The stories behind the songs
Written by Penny
Sensual Woman
Music is a powerful force. It has the ability to unite, to move, to make you laugh, to make you cry, to make you dream… Music was how I found who I was. Not only could I try my best to dress, talk and sing like the women I admired. But music gave me the ability to understand, in a way- their struggles, their hopes, their stories.. Etta, Erykah, Janis… Untethered and unapologetic. Crying out what they could never admit upfront- “One good man!”.
But to write songs, I believe you have to know yourself deeply and truly. That I still didn't know. So I would cover these songs week after week. At jazz bars…on the street…in my room. Paying attention to what ideas and philosophies in the music, set my soul on fire. This undeniable feeling was an inner compass, leading me to who I was.
It wasn't until I learned what the word sensuality actually meant, that I understood what I had been longing for- and what had been guiding me all along. Art forces you to slow down and think, and FEEL!! To feel- that's what we live for. The marrow of life and the fire it burns inside. Sensuality, in a way, is what drives music- to make us want to dance, and cry, and laugh, and express our love to one another.
But I still couldn't decide what was worthy enough on my mind to express. No significant romantic love on the brain. No heartbreak, no scandal. What all the great blues ballads are about.
It wasn't until a particularly lonely summer that I started writing Sensual Women. It was June and I had left the midwest, with my eyes focused south. And with only one thing in mind, music. Which has been really the only thing on my mind since I was 15. And after finding out first hand that the hippies had left San Francisco 40 years ago, the next place I wound up was Nashville Tennessee. The first month in my new home, nights alone were spent like treasure hunts. How different can my life be when I wake up? I’d start at one bar. Talk to the nice gentleman eating shrimp and grits who would tell me that the place to go is a pickin’ parlor down the road. And so on. Always ending the night alone, with a hope that I was one day closer to it all making sense.
But I had this unshakeable feeling that people weren't taking me seriously. Being misperceived- even by my closest friends. I wasn't being understood beyond my surface level. I was the only one who knew what my heart was after, and the fire that was lit inside me. I knew exactly the type of woman I was. The desires and passions that hid behind my eyes. And the only thing I could do was write it out.
A poem I wrote on October 17th, 2025
If I were a man life would be different, yes
To start my feet wouldn’t hurt, And I’d never wear a dress
Maybe you'd see I had a mind after all..
Hiding under this big old head of hair
And this soul goes deep..under this lace brassiere
If I were a man, you’d see this passion isn’t just for show
Music, art, its all I got- hell it’s all I wanna know
I don’t want your boyfriend , Unless he’s named the blues
But if Marvin Gaye were alive to ask
Yes I’m free Friday after 2
If I were a man
There’d be no hoot and holler
I’d have my own dime, I’d make my own dollar
I don’t want to rag on the men
Hell you know I loved my fair share
But before you look down my shirt at the jam
Make sure u got good health care
But if you can treat me like a woman, then the game is really on
Cuz I can write a mean song,
and I can dance all night long
Witchy Woman
I've always been fond of songs about malicious…evil… witchy women. “The soul of a woman was created below”.
I always believed there was some truth to that. Not that women were evil. But that we absolutely held some special power inside our bones… inside our soul. In society we briefly talk about it. We quote, ‘A woman' s intuition’ , ‘Mother knows best’, etc.
I think as a girl, as you grow older, you start to take account of how the world works. And it's frightening at first. Your grandma briefly mentions she couldn't have a house in her name. You give the ice cream man some cash and change, and realize there's not a single woman's face on any of them. The truth? What men have known all along- what type of power a woman holds. I mean you see it daily. It's a miracle there are any men left in this world! They are so busy staring at a woman simply strolling by, I'm surprised more of them don't walk into oncoming traffic or something.
We are the portal to the other world.
We don't call it ‘Mother Nature’ for no reason.
Womanhood. Femininity. It's a magical and mystical phenomenon.
Now in no way am I saying men are lesser than, or useless. But there's something special, different, about women. Something witchy.
And may we celebrate it… and never forget it.