Traveling Together, the second EP for families from Nashville-based music collective Brighter Light Brigade, is set for release by 8 Pound Gorilla Records on October 7, 2022. Featured artists include singer-songwriters Amyliza de Jesus and Marla Vannucci, with producer/multi-instrumentalist Dean Jones.

Traveling Together is a bookend to Brighter Light Brigade’s debut EP, Feel It All, released this past July. Each of the seven songs, in its own musical voice, contains something special to think about and talk about. There is even a song about having a favorite song. Other tracks lovingly explore ideas about feelings, self-awareness, family, and community.

In addition to being musicians, songwriters, and moms, Amyliza de Jesus and Marla Vannucci both practice as licensed mental health professionals. For this reason, their music evolves naturally from a place of giving support to children and families as they navigate life, with socio-emotional health being the common theme woven throughout songs that range in style from folk and country to indie rock/punk.

“As a therapist, I have intentionally used music as a tool to assist both children and adults in developing an emotional vocabulary, coping with difficulties, and working through trauma,” says Marla Vannucci. “Our aim with this project was to create music that could help families express the range of feelings we experience every day.”

“It’s been incredibly special to collaborate with Marla Vannucci on this album, as she was my very first bandmate,” adds Amyliza de Jesus. “It’s been 20 years since that summer when we met, started to play music together, and began to write songs and perform them as a band. Collaborating in this way two decades later feels very full circle!”

Throughout Traveling Together, the words to the songs are more like poetry than song lyrics, giving them an uncommon depth of meaning and emotional expression. Highlights include “Goodbye Summer,” a song with a ‘90s indie rock/punk feel about summer coming to an end. The Wilco-inspired “Don’t Judge a Box,” with its engaging mix of country, folk, and pop, encourages looking beyond differences to see commonalities.

“My Favorite Song” is all about that song that gets stuck in your head, and there is a good chance this one will. Favorite elements include a terrific organ interlude by Dean Jones and the way that Marla Vannucci’s vocals reflect the tune’s uncomplicated joy. A storytelling number, “Rufus the Rooster,” was co-written with a 90-year-old music therapy client of Amyliza de Jesus. The client even contributed some grand production ideas like having a fiddle in the mix. This led to Nashville’s esteemed fiddling maestro, Aaron Till, being given the job of personifying the rooster!  The gently honest “Different” was a collaboration, through the Country Music Hall of Fame’s Words & Music Program, between Amyliza de Jesus and a local elementary school student. The student sings on the track, as part of the BLB Kids Choir.