For the international fans, here is the translation of Ilse's interesting story about the making of "Gravel & Dust". (I hope it makes sense, I am not very familiar with musical terminology) (Written text: in this first episode of "The story behind 'Gravel & Dust'" , we return to the studio of producer T Bone Burnett, 'House Of Blues'in Nashville. We listen to demos and talk about the influence T Bone has has on the recording process). The writing process for this album does overlap the writing process of my other albums. In general, the difference between writing for a pop music album and writing for an americana / rootsy album cd is that the latter one usually involves a piano or guitar, whereas writing pop music is more a technical procedure (syntesizer with programmed beats) . Prior to reaching decisive moments, you make the so called 'voice memos' ; every singer-songwriter I know has a full list of these. Many of my voice memos are filed under 'New recording 316' ; or 'Good idea!' is another one I use often, not to mention the capture "Beautiful Chords!". In short, at that time there is not yet an oversight. I have plenty of such voice memos relating to 'Gravel & Dust'. This rootsy album was created in the very same year as my previous (pop music) album ('Ilse DeLange'). In fact, one song was meant to be on my pop music album, but this was shifted to 'Gravel & Dust', which has been produced by T Bone Burnett. The reason was that Gravel & Dust was recorded first and I had T Bone listen to that song. He liked it so much that I thought "Let's put it on this album, perhaps we can make a more pop style version as well." So this is the voice memo of the song (music playing). It starts with a mute piano intro, shich is quite different now (Fragment from "The Only Thing I Ever Got Right', "I've fallen down a million times..."). A relevant question is, "What is the role of the producer?" Actually a producer has quite an important one! For Gravel & Dust, however, it was not about adding anything to the music. On the contrary, T Bone's style is to 'get to the core of the music', by slowing down its tempo and simplifying the chords; finding the 'groove' of the song, so to speak. Basically, this song was accompanied by different instruments. Initially the song was meant to sound like religious music, yet with a programmed, vulgair, seemingly broken beat. This version, however, turned out quite serene, which is certainly T Bone's hallmark. I'll have you listen to the voice demo (of New Amsterdam) . Refering to the acoustics: in Nashville I have a house with a front porch, protected with muskito nets. We are all sitting around the table on the porch. The memo was recorded there, after we had agreed that this was what the demo should sound like. It is quite different than the final result, maybe even in a different key, I am not quite sure. ( "We were busy closing down.... ") The fragment 'Kiss me on the corner' has certainly been modified, as has the guitar part after 'gypsy cab'. The groove is different too! It is like this song was thrown onto the table, causing dust to circle in the air, only to have every piece put into place under the directions of T Bone. This voice demo is not that bad, but the real song has certainly been raised to a higher level. "Amsterdááááám" was a bit too much, probably sung like that in the spur of the moment, but I'm glad we corrected that! As you can hear, the song is being transformed quite a lot, especially thanks to T Bone! His presence in the room radiates tranquility and he can still get absorbed by the music. I really like that a lot about him: he is someone who has been making music for such a long time and has 13 Grammy's to his name, yet he still can get passionately involved in the creation of new music! That is quite something and it gives me goosebumps. Also, when a song really turnes out well, he still can have a sense of awe! That is like a fire that should keep burning! This is so inspiring to improve the music and to create lots more of it! Working with T Bone Burnett has been such an exceptional experience! I feel very grateful to him for this honor! This is definitely a turning point, resulting in much more new music!

Wat een tof verhaal en wat kun je er leuk over vertellen Ilse! Ik hoop ook dat je nog veel meer muziek in deze stijl gaat maken. Wat zou het tof zijn, als dit voor T Bone Burnett de 14e Grammy en voor jou de 1e Grammy werd. Ik zou je graag voordragen, maar daar ben ik lang niet belangrijk genoeg voor, dat zou een radioprogramma moeten doen. XO Irene

Wat een ontzettend leuk filmpje met deze achtergrondinformatie over je nieuwste album !! Ik kijk uit naar de volgende afleveringen en hoop dat je nog meer van deze prachtige muziek gaat maken, top !!

Oh Ilse, dit soort afleveringen vind ik echt leuk! Ik hoop dat er meerdere volgen😝🤗💕

Gaaaaf om dit te zien Ilse bedankt voor het maken van dit filmpje. Groetjes van Edwin uit Almelooooo

Super tof om dit te zien!:)

Dit is zo leuk & interessant om te horen! Dankjewel :)

Wat ben je toch ook een lieve leuke meid. Liefs uit Suriname. En ja...ik hou van je muziek.

I will start walking across America next week... FB kayak cobber Goede titel voor mij....Dust, gravel and DUSTDEVILS. Ga van San Diego naar StAugustine..dus heel veel desert. Op de rustdagen lekker muziek luisteren verder alleen maar WildCamping.

Wat Ben Je Tog Ook Een Lekker >>>>>>Lekker Ding>>>>>? He?

Helemaal met je eens Ilse, via de computer geen echte muziek, wat jij maakt (Country) is perfect ik ben Elf een Country liefhebber. Gelukkig groeit country zeer in Nederland.