Our Thanks

My Heartfelt Gratitude

    I am very grateful to so many for their positive influence on my life, and particularly those who have given me their invaluable help over the past five years in making this dream come true. Thanks, everybody! There are some that I especially want to acknowledge.

    First of all, I want to thank: God, for the vision of Sing to the Animals, and the gifts I have been given to contribute; my sister Susan Vickery, for sharing a deep love of animals and music with me, and graciously supporting and encouraging me to write and record these songs; Bruno, for being the big, beautiful, gentle, sweet dog, who loves my sister so much; Wendy Singleton, for her continuous, sincere belief in me and her love of these songs; Kathryn Laird, for her enthusiastic help, fun-loving spirit and faith; Andrea Henke, for so optimistically living her life to the fullest; Leslie Schwartz, for the great gift of inspiring me to write songs "to" animals; Dr. Julie Holmes, N.D., for teaching me how to live a healthy life and stickin' with me through thick and thin; Patricia Krown, for her knowledge, kindness and light-hearted wisdom; Celia Lumsden, for her effervescent encouragement and excitement about this music and message; and Dianne Winter, for her wholehearted acknowledgment, and her reverence for all living things.

    I also want to express my sincere gratitude to: Dr. Cindy Krach, D.V.M., and her equally devoted vet techs, especially Michelle, Andi and Ann, for singing to Maggie to soothe her, and always being so loving and caring; Bentley Kalaway, for her inspiring suggestions and encouragement to help me start writing songs; Ricardo Dioso, for his beautiful guitar playing and kind, gentle support of a shy, middle-aged, first-time singer/songwriter; Tommy Hall, for his patient and extraordinarily generous mentoring of me in my first recording studio experience; George Tavoularis, for his exquisite keyboard arrangements and lots of laughter; Ross Cushnie, for being such a wonderful engineer, and for being so incredibly helpful and reassuring; Jay Molina, for being such an astute studio musician and fabulous bass player; Tom Conway, for playing fantastic guitar with such joy and flair; David Choy, for his amazing musicianship playing gorgeous saxophone, and his hope for the well-being of all animals; and Eric Conn, for the lovely sound quality of this CD by mastering it so beautifully.

    And, I am so very thankful to: Cynthia Conrad, for her marvelous graphic design work on the cover, and for being such a gracious, professional woman and gifted artist; Nina Valley, for so sweetly capturing the essence and innocence of these songs in her darling cover illustration; my mother Charlyne Vickery, for sharing with me a profound gratitude for the magnificent beauty of nature; my father Harold Vickery, for our menagerie of animals at our home in the suburbs, and our family summer vacations camping in Yosemite National Park; all true animal lovers everywhere, for being the kind and gentle people that they are; Our Mother Earth, for Her awesome beauty, diversity and power, and for always nurturing and inspiring me; the animals, for adding joy, wonder and magic to my life, and for teaching me so much; and my precious kitty cat Maggie, for giving me so much love and happiness, and for being my constant companion and source of strength to help me keep following my bliss no matter what. I love you all!