Staci Frenes plays Young Life benefit Concert
On a warm Friday evening, June 1, 2019, Staci Frenes & Band teamed up with the high school ministry YoungLife to play a benefit concert in the Livermore Wine Country. The band performed a set of old favorites, recent songs and cover tunes amid the backdrop of a setting sun over vineyards that stretched in every direction.
Frenes’s personal connection with YoungLife runs deep. “When I was a 12-year-old, painfully shy wallflower who had just moved from Grand Forks, North Dakota to California I was invited by my 7th grade gym teacher Miss Lopez to go to a YoungLife winter camp where I heard for the first time that God loved ME,” Frenes told the crowd “That one invitation changed the entire trajectory of my life.”
Concertgoers raised $25,000 to send kids from area public junior high and high schools to similar camps like the one Frenes attended. Talk about full circle, says Frenes, who also said she was grateful to be a part of this life-changing work.
Body, Mind and Spirit Conference
Staci will be leading worship at the Body, Mind and Spirit Women’s Conference on April 27, 2019 at Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, CA. Inspiring speakers, luncheon, boutique and more will make this a soul-nourishing getaway in the beautiful Santa Cruz area.
Same day registration and check-in available HERE
Staci Featured Guest on "Real Life" TV Show
Staci was recently a featured guest on Cornerstone Television Network's television show, Real Life. Staci talks about her book Flourish, and sings songs from her new album, Unpathed Warers Undreamed Shores. You can find Staci's segments here:
Disarm 11:17
Flourish interview 17:10 - 30:00
Storms 42:46
Staci Frenes talks Storms and Faith in "On Faith's Edge" Podcast
Staci was featured recently in the podcast "On Faith's Edge" with Joe Taylor. The two discuss Staci's new album, and how she chooses to believe God is good even when life gets hard. You can listen to the interview by clicking on the show link or the image below.
Song Story Video Series
I'm excited to share some of the stories behind the songs from my new album, "Unpathed Waters Undreamed Shores." What inspired them, the core emotions I wanted to convey, and the real-life experiences they reflect. I hope these short videos help make the songs come alive in new ways for you!
Short 'teaser' from "Lighthouse" (Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores) and song story below: I wrote this song after my dad died, and shortly after that, my brother. My mom was in such deep grief I didn't know how to reach her.
'New Release Today' Features Staci's New Album
Singer/songwriter, author and speaker, Staci Frenes, just released her ninth independent album, Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores that is available now on all digital music outlets. Produced by long-time friend Nate Sabin (Jason Gray, Sara Groves), the collection of nine songs have a more textured and lush pop sound with lyrics that reveal a deeper look into Frenes' life. It involves navigating some messy and unpredictable changes that include deep personal losses and the ever-shifting roles of career and parenting. Frenes and Sabin co-wrote all of the original songs on the new record that delivers the music in her now familiar acoustic folk-pop style.
"I had worked with Nate on my last two albums, so we have a comfortable trust that allows us to take risks and try new things, creatively," said Frenes. "We recorded the new album at his studio in St. Paul, Minn., building the songs from acoustic demos to full-blown arrangements. We brought in some of my favorite musicians to add layers and color to the tracks, Aaron Fabbrinni (bass), Tyler Burkum (guitar) and David Thulin (keyboard). I'm thrilled with how the project turned out. The music beautifully helps tell the story of my heart during this season. My prayer for this record is that people will feel God's presence and hope all the way through it."
Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores presents the most honest and vulnerable side of Frenes, more so than any other recording in her career. The album launches with "Undreamed Shores," that deals with accepting change instead of resisting it and is the heart of the project. Over the past few years, Frenes has dealt with traumatic circumstances of losing her father and brother within months of each other, losing the family home in the 2007 financial crisis and the unexpected shock of her teenage daughter announcing that she's gay.
"You think you know what the next day, month or ten years will look like, and in a moment something happens that changes everything," explains Frenes. "That's the terror and the beauty of it. Sometimes you go through times that feel like hopeless, dark, dead ends, and they turn out to be passages that lead to a new way of being, or a new understanding. We can't get to that new place without the loving presence of God, who guides us and is our peace in every storm."
The song that Frenes wrote for her children, "Storms," is a perfect example of realizing that difficult times lead to spiritual growth and the Lord will guide them through any uncertain future. Everybody wishes you the sunshine/Like it's magic, some kind of wonder drug/Everybody wishes you more blue skies/Like being happy is good enough/My love, I wish you more/I wish you storms.
Frenes is based in San Francisco and has been writing and recording for several years through her publishing company, Stones Throw Music. Her songs have had placements on The Biggest Loser, America's Next Top Model, Nashville, along with national ads for American Airlines and the Gap and feature films that include the 2016 "Faith of Our Fathers."
Frenes is a former English teacher who loves words, and is an author who released "Flourish: Cultivate, Creativity, Sow Beauty, Live In Color" in 2015. Being an in-demand speaker also, Frenes has developed "Flourish" events in conjunction with the book and they focus on giftedness, nurturing those gifts and finding joy and purpose in life. To keep updated on Frenes' upcoming speaking and performance dates:
www.stacifrenes.com, www.facebook.com/stacifrenes, www.twitter.com/stacifrenes.
NEW ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE
Staci's new album: Unpathed Waters Undreamed Shores is now available HERE and wherever music is sold.
This new collection of songs joins Staci with her longtime songwriting collaborator and producer, Nate Sabin and is inspired by what Staci calls 'big life changes' including deep personal losses, and ever-shifting roles of parenting and career. Lyrically, the songs rely on the imagery of rivers and oceans to explore the messy, unpredictable and ultimately hopeful process of transformation.
The first line of the title track conveys with cheerful resignation the necessity of letting go of what we can't control: Change is a river and it keeps on rolling/You never get to where you think you're going, This realistic optimism, along with an acknowledgement of the constant tension between disappointment and hope, are themes running through the entire album.
In Storms, a song written for her young-adult children, Staci expresses this tension poignantly: Everybody tries to stay protected from the dangers of this uncharted life/but beauty is never where you expect it and in the ruins treasures hide/So my love, be warned/ I wish you storms.
One reviewer writes, "There's a hopefulness to this record that people need to hear now more than ever. The songs don't shy away from the realities of pain and loss, but there's an underlying reassurance in all of it that says: it's going to be okay."