After nine albums of sterling folk/pop/rock, Eleni Mandell had no need to alter her creative methodology. A chance stroll through the history of country music in the cradle of its development gave Mandell the blazingly clear vision to simplify her process on what would become the new Dark Lights Up. Mandell will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. What she will be writing about: “My kids are four-and-a-half years old (twins). We travel with my ex-boyfriend (not their father), who helps out as the ‘nanny.’ They have toured across the USA many times, but now they’re older and have opinions. The tour lasted five weeks, and we had a blast looking for fun things to do. Two places to avoid: Walmart and Cracker Barrel unless you want to listen to your kids hassle you to buy them stuff for hours on end!” Read our recent feature on Mandell.
Mandell: One of the things I’ve discovered is that nature is as exciting to my kids as anything. We looked on the road atlas, saw a national forest and headed that way, not knowing what kind of accommodations we’d find. We stumbled upon the Cedarwood Lodge and got our own cabin on the river for less than the price of a motel chain. BBQ-ing on the porch, making a fire in the fireplace and watching the river was about as much entertainment as Rex and Della needed.
Video after the jump:
