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Biography (courtesy of Reunion Records)

Twirl the spinner rack at the check out line: What do you see in a simple postcard? A day at the beach? A favorite city or a romantic getaway? The best ones contain brief notes about what we've experienced… and sometimes what we're thinking. Without the cloak of an envelope, these communiqués are for many to share, sent from a myriad of places visited. At once simple and complex, postcards represent experiences we'll carry with us forever.

Postcards arrives as the latest project from award-winning recording artist Cindy Morgan. Five years in the making, the Wayne Kirkpatrick-produced album is Morgan's first of a new label partnership with Reunion Records and the Provident Label Group.

Cindy Morgan's career as one of Christian music's premier singer/songwriters began 15 years ago. A native of Harrogate, Tenn., a rural, Appalachian town in the eastern region of the Volunteer state, Morgan came onto the gospel music scene like a rocket, garnering New Artist of the Year honors during her first year. Ambitious and energetic, she spent the better part of a decade touring six studio albums—the music spanning from youth-oriented pop/dance tracks to powerful, introspective ballads—and participating in noteworthy special-event projects, including the Oswald Chambers-inspired My Utmost for His Highest, the New Young Messiah , Exodus, Streams, One Silent Night and Emmanuel and Gloria. A songwriter's songwriter, Morgan has garnered several No. 1 hits (including "Listen," "Real Life" and "I Know You") and several Dove Award and Billboard Music Video Award nominations. Her songs have been recorded by luminaries such as Michael W. Smith, Avalon, Rachael Lampa, Michael English, BeBe Winans, Sandi Patty, Jaci Velasquez, Mark Schultz, John Tesh and Natalie Grant.

"But underneath it all, after 10 years of nearly constant performing," Morgan explains, "there was a nagging sense that my life was in need of a long-overdue rest." So five years ago, realizing that she'd spent her entire marriage and her first pregnancy touring, Morgan decided to come off the road. At first she, along with her husband, author Sigmund Brouwer, and their young daughter, spilt her time between Red Deer, Alberta, Canada and the Los Angeles area. In Burbank, Morgan networked as a fulltime songwriter in the Christian, pop and country genres, crafting hits including Christy Carlson Romano's "Dive In."

"The people there taught me about being a human being," Morgan says. "It was so great to be around people who were not necessarily Christians because I recognized that their search goes on earnestly, and I felt so blessed that I knew what I believed and that I felt truth in that belief."

Eventually, the family bought a house back in Nashville, where they still make their home six months of the year. In this jambalaya of settings, Morgan engaged in a journey toward new self-discovery. She stretched as a wife and mother (adding the family's second child, too) and matured as a woman and musician. First and foremost, she drank deeply from a spiritual well and grew stronger in her faith.

Among the many songs she wrote, Morgan squirreled away the more personal ones for another day. Opportunity sprung during a chance encounter with Provident Label Group President and CEO, Terry Hemmings. Eventually hearing some of her cashed work, Hemmings was pleased to enable Morgan the chance to make her seventh record.

Morgan says, "This album is for people who are in a place where they're digging a little deeper. They want something where you might actually listen to the lyric instead of just letting it go by. There's not a lot of ear candy on this record." A dynamic vocalist and pianist, Morgan's latest addition to her musical quiver is the lap dulcimer, which she says in many ways set the record's tone.

"There's equal parts of piano, guitar and dulcimer. I love to write songs on the piano. But I wanted to go beyond that instrument on this record because there are some songs you can't write on a piano that you can write on a dulcimer or that you can write on a guitar." She continues, "I wanted to grow as a songwriter, so Postcards is less about one instrument and much more about the songs." As a writer, Morgan excels at crafting characters listeners can readily identify, often squarely within themselves.

"I wanted to do a record that lived and breathed with flesh & blood," she says. "Postcards is my most personal record in the sense that I've exposed my true self. It's not shrouded in poetry. I've come right out and said what I wanted to say instead of disguising it." "Mother" stands as a prime example.

"When I wrote 'Mother' I thought I had something to say," Cindy explains. "A couple years ago, my mom and I came to the culmination of years of having differences of opinions. We're both strong personalities with strong views and strong opinions and there came a point when we decided not to talk for a while." "Mother" illustrates human reconciliation and love's powerful spirit.

"I feel like I've been living my life to write this song. My mom has made such an impact on my life. Was it always good? Maybe not. But because of her—and I know she did her very best—I am who I am today, and I have a greater understanding of what people go through when they're not in a perfect family setting."

Next, adding form and shape to the emerging art came "The River," a track about the acceptance and forgiveness we all long for from each other and God. "Glory" recognizes that on the other side of whatever burdens you down is something wonderful: God's love and grace. "Enough" addresses material excess, Morgan says. "We all have so much. I have so much. And we want more, more, more. The song speaks from the perspective of being happy where you are and being happy with what God has given. It's not that we can't have things, but we need to know peace and happiness don't come from things."

Writing "Postcards" introduced a tipping point, though, one urging Cindy to record again her own material. The title track extends a lilting melody about a character in search of herself, one who finds grace, mercy and indeed, God's deep love, along the way.

"I became acquainted with this family whose teenager was going through a lot of adolescent stuff, probably more than her share," Morgan says. "She's going through the process of doing the work and getting better and figuring out who she is. We all go through it, and I'm so moved by the family and how much they want to support her on her journey of discovery."

"I'm searching, I'm traveling, my life's been unraveling/"I still don't know where this will lead/Enjoying the weather, I'll get it together/So don't worry, I'll send you a postcard from my journey to me."

As she has for a decade and a half, Cindy Morgan remains a recognizable, trusted voice—one consistently unlocking music's hopeful imagination. With Postcards Morgan raises the bar on what listener's will expect from singer/songwriter albums.

"I hope this music sows in people a sense of encouragement and a sense that you can do more than you think you can. God has the power to enable you to do that," Morgan concludes. "And more, I hope these songs provide good spiritual food for whatever people need. At the end of every road for me is God, and I hope that's what people find here, too."