Carley Arrowood’s newest album “Colors” — releasing March 29th — encapsulates her contemporary acoustic style with her cutting-edge fiddling and award-winning vocals and songwriting, offering a trifecta of skill and entertainment to any stage and every audience.
– Read More About Carley’s Music Here
Carley Arrowood is painting a vibrant canvas through the melodies and lyrics in her upcoming album, Colors. Carley talked with me about how her sound has evolved since releasing her debut album, Goin’ Home Comin’ On, in 2022. Carley, her husband Daniel, sister Autumn Watson, and the entire band have been honing in on their sound that blends traditional bluegrass with contemporary country, Christian, and Celtic flares. Colors will include previously released singles that capture a fresh sound including, “Moondancer” and “Chasin’ Indigo“. Carley shared the story and special meaning in these songs with me and how she is excited for everyone to hear this new album featuring original music that reflects her life today as a Christian, wife and new mom.
Moondancer
The story of “Moondancer” began when Carley wrote it as a short story while in school. She loves Cherokee history and loves to embrace her family’s Cherokee roots. The story is about a Cherokee girl who sneaks off at night and sees a mystical horse running around and she tries to tame it, but can’t do it. She realizes the horse has a free spirit like hers. She can’t tame the horse like she can’t tame herself, so she lets it be and watches it from afar. Carley says there is a hidden meaning in how we can seek the next level in life, but keep missing it. We won’t be perfect until Jesus takes us home and makes us perfect. It has a lot of elements to it, and people can get different meanings from it. Carley always wanted to make the story into a song and was inspired to do so one day while at her Grandma’s garden, “When I started writing it, I was looking for arrowheads in my Grandma’s garden…It was a cold day reminiscent of the song itself when the song (lyrics) came to mind. I ran home to write it down so I wouldn’t forget. I got the guitar out and the chord progression fell into place for the chorus. Daniel and I finished it before going into the studio and it turned out to be one of our favorite songs. I went back and showed the demo and the studio recording of it to Grandma and it got her stamp of approval. It happened while I was doing something she taught me to love. It goes back to the little Cherokee roots we have, we embrace it a lot,” shares Carley.
Chasin’ Indigo
“Chasin’ Indigo” is a different type of love song that describes the beauty of a sunset and being with those we love. “It can be easy to get wrapped up in what you are doing… It (Chasin’ Indigo) is a reminder to each other to pick our heads up from our work and make time for what matters the most,” says Carley, “Make sure you’re not immersing yourself so much in your work that you’re missing out on what’s right in front of you and in our case it’s our sweet family and spending time with each other.”
Carley also says her baby girl loves this song. “When we recorded it I was five months pregnant with her and we listened to the mix a lot so that we could get it mixed and mastered to be released as a single. It played a lot while I was pregnant with her and when she was born and fussing a lot, I wondered if the song would calm her down and it did. When we went out to watch the pretty sunset a couple of weeks after she was born I started singing it and she recognized it.”
Colors
How paralyzing is it knowing that our lives are a blank canvas, and sometimes we don’t know the best colors to pick, for fear that it may turn out wrong? What if we mess up the whole thing? How daunting of a task we put upon ourselves! How silly of us to think we hold the brush! There is but one Artist Who can stare at that blank canvas and say to it, “You can’t do a thing.” Because reality is, without Christ, we can’t.
– Carley Arrowood
Without the sovereign hand of Almighty God, we are nothing. He fills His brush with just the right pigment. He pulls it in just the right strokes, to shape and form us in the ways He sees fit. Everything He allows is for our good, to point us to His grace, for His glory.
“When we look back His grace has outlined our lives…” because we realize when we look back, He was holding the brush, in love, the entire time. ❤️🖌️
Colors is set to be a collection of Carley’s best work yet as three of her original songs featured on the album made the finals in this year’s International Acoustic Music Awards, in all three categories – “Tsali’s Run“ for Instrumental, “Moondancer” for Folks/Americana Roots, and “Chasin’ Indigo“ for Best Country/Bluegrass, which received runner up. The talent in Carley’s vocals paired with the beautiful melodies and captivating storytelling in the lyrics are sure to lift your spirit and your faith. Follow @carleyarrowoodmusic on Instagram and YouTube, and pre-order Colors now on all platforms.
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