Sometimes a musical career can blossom in unexpected places under unexpected circumstances – even to those involved.
Kimberly Lowe is an attorney who runs a busy law practice, managing her time to deal with clients in offices in both Waynesville and Houston. But in a twist of fate that not that long ago she didn’t see coming, her first Christian music album will soon be released.
Going by the name Kimberly Faith, the Waynesville resident has written and recorded 10 songs on a compilation titled “Freedom’s Dream” that will be soon available from several leading music sources.
“The whole thing is kind of crazy,” Faith said. “I never had any aspirations to do this – it’s just something where God said, ‘you need to do this.’”
Music on the recording spans a wide range of styles, including modern country, rock and roll, pop, folk, soul and even blues.
“I like a wide variety of music,” Faith said. “The songs are all inspired by either situations or people I know.”
After writing a song in its entirely for the first time about two years ago, Faith then wrote a couple more and began to notice something.
“I thought, ‘this is some pretty decent music,’ and the lyrics were making sense to me,” she said. “But I still wasn’t thinking I would make a CD.”
Faith kept writing songs and rather suddenly had a collection. Then something happened that altered her life’s path.
“I went down to visit my parents in Arkansas,” Faith said. “I happened to be talking to a fellow I’ve known for a long time who has done some studio mixing, and he said, ‘have you met Jacob?’”
The man being referred to was Jacob Paul, owner of Inside Out Recording and Art Studio in Fayetteville, Ark., who lives with his wife and two kids in a nearby small town. But not only is Paul an accomplished studio artist, he is also a talented musician capable of expertly playing numerous instruments.
Faith contacted Paul and the two quickly built both a tight business partnership and a friendship. One thing led to another and the pairing resulted in Paul (who first picked up a guitar at the age of 12 and “hasn’t put it down since”) playing almost every instrument on Faith’s album, including guitar, keyboard, drums and even violin.
“He’s amazing,” Faith said. “It got to where I would record a song with a melody and words, and I would tell him something like, ‘I want this to sound like a certain Hootie and the Blowfish song’ or something like that. Then he would arrange, write and record the music and send that to me. We would repeat that a few times and end up with some pretty surprising results.”
Watching her songs take shape is an almost surreal experience to Faith.
“I find it fascinating,” she said. “I don’t even know how it’s happening. I’d say it’s very much a God thing.”
On one occasion when Faith went to Paul’s studio for a recording session, she hadn’t rested her voice the day before the way she prefers.
“I was pretty worried and I said to Jacob, ‘listen to my voice – it’s got this growl to it,’” she said. “He said, ‘don’t worry, God’s got this.’ And then it was like I heard God’s voice say to me, ‘I got this.’ I guess He did, because one take and bam, the song was done. That just doesn’t happen, and I walked up to Jacob and asked, did that just happen?’
“That’s when you know something bigger than you is going on. I know I’m only a small part of this.”
Faith said she has no long-range plans for her musical endeavor, but will simply follow God’s lead to wherever it takes her.
“This has been an amazing experience,” she said. “I never in my wildest dreams thought I could be a part of something so beautiful. I’ve always been a live-by-sight kind of person. I’m an attorney and a businesswoman – I like to be able to calculate the cost and the efficiency of something.
“But I’ve had to turn in my sight on this. This is absolutely out of character for me.”
Faith doesn’t have any expectations for her future in music and hopes people always see her as a “regular girl.”
“I don’t have any desire to be on stage or make a bunch of money, I just want people to be encouraged,” she said. “I want them to hear the music and feel like, ‘wow, that moves me and puts me in a better place.’ It’s very humbling, because I don’t think I’m talented and I’m really not. This is just something God wants me to do.”
But if God does want her to take things up another notch, Faith isn’t concerned about being ready.
“If he wants me to do that, He’ll have to hit me over the head with it,” she said. “But if He does, He’ll show me how to do it. That won’t be a problem for Him.”
Kimberly Faith’s first album, “Freedom’s Dream,” will officially be released Oct. 23 and CD copies will be available in her office on Walnut Street in downtown Houston. A few days later, the recording will be available on CD or for digital download on Amazon.com, iTunes and CD Baby.
Other songs written, recorded and sung by Faith can now be sampled and downloaded on the same three sites.
Learn more about Faith on her website, www.kimberlyfaith.org.