Let’s return back 2 years ago with “Gravity | Love”, Sandra McCracken previous release…Sandra McCracken may be better known to some audiences as Derek Webb’s better half, but McCracken has been making her own way for quite a while. She is adept at writing songs that span the abstract and the tangible - songs that beg for repeated listens and imaginative reinterpretations. It’s a delicate balance to be sure, and one she fears she may have momentarily toppled during the course of this interview by explaining the idea behind “Gravity,” the centerpiece of her album “Gravity | Love“

“I kind of like it better abstract because it almost immediately becomes cliche when you try to define it,” she muses. “There is that old adage, ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’ You literally fall from the place where you came from. For the apple to fall, it implies the possibility of being bruised or busted open when it hits the ground. But in order for that seed to become implanted in the ground and become something new, it has to leave where it came from.”

Eight years ago, singer/songwriter Derek Webb was making a routine coffee run for his Caedmon’s Call band mates when he heard Sandra McCracken, a recent Belmont School of Music graduate, playing from the stage of the small Nashville coffee shop. Struck by McCracken’s voice and songwriting, Webb picked up a copy of her debut record and played it for the band. When Caedmon’s extended an invitation to McCracken to join them on the road, she and Webb discovered they were kindred spirits and soon began planning a future together. A future that now includes two solo careers, eight Derek Webb records, five Sandra McCracken records, and a newborn son.

In 2006, after eight years of fronting the critically acclaimed Colorado-based band, Newcomers Home, and releasing her first solo record, Watch Them Fall, as a side project—singer/songwriter Katie Herzig retreated to the solitude of her bedroom studio. There, she single-handedly recorded and produced Weightless, a tour-de-force of innovative sonics and songwriting whose tracks have been prominently featured on NPR, KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic, E.R., Smallville, and, most recently, on two episodes of television’s highest-rated drama, Grey’s Anatomy.

Following the release of Weightless, Herzig left Colorado for Nashville and immediately started to catch the attention of other artists. Her song “Heaven’s My Home” received a 2007 Grammy nomination for best country performance by The Duhks. She was also invited to open shows for The Fray and join PASTE Magazine and American Songwriter Magazine sponsored tours.

Performing Songwriter Magazine wrote, “Katie Herzig possesses gravity-defying powers on her latest release, balancing heavy and mournful lyrics with light pop melodies that bounce and float into the stratosphere.” PASTE Magazine’s Jason Killingsworth said, “Katie Herzig has a whimsical side that I love. Her music doesn’t take itself too seriously, and the lyrics always [have] a sharp emotional edge to them. I’m a huge fan.”

And now, on May 13, 2008, Katie Herzig’s fans can expect her most adventurous and satisfying album yet: Apple Tree.