share my nature songs with a wider audience, and so it feels fitting that it is also the first single released from the upcoming album. I started writing children’s songs that nurture love for the land when I was on a maternity leave with my youngest, over 8 years ago. While my little ones (then 2 years old and newborn) would play with toys and trains in the living room, I would noodle around with my guitar and make up little songs for them. When I returned to teaching, I started sharing these songs with Kindergarten students, and it was heaps of fun. When our world changed in the Spring of 2020, I was working as an Outdoor Learning and Music Teacher for a number of Kindergarten classes. With our stay-at-home orders, I remember looking at my phone and thinking about the possibility of making a little music video for students… I remember feeling really shy and awkward about it, and I turned away from that idea. But then weeks of staying home became months, and I finally found the nerve to record “Thank You, Tree” for the Kindergarten students, and it was well received. They started drawing pictures of the animals they wanted me to include in the song, and their family emailed them to me. I, in turn, would re-record the song for them with their wonderful ideas. My favourite was when one students suggested a butterfly- I mean, really, think of it- what does it sound like when a butterfly sings?! Needless to say, over the miles and through the internet, this song helped us find some joy and connection in an otherwise isolating time.

“Thank You, Tree” also brought joy and connection with my family. My confidence grew, and my kids helped me create a video that we put up on YouTube. They were excellent puppeteers, and we created a simple, delightful home recording of the song. I have great memories of us using milk crates and rubbermaid bins to make that video! I used this video to share the song more widely, and also to launch http://www.landheartsong.com as a space for me to share my thinking and experiences of the value in singing nature songs with children. You can find the first blog post, with lots of great ideas, a song & lyrics page- and our wonderful video- HERE. So really, “Thank You, Tree” is quite at the heart of the beginning of all that Land Heart Song has come to be!

I am really proud of this recording. This song was created through various stages of isolation with Toronto-based producer Joel Schwartz. I feel like Joel and I really captured the essence of the tune. What makes this tune extra special to me is that my family also contributed to the recording! It is my husband, Tyler, and my kids, Quinn and Rose, who offer the delightful animal sounds. It also means a lot to me that my friend and local fellow singer-songwriter Erin Blackstock has shared her voice to this tune, too. I think together, we all created something really special, and I hope your whole family will truly enjoy it for a long time.

There is so much more to come from Land Heart Song, and I hope you will join me on the adventure. It means a lot when you take a moment to drop a line and let me know what Land Heart Song’s songs mean to you, when you share the songs with others, when you come out for live shows, and when you share your support in any way! I hope I connect with you throughout this wonderful journey.

Ok! Now I’m off to give my favourite trees a very big hug, to thank them for being here and to thank the land for trusting me with this beautiful and fun song.

Happy singing!
Tiiu