Women Rising: Musician Gail Gallagher

I am super excited to introduce the first beautiful soul to be featured in the Women Rising section of this blog, Gail Gallagher! Gail is a singer-songwriter, composer, and teacher based in Chicago. She is also the person who inspired me to use my blog to help support Women who are Rising in their creative fields. What an honor it is to share her work with you!

Gail Gallagher has been a long time musician, but just recently released her very first single in October of this year. Below is Gail’s story about her musical background, her inspiration for this song, and a link to listen to her heartfelt ballad.

Hi I’m Gail Gallagher!

“I am originally from Iowa but I went to college at University of Nebraska-Lincoln where I majored in theatre performance and theatre management. In college (whenever I was stressed out) I would run to the music building, find my favorite practice room, and improvise on the piano. I joke that teaching myself how to improvise and compose is the reason I didn’t pick up smoking. When I moved to Chicago, I found out that a musical improv scene existed. The skill I had taught myself was actually extremely marketable. Fast forward eight years and I’m now playing for improv groups, writing musicals with community groups and friends, and starting to compose my own songs as a singer songwriter.

My First Single is A Tribute to My Mom

My single Giverny is dedicated to my mother, Janet Gallagher, who passed in August of 2016 after a long battle with Multiple Myeloma. The backstory of the song dates back to my teenage years. 

Chicago was a place I would travel for school field trips and family vacations. Starting the summer I turned 14, my mom, brother, and I had an annual summer tradition of taking a trip out to Chicago. We would stay out at a hotel near the airport and take the blue line into town. We would go to museums and see musicals. The most important ritual was going to the impressionist exhibit at the Art Institute and seeing Monet’s waterlilies, followed by dinner at The Burghoff. I was determined that after college I would move to Chicago, so much so that I would strike up networking conversations with random actors who were being pirates at Navy Pier.

When I moved to Chicago, the tradition of going to the Art Institute became the most important event whenever my mom was in town. It was this wonderful full circle thing that my favorite vacation ritual was now something I could do in the place that I now call home. Also, I was old enough to drink the beer at the Burghoff so that was a plus.

My First Time at the Art Institute Without Her

The first time I went to the Art Institute after my mom passed, I was with a friend who was in town for my birthday. My mom passed a few weeks before so I was feeling really raw. I had her on my mind and I wanted to go to the Art Institute. When we got to the room with the waterlilies I felt this overwhelming sense of grief. My friend and I promptly left the art institute in favor of day drinking at a dive bar. Then, weeks later, I found an old journal entry where I had written “it’s like what mom would say-good art reaches out and grabs you”. I found it incredibly moving and synchronistic because in that moment at the Art Institute it felt like it was her who was reaching out.

Remembering My Mother

I remember many conversations with mom about life and art. I have a bit of a mystical bent to my personal theology. However my mom was skeptical about the notion of God or an afterlife. She told me that her spirituality was based in noticing patterns and bringing order into chaos.  This love of solving puzzles and creating order was what drew her to her work in computer programming, as well as her hobby of quilting.

I remember one time I came home for Thanksgiving. She was really excited to tell me about a quilt she made. There was a little mistake in the pattern that led to a new discovery of design. “It was like the quilt knew what it wanted to be.”

The Song Came Pouring Out of Me

Much like that quilt, this song knew what it wanted to be. I sat with the different pieces of the puzzle for several months. Then in May of that first year without mom, somewhere between Mother’s Day and her birthday, the song came pouring out of me. I knew that it would be a powerful piece.

The song has a life of its own. It has its own spiritual energy. There are some times when I perform the song and I feel this sense of mom’s presence. I say those are nights when “mom is in the room”. It feels like I’m channeling all those visits to the Art Institute at once.

Listen to Giverny here.

Don’t Judge Yourself, Just Make Art

It’s important to make art regardless of where we are in our journey as an artist. We learn to write by writing. I wrote about twenty songs in that first year without my mom. The part of me that would judge my ability to write lyrics went out the window. I had no time for it. Grief unleashed the songwriter in me. I’d been writing and discarding song fragments in journals for nearly a decade. Looking back at the songs from that time, some are too raw to revisit, however others have potential. But I am grateful for those songs being a part of the healing process. 

     Art is how we take the patterns of the world and we bring order to the chaos. In piecing together a story, we are able to create something that is bigger than its original inspiration. Great art reaches out to touch you – from the first moment of inspiration, to the editing phase, till you finally share it with someone else. It is a constant evolving process and I’m here for wherever it takes me.” Written by Gail Gallagher.

If you’d like to learn more about Gail Gallagher’s upcoming projects, new releases, and get behind the scenes stories – join her email list! Sign up to get Gail Mail here!