Yet throughout this time, Sylvia never stopped evolving and engaging in her own process of self-discovery as an artist. As a result, this fall she will release It’s All in the Family, her first album in 14 years and the first ever on which she is a co-writer on the majority of songs. Throughout the album, Sylvia touches on the choices, challenges, and turns in the road that have brought her to where she stands today and delivers her most personal material to date, combining her skill as a vocalist with her heart as a storyteller.

It’s All In The Family is brimming with songs that evoke precise places, times, and emotions. Whether it’s the clawhammer banjo and old-time music influence on the opening track, “Every Time a Train Goes By,” or the Irish tin whistle and strong imagery on “Immigrant Shoes,” listeners are invited into dozens of specific, formative, and intimate moments in the lives of Sylvia and her family. But like all great stories, It’s All In The Family doesn’t feel limited to the bounds of its particular characters, images, and events. Each song touches and builds on a collection of themes that connects the listener with that which is universal.

Perhaps the most pervasive theme on the album is that of family. On the title track, “All in the Family,” one of four songs co-written with John Mock and Thom Schuyler, Sylvia illuminates both the positive and painful ways we are bound to family with a series of simple yet striking images: a wedding dress worn by three generations, a family recipe handed down, a mother protecting her children from hardship, and a family member lost too soon to alcoholism. On “Somebody’s Daughter,” she offers a gentle but compelling reminder that the tenderness we feel for those we love most is neither illusion nor weakness; the ties of love that bind us to our parents and our children are real, and are in fact the very same ones that connect us to our broader human family.

On “Cumberland Rose” and “Hope’s Too Hard,” two songs specifically selected by Sylvia for the album because of their resonance with its themes, she explores another ubiquitous facet of the human experience – the inevitability of loss and grief and the question of how to face them. While the album doesn’t offer a clear-cut, facile answer, it consistently bears witness to the transformative power of acknowledging our wounds, facing our fears, and accepting our past. Sylvia shows that surrendering to what is beyond our control is not the same thing as giving up – it takes profound courage and strength, and it’s necessary in order to realize new possibilities.

As Sylvia recounts these moving stories that span generations, the interplay between the past, present, and future emerges as another strong motif. Sylvia fully acknowledges the irrevocable influence of the past; “Grandpa Kirby Runnin’ the Hounds” features her grandfather’s actual fiddle and banjo in a warm callback to the barn dances he played at in the early 1900s. But at the same time that she honors her roots, she boldly celebrates the beauty of the present and potential of the future. In “Leave the Past in the Past” and “I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing,” two of four collaborations with Bobby Tomberlin, she offers metaphors that illustrate what it would look like to physically overcome that which holds us back. Whether it’s clearing all the chairs from the kitchen to make room to dance or climbing a mountain to gain a new perspective from the top, through these songs we experience what it feels like not to regret or dismiss the past, but to let it go in order to make room for what is coming next. In several songs, including the powerful closing track “Do Not Cry For Me,” Sylvia embodies the voice of someone who is looking back with a deep sense of peace, gratitude, and all-encompassing love that will transcend time.

Just as Sylvia speaks from many different perspectives and with many different voices from track to track – yet ultimately delivers an album with strong, resounding lyrical themes – a range of musical styles on the album produces a cohesive sound that defies neat categorization. The collaborations on the album – between co-producers Sylvia and John Mock, between co-writers, and between the cadre of other exceptional musicians featured on each track – truly feel organic, with distinct influences of folk, country, bluegrass, classical, and Irish music coming together naturally to produce something that feels both new and deeply rooted in tradition.

John Mock/Kinvara Music (BMI)

Thom Schuyler/Alrighty Den Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: Three years old and my sundress on

Golden Book tucked up under my arm

When I suddenly heard that sound

Filled the valley and shook the ground

My body was frozen

Cups and saucers started to shake

Fear on the horizon

Run and hide before it’s too late

V2: One morning I stood still

Engine rumbling over the hill

Held my breath and I closed my eyes

Feared the worst but to my surprise

A loud whistle was blowin’

Opened my eyes and what did I see?

Right there in my backyard

That conductor smiling at me

CH: Every Time a Train Goes By

A Train Goes By, my confidence grows

I can face any old whistle that blows

Every Time a Train Goes – By

CH2: Every Time a Train Goes By

A Train Goes By, my confidence grows

I can face any old whistle that blows

Every Time a Train Goes

Every Time a Train Goes By

A Train Goes By, my confidence grows

I can face any old whistle that blows

Every Time a Train Goes By

Thom Schuyler/Alrighty Den Music (BMI)

John Mock/Kinvara Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: Every girl is Somebody’s Daughter

Every boy is somebody’s son

There may be something they’re chasing

Or trying to outrun, what they’ve done

So be kind to everybody’s daughter

And everybody’s son

V2: Every day you’ll hear someone laughing

Every day you’ll see someone cry

You may say hello to a stranger

Or tell a friend goodbye, a sad goodbye

Try to laugh with everyone who’s laughing

And cry with those who cry

BR: We try our best to keep our tears out of view

But there are shadows that we’re all walking through

So put some tenderness in all that you do

All you do

V3: In a world that keeps moving faster

On a planet that circles the sun

We all get lost on the journey

Forget where we come from, everyone

So remember you’re everybody’s daughter

And everybody’s son

Everybody’s daughter, everybody’s daughter, everybody’s daughter

Bobby Tomberlin/Mike Curb Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: Life is like a candle

It burns out way too fast

And we’ve had all we can handle

So tonight let’s just dance

CH: And who knows what we might find

If we surrender heart and mind

Stay here with me, make this moment last

And let’s just Leave the Past in the Past

V2: We can move the chairs from the kitchen

Make our own dance floor

Play the best love songs ever written

‘Til our hearts can take no more

CH: And who knows what we might find

If we surrender heart and mind

Stay here with me, make this moment last

And let’s just Leave the Past in the Past

BR: There’s no future in what’s gone on before

So, let’s not give our past one minute more

CH: And who knows what we might find

If we surrender heart and mind

Stay here with me, make this moment last

And who knows what we might find

If we surrender heart and mind

Just stay with me, make this moment last

And let’s just Leave the Past in the Past

Adlibs: Leave it in the past, Darling, leave it in the past

And let’s just dance, Honey, that’s all that I ask

Who – oo – oo, whoa – whoa – oh – oh – oh – oh

Bobby Tomberlin/Mike Curb Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: Every road I’ve gone down

Has come to a dead end, I’d have to turn around

But there was always a lesson to learn

Now I’ve finally made A Right Turn

CH: Just when I thought my heart was all done

Woke up one day to find that certain one

That makes me laugh, makes me come back alive

Now I realize it was worth every long, hard mile

V2: Caught a wayward wind everywhere I’d go

But I can’t say I took a wrong road

‘Cause every lost highway, every reckless curve

Has led me to this Right Turn

CH: Just when I thought my heart was all done

Woke up one day to find that certain one

That makes me laugh, makes me come back alive

Now I realize it was worth every long, hard mile

V3: After all the rain this old heart’s been in

Wouldn’t change a thing, I’d do it all again

There’s no going back to the way things were

‘Cause I know I’ve made A Right Turn

Thom Schuyler/Alrighty Den Music (BMI)

John Mock/Kinvara Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: That’s your Grandfather and me

On the day I became his bride

With uncles and cousins and aunts

Homemade biscuits and chicken fried

The recipe…

It’s All In the Family

V2: There’s my Mom when we were kids

Hanging laundry out in the yard

If she cried she kept it hid

So we never knew times were hard

She’d say – to me

It’s All In the Family

BR1: You can run but you cannot hide

The Truth inside

It’s stronger than an ocean tide

V3: Here’s a boy you’ll never know

He’d be sixty, my brother Jim

Every time the whiskey flowed

It would steal away a part of him

Will we break free?

It’s All In the Family

BR2: You can run, you can change your name

You’re still the same

A part of an Eternal Flame

V4: I can hear your mother’s voice

See your father there in your smile

Glad you’ll be wearing my dress

When he’s walking you down the aisle

This love you see is All In the Family

This love you see is All In the Family

John Mock/Kinvara Music (BMI)

Instrumental

John Mock/Kinvara Music (BMI)

Thom Schuyler/Alrighty Den Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

CH: One old ship in the harbor

One new flag in the air

Seven weeks on the water

We’re finally there

Said goodbye to the Old World

Say hello to the New

We’ll dance to a new song

In these Immigrant Shoes

V1: Feet shuffle in rhythm

As we make our way to the shore

By the lamp lighting our path through

The Golden Door

Poor, tired and hungry

When we left those fields of stone

Now I hear my heart whisper,

“Welcome home!”

CH2: One old ship in the harbor

One new flag in the air

Seven weeks on the water

We’re finally there

Said goodbye to the Old World

Say hello to the New

We’ll dance to a new song

In these Immigrant Shoes

(Instrumental)

V2: Long lines on the island

Every language under the sun

All straining to hear their

Mother Tongue

All that we could carry

In our hands and over our backs

Pots, pans, and hand-me-downs

And photographs

CH3: One old ship in the harbor

One new flag in the air

Seven weeks on the water

We’re finally there

Said goodbye to the Old World

Say hello to the New

We’ll dance to a new song

In these Immigrant Shoes

(Instrumental)

BR: What was far away is in front of me

What was once a dream came true

V3: Quinn picks up his fiddle

And a stranger’s playing the spoons

Dresses swirling in circles

To familiar tunes

Out on the horizon

There’s a new mysterious land

On a couple acres of heaven

We’ll make our stand

CH4: One old ship in the harbor

One new flag in the air

Seven weeks on the water

We’re finally there

Said goodbye to the Old World

Say hello to the New

We’ll dance to a new song

In these Immigrant Shoes

Craig Bickhardt (ASCAP)

Jeff Pennig/Almo Music Corporation (ASCAP)

CH: (Sung a cappella):

They call her Cumberland Rose

Where the Cumberland flows

And the sound of her voice lingers on

Oh, the river valley rings

When her broken heart sings

For the love of sweet Cumberland Rose

V1: There’s a bitter wind blown’ off the lonesome plateau

And the sad song it carries is a song they all know

Now the melody mingles with the mockingbird’s cry

And the woman who’s singing has a tear in her eye

(Repeat CH)

V2: It’s a question she’s asking of the angels above

Oh, why have they taken her innocent love

Now her melody mingles with the mourning’ dove’s sigh

And the water that ripples in its endless goodbye

(Repeat CH & instrumental)

V3: There are two shadows standing in that mountain moonlight

Where a husband’s consoling his grieving young wife

There’s a cradle between them lying empty and bare

As her lullaby echoes in the darkness somewhere

(Repeat CH & tag)

Kate Campbell/Large River Music (BMI)

V1: I’ve been chattering all night long

Like a crane or a swallow on and on

I’ve lost my voice with all this cry in’

And my will to sing

CH: Hope’s Too Hard and I’m too weak

I don’t know if I can keep

Holding on beyond my reach

Love could you please sing for me?

V2: If I could I’d fly away

Off into the light of day

But I can’t seem to find the strength

To even lift my wings

CH: Hope’s Too Hard and I’m too weak

I don’t know if I can keep

Holding on beyond my reach

Love could you please carry me?

(Instrumental turn around)

V3: I wish I could see beyond

Far beyond the far horizon

But my eyes are tired from looking up

And mourning like a dove

CH: Hope’s Too Hard and I’m too weak

I don’t know if I can keep

Holding on beyond my reach

Love please don’t let go of me

Hope’s Too Hard and I’m too weak

I don’t know if I can keep

Holding on beyond my reach

Love please don’t let go of me

Bobby Tomberlin/Mike Curb Music (BMI)

Mark Narmore/Oven Music, Inc. (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: You can’t appreciate the ocean if you’ve never seen it

Or felt the power of the waves if you’ve only dreamed it

You’ll never see the view from the top if you never climb up

So take a chance and jump on in

Who knows where you’ll wind up?

CH: Whoa-ooo, I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing

Till something more than real

I never dreamed I’d feel

Got my attention

What a sweet surprise

To find a love that I never knew existed

Whoa-ooo, I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing

V2: What I thought was love forevermore was just imitation

But a whole lot of nothing much is what I’ve been chasing

What you fear will always hold you back until you face it

You only live this life one time

So baby, don’t waste it

CH2: Whoa-ooo, I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing

Till something more than real

I never dreamed I’d feel

Got my attention

What a sweet surprise

To find a love that I never knew existed

Whoa-ooo, I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing

(Instrumental)

CH3: Whoa-ooo, I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing

Till something more than real

I never dreamed I’d feel

Got my attention

What a sweet surprise

To find a love that I never knew existed

Whoa-ooo, I Didn’t Know What I Was Missing

Bobby Tomberlin/Mike Curb Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: Here Lately, I’m not in a hurry like I used to be

And lately, it don’t take half as much to satisfy me

CH: Just waking up is more than enough

Right here is where I want to be

And for a change I’m learning how to love myself

Here Lately

V2: Here Lately, I feel more like me than I’ve ever been

And lately, life is like a dream and I’m a kid again

CH: Just waking up is more than enough

Right here is where I want to be

And for a change I’m learning how to love myself

Here Lately

BR: This long, hard road that we’ve been on

Broke my heart but it’s made me strong

V3: Here Lately, I’m not living in the past or drowning in regret

And lately, I’m finding what I give’s exactly what I get

CH: Just waking up is more than enough

Right here is where I want to be

And for a change I’m learning how to love myself

Here Lately

(Repeat CH)

John Mock/Kinvara Music (BMI)

Sylvia Hutton/Family Time Music (BMI)

V1: When I look in the mirror

Of this life I have lived

I can see things oh, so clearly

Though my eyesight may be dim

Friends and family gather ‘round me

For the end now is near

In the light a voice is calling

But there’s nothing that I fear

CH1: Do Not Cry For Me, my darling

It is time; my work is through

I’ll be near to you, my darling

Ever watching over you

I’ll be closer than the sunlight

Lying soft on your skin

For this love has no beginning

Nor will it ever end

V2: In the full bloom of summer

In the first blush of spring

You will feel me all around you

I will live in everything

There was nothing more precious

Than the love that you gave

It’s your love I am made of

That will live beyond my grave

CH2: Do Not Cry For Me, my darling

It is time; my work is through

I’ll be near to you, my darling

Ever watching over you

I’ll be closer than the sunlight

Lying soft on your skin

For this love has no beginning

Nor will it ever end