A couple days ago, I made a little year-end 2021 video montage for social media, and I thought it might be fun to share the same idea as a blog post. (You can see my video montage for social media here.)

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”

— Psalm 27

January

In January, I got asked by a German EDM artist, God’s Warrior, to collaborate on a song. This was a really fun project for me because it was pretty far outside of my normal style — but I love stuff like that because it stretches me as a musician. Listen to the finished product wherever you stream music (it’s called ‘Pray For Me’, by God’s Warrior, if you want to search for it).

January was also the month when I wrote my song, ‘Still Be You’. Check out the first video I posted of it, right after I finished writing it.

February

Photo by Bryan Vanderpool, at Golden Bear Studio

In February, I was in the studio, putting together my song, ‘Breathe In’.

March

In March, I released my song, ‘Breathe In’. I talked about the story behind the song in this video. I also made a lyric video for the song.

I had a few new voice students this year, which I loved! I was especially excited because in March, I got to work with one student on an Italian song (sheet music pictured above). Side note: if you or someone you know is wanting to take voice lessons in the Des Moines area, email me! I have openings and I really love teaching voice lessons!

April

Justin Choi recording the cello parts for ‘Fascinated by You’

In April, I was back in the studio, working on ‘Joy’, ‘Fascinated by You’, and ‘Pleasant Places’. Thank you to Justin Choi (pictured above) for playing cello on this album, and to Liz Daggett and Dayna Meyers for singing on it.

Also in April: Matt started his new job at Comment Magazine, and I started leading worship about once a month at a different church in Des Moines.

May

In May, my dad died. He was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer at the end of 2019, and we are very thankful for the last 18 months that we got to have with him.

His death came six days after his 66th birthday, and five days after Matt and I decided to leave the church we had been a part of for 17 years. Either one of those things would be very painful on its own, but to happen at the same time was traumatizing.

Come to think of it, his death also came just nine days after I released my song, ‘Joy’. Oh, the irony. But if you listen to the lyrics of ‘Joy’, it is still kind of fitting: “How many ways have I tried to cheer up and how many times have I failed?”, “So take courage my soul, reach out and grab hold, there is joy, there is joy in the Lord”.

Matt and I also shot a music video for ‘Joy’ (thankfully we got this done a little earlier in the month). Watch it here.

June

I wrote a song, ‘Can I Just Be Weak’; watch a snippet here.

In June, I spent a lot of time going back and forth between Des Moines and Lincoln.

Also, I was in the studio working on ‘Fascinated by You’ and ‘Pleasant Places’. I wrote a couple songs, got ready for a gig with my friend Josh Novey, but mostly just tried to keep my head above water.

July

In July, I released my song, ‘Fascinated by You’. I also put together a lyric video for it.

My favorite thing that I did in the month of July was that I took a solo trip/retreat to an Airbnb in rural Kansas (pictured above). I watched the sunset, wrote a couple songs, read a couple books, and also enjoyed some time sitting in silence (which can be hard to come by as a mom of three). It was exactly what I needed, and I hope to make a habit out of doing that sort of thing.

August

Screen grab from ‘Pleasant Places’ music video; videography by Matt Crummy

In August, I released my song, ‘Pleasant Places’. Matt and I also shot a music video for it — but this time, we included our kids!

Also in August: I contacted Russ Mohr to ask him if he would like to do a “collab” (I didn’t use that word when I emailed him because I didn’t want to creep him out), and to my great excitement, he said yes! So, I went back into the studio to work on ‘Still Be You’, exchanging files with Russ (who lives in St Louis) all the while.

September

In September, I finished up ‘Still Be You’, and also recorded ‘Honesty’.

October

On October 1st, I released my songs, ‘Still Be You (feat. Russ Mohr)’ and ‘Stone Tablets’. I hope one day to make a music video for ‘Still Be You’, but that hasn’t happened yet. I did make a lyric video for ‘Stone Tablets’, though!

On October 30th, I released my album, ‘Honesty’! The title track for the album also released that day, along with the music video for it (videography by the insanely talented Byron Jones).

And if releasing three songs and an album wasn’t enough for one month, here are two other points from October: high point — I got to go along with Matt on a work trip to Washington DC; low point — our whole family tested positive for Covid in October (thankfully we all recovered quickly).

November

Photo by Matt Crummy; at West Des Moines Open Bible Church

Okay, too much happened in October, so this photo is spill-over. I had a second gig with my friend and comedian, Josh Novey, in mid-October. Otherwise, November was filled with getting/selling/mailing/delivering merch, and promoting the album on social media.

December

Earlier in December, Matt and I got to travel to Canada (la di dah!) for his work Christmas party.

Throughout all of 2021, I was either working on demos, recording, or releasing music. I liked that as a release strategy for my album, but also, it meant that I had less time and energy to devote to writing. But I don’t plan to record or release any new music just yet, so I am looking forward to spending some extra time writing new songs — and I also look forward to spending more time practicing, because I hope to do more live performances in 2022, as well. If you would like to bring me in for a house show or for a special event at your church or a venue near you, please reach out to me (hi@alliecrummy.com) or my booking agent, Darren (beloudpromotions@gmail.com).

Thank You

As of today, my album, ‘Honesty’, has received over 70,000 streams on Spotify — which means that it has passed over my first album, ‘I Have Peace’ (currently around 61,000 streams). I am sincerely grateful to everyone who listens to my music, and who follows along with me on my blog, on social media, etc!

I’m writing this in the post-Christmas, pre-New Years fog. It’s helpful for me to think through all that has happened this year. I’m sharing mostly the highlights here, because if I were to get into the weeds about how I’ve been affected by all that has happened in our lives this year, I would blather on forever. But, if you keep following along, you’ll probably hear about how I’m processing this year in the lyrics I am yet to write. :-)

2021 Review