Austin Music: Meet Miranda Dodson
I want to do something unorthodox here and take a break from writing about clothes and my children to introduce you to my friend Miranda Dodson. If you aren't familiar with Miranda Dodson's music, I'm glad you're here. You're in for a superb treat. 
I am so happy that her music is getting a wider audience after being featured on NPR (right now her photo is on the front page of NPR.com... right under the Pope!). I listened to her song "Try Again" this morning and had a good, healthy weep. As I've mentioned before, my marriage was once on the brink of divorce, and somehow this song conveys the complexities (the tough spot where we vacillated between heartache and the hope) of Chris and I fighting for our marriage (we're celebrating nine years together this summer!). However, the song was written under a different circumstance:
Austin singer-songwriter Miranda Dodson didn't set out to write one of those songs that "sounds-like-one-thing-but-means-another"; it just happened that way. On first listen, the haunting, soul-searching "Try Again" appears to tell the story of a relationship gone wrong, but the heartbreak Dodson sings about is, in fact, her real struggle to bear a child. Following a miscarriage, Dodson found herself saddled with a sense of shame. During an interview with KUTX, she told me, "I thought, 'Something's wrong with me.' That's because no one talks about this." Dodson turned to her songwriting as a kind of therapy, but when she was done, she decided to go public — with both the song and her story — in the hope that others might find it therapeutic. What the song leaves out is the real-world ending: Her son just celebrated his first birthday. On second thought, "Try Again" is just what it sounds like: a love song. — David Brown, host of KUTX's Texas Music Matters
The song is haunting and lovely and poignant. Take a listen and download the song for free on NPR.com (and have Kleenex at the ready).
Congrats to Miranda, her music, and her family. Your friends are so proud of you!
