Unencumbered Heart

I wish I could remember the exact time and place I wrote this song, because it's one of my very favourites. One day, I will get out all my journals from 2013-2017, and I will search for snippets of this song and try to dig out its origins. But for today, I will just snuggle around in the pleasant glow of knowing that I wrote such a lovely song. 

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I have good memories of performing this song. In May 2014, I took the VIA train to Halifax from Montreal as part of their Artists on Board program. It is a great resource for Canadian musicians, VIA Rail offers free travel to musicians in exchange for performances on the train and in the station. At the time of writing, the program isn't being offered, so I feel really lucky that I was able to take advantage of it at the time. I cannot overstate how cool it was. It was my first time going off on a teeny weeny tour all by myself with no Lost Boys. I was able to travel in a way I never would have been able to with husband in tow. Example: I stayed in a hostel and hung out with perfect strangers, something Julien would not have been very jazzed about. Not jazzed at all, in fact! But I was extra jazzed, and being on my own gave me the push to put myself outside my comfort zone. In this hostel, I met some well-travelled and scintillating people who shared their lentil stew with me and invited me to a house concert / open mic with a deep East Coast vibe. I performed Unencumbered Heart in a giant living room jammed with musicians and poets and princes and vagabonds! What a trip that was, I hope I can play shows in Halifax again someday.  

I also was given a purple and black plaid shirt by some Dutch travellers, and I wore the daylights out of it, until it fell to pieces. What a shirt that was, I hope I can find a shirt like that again someday.