Biography

The Debut Album

Getting album funding

Corinda used her income from working at the Pied Pickle to fund the weekly planning sessions with Ray.

To fund the costs of recording and producing the album, Corinda Chandler incorporated CCC Music Productions (in Alberta and Wyoming) in 2001, and used debenture agreements to enable investors and believers to back her project.

In the end, all investors not only got paid back, but made a profit as well. Very few singers or musicians ever manage to do that with their debut album.

Writing and selecting songs

When Corinda and Ray Griff first started working together, he had Corinda sing a number of classics like "Fever" and "Tennessee Waltz". Ray then selected several songs he wanted to produce which best suited the lower part of Corinda's register. A number of songs were written while Ray Griff was going through his divorce, and "Silence of the Morning" was a song Ray Griff wrote especially for Trudy, his wife.

Some of the songs they started, and even some songs recorded & mixed, did not make it onto the debut album. It was a process. For example, early in the recording process, they tried out "Finders Keepers," which Ray called his "Killing me Softly." The track was put away for a few months while they recorded "For the Love of It" (along with some other songs that didn't make onto the album).

The biggest challenge in the recording process was for Corinda to convey the feelings Ray Griff intended for each of the songs. This, in turn, determined which songs Ray kept on the album.

Then one day, Corinda came into his studio and Ray had pulled out "Finders Keepers" again for Corinda to record. Then he told her that she (and the album) was ready now. That day made Corinda really happy.

Recording the Songs for the Album

Corinda Chandler and Ray Griff started working together once a week as they found and picked songs that they felt suited her voice.

Ray had Corinda listen to Patty Paige and Patsy Cline songs, and he told her he wanted to record in the lower part of her register. Through the first few months working together, he had her sing a number of his songs as they perfected her phrasing and her feel for the songs.

Ray flew to Nashville to record background instrumentals for each of the tracks at County Q Studios, three songs at a time. Then Ray and Corinda went into Night Deposit Studio in Calgary, where they worked 6 to 8 hours a day, laying down Corinda's vocals with audio engineer Endre Lukacsy and with Ray producing.

This process continued for a year and a half, ending with the last recording session on April 14, 2002. Ray ruffled Corinda's hair and said, "Well, Miss Cori, your first album is done."

Ray and Corinda discussed what name to release the album under, and since she was called "Cori" by her friends and colleagues, and Ray Griff thought that "Cori Chandler" sounded more like a "country star" name; that name was used for the album.