Page 10 - ION Indie Magazine_MayJune 2022

"In getting back to why I did this record," Sylvia elaborates, "In realizing how important
this was to me, I thought I wanted to write a collection of songs that would say to
these kids what I really wanted to say to them. They are things that are important for
any child to hear. They are songs that a parent should want to say to a child. ‘I Love
You for Who You Are’ and ‘Don’t Be Afraid to Dream Your Dreams’ talk about what it
is like to use your imagination and what it is like to be a best friend. I didn’t hear these
songs very often in other songs that I knew. I think almost every song on here could
inspire hope. The first song that comes to mind is ‘(Hey, Hey, Hey) It’s a New Day.’
That song was one of the four that John co-wrote in the course of recording this
album. I love that it is a day that you take with your child, whether or not it is your
inner child."

Sylvia goes on to talk about the title track saying, "The song ‘Nature Child’ was one
of the four that John and I wrote in the process of making this record and (for which)
he wrote the music. He played it for me a day later. I said, ‘I keep seeing you on the
edge of the woods,’ and the music evoked images for me. He put it down on guitar, I
took it home, and I lived with it. The song is almost a stream of consciousness. I sat
on my back porch, looked up at the sky and I saw clouds floating by in the first line. I
didn’t know what the song was about when I first started writing it, but I just let it evolve
and I let the images come. The third verse was a surprise to me. I didn’t know I was
going to come face to face with nature and declare who I am and that I am a part of
nature. I think at this time of my life more than ever I feel my connection to the earth,
to the animals, to the plants, to the trees, to the air, and to the water. We are a part
of nature and as long as we see ourselves as separate from it, we are going to keep
destroying it. I know when I feel a part of something I don’t want to harm it. To me,
that is what that song is about. It is about recognizing my connection to nature and
our connection to nature. It is knowing that, valuing it in my heart, and walking rightly
upon the earth.”

A standout cut on this project, titled "Every Time A Train Goes By,” is one she had
recorded previously but decided it needed to be included on "Nature Child,” so she
re-recorded it. It is an autobiographical song inspired by memories of a railroad track
that went right by Sylvia's childhood home in Kokomo, Indiana. “It happened to me
when I was three years old and living in Kokomo, Indiana, where I was born and
raised. Until I was school age, we lived in a trailer park called Tall Timbers Park. Our
trailer was on the back of the lot, and it was backed up to a train track.”

She continues, “When the train went by a few times each day, it was maybe thirty feet
from our trailer door. If I was in the trailer, our dishes would rattle in the cupboard,
and it was like a mini earthquake. As a three-year-old, I was very afraid of the sound.
If I was outside playing, I would run and hide under the trailer. One day I was outside
as the train went by and I had my hands over my ears until the train and the sound
went away. Every day this would happen, and nothing looked different. Nothing was
destroyed and nothing changed. I thought the next time the train comes by I am going
to stand my ground. I am not going to run and that is what I did. I was scared to death.
Here comes this great big engine and I was a three-year-old girl. I was determined I
was not going to run. When it got right beside me, the conductor leaned out of the
cab of the engine, smiled at me, and waved. In an instant I went from terror to joy. It
had such a huge impact on me as a kid," she tells us.