About a year ago, as serendipitously can happen, I met Laura Johnson of Sorrow Estate at Calvin College during the Festival of Faith & Writing. But it was even more coincidental than that. About 4 years ago I couchsurfed with a great (grand) couple in Grand Rapids and when I contacted them last year they said they were already hosting, but we made plans to meet for dinner–that’s where I met Laura. We all hit it off so well that we met again before leaving town for some of Natalie’s awesome sourdough bread. Laura did an impromptu performance and we fell in love with her voice.
We bought her CD and listened to it on the way home (through ice and snow, so relaxing!) Later she did a house show for us in Chicago.
And, as life is about random threads coming together, I asked and she said yes for me to use “Out There,” one of her songs, for the Cloud of Witnesses book trailer. This song was so perfect–about always looking out there for happiness when what we need is sometimes close at hand. This underscores one of the novel’s messages about the importance of family.
Laura is from New York state but loves to tour in . . . Indiana. As we are neighbors to Indiana, she will be coming to Chicago and doing another house show on April 24th. If in the area–email me for address.
https://www.facebook.com/sorrowestate/
Jane Hertenstein 
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