For Eliza Thorp, life doesn’t always travel in a straight line.

The Petoskey, Michigan indie-folk singer-songwriter and pianist’s personal experiences ebb and flow with the passage of time on Stories We Told Along the Way.

“It’s 99 percent autobiographical, and I never really set out to write for other people,” said Thorp about her latest album.

“Songwriting has always been this thing for helping me to make sense of things in my life. It also puts a different lens on it to understand it a little bit better or to hold it in a different way.”

Those different perspectives allow Thorp to process and share wise tales of contemplation, strength and growth across a dozen cathartic tracks.

“It’s definitely cathartic, and it’s really interesting as a songwriter to see which themes keep coming back to you. It’s like, ‘Well, maybe I haven’t really fully unearthed that, whether it be an emotion or that theme yet,’” she said.

“That was the idea or that concept with the title Stories We Told Along the Way, and with it being about life experiences that some people might be able to relate to.”

Thorp’s intimate “stories” feature vulnerable lyrics, soft vocals and earnest acoustic instrumentation set against a backdrop of northern Michigan imagery.

Vivid references to seasons, landscapes, creatures, the cosmos and weather patterns allow listeners to better visualize Thorp’s picturesque world in their mind’s eye.

“Nature has such a huge impact on everything in my life, particularly my overall well-being. I often find comfort in nature, and I feel like it’s where I can slow down a little bit,” she said. “And then I feel like lyrics might come to me in those quieter moments while I’m out on the trail somewhere.”

Father Time to Superhero 

Thorp’s sonic trail first leads to “Father Time,” a wistful ballad about family relationships and childhood memories. Backed by sentimental piano and cello, Thorp sings, “In the field behind the house / Oh we gaze up at the patchwork night / October dusk, plumb colored / How we felt, felt so alive.”

“I think everybody waxes nostalgic once you enter adulthood and have more responsibilities,” she said. “It’s like, ‘Remember when we could just run outside and spend hours in the woods?’”

After contemplating the past on “Father Time,” Thorp shifts to the future on “Marianne,” a determined track that urges taking risks and starting over.

Eager piano and cello nudge the track’s protagonist toward a new life as Thorp sings, “Oh Marianne / You’re making excuses again / For the way things have been / You let it slide, you say one last time.”

“I’ve felt like ‘Marianne’ in so many different ways. I think one of the bigger ways includes growing up in a small town, and there’s this momentum to leave at some point. There’s also so much friction and pent-up energy to do something different … that’s what that song was for me,” she said.

“I have lived in other places before, too, so I did get out for a bit. I’m currently in a little bit of a jumping point here … where I’m moving somewhere, but I’m not entirely sure where that will be yet.”

Despite “Marianne’s” promise for tomorrow, Thorp accepts the loss of a past relationship on “Grief is Love.” Surrounded by hopeful piano and cello, she sings, “An old wound remembers / How deep the darkness took hold / Oh the heart will get stronger / Or so I’ve been told.”

“It was a relationship that had ended, and it was kind of abrupt; I didn’t see it coming,” she said. “I feel like grief is just one of those emotions that hang around … it can do not-so-good things, or you can kind of harness it in a different way.”

Part of that grief lives on throughout “Every Little Thing,” a despondent ballad about the emotional exhaustion of being in pandemic lockdown. Weary piano and cello echo Thorp’s loneliness as she sings, “Most days, I’m half asleep / Can’t even make it out of bed / Too much fear for dreaming.”

“Like many artists or creative people, I was just in shell shock during the first pandemic shutdown. I had no brain space for being creative, so that song was the first song that I was able to write after the shutdown,” she said.

“During the pandemic, there was so much uncertainty. The line, ‘If it’s not alright, it’s not the end,’ was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen, but hopefully, this isn’t the end because it doesn’t feel right.’”

Thorp also fights to change the future on “Superhero,” an empowering track about women being independent and overcoming stereotypes.

Alongside confident piano and cello, she sings, “But I am my own superhero / Don’t need some prince to come set me free / I am my own superhero / Don’t need some prince to come rescue me.”

“I wrote this song in 2019 … when we were [at risk for] losing our right to abortion. That song has been so cool to play out, too, and I’ve had some anxiety about playing that one, but I’ve had the coolest experiences with women coming up to me,” said Thorp, who’s inspired by Carole King and Sarah Jarosz.

“I also get goosebumps when I talk about this, but when I have dads come up to me and they’re like, ‘Thank you for writing this song for my daughter.’”

“Superhero” also features a stirring chorus of woman vocalists backing Thorp as she sings, “All the girls in the room say, I am strong enough / All the girls in the room say, I am enough.” The track includes Laura Fullford, Heather Esterline, Eileen Thorp, Megan Baker and Natalie Smith adding their powerful vocals.

“When I wrote that song and with the chorus at the end, I knew I wanted to have my good friends, my mom and my sister on this album for that song,” she said.

“I think we recorded that in 2021, but logistically COVID was coming in waves, and it just didn’t make any sense to try to get everybody together down in the studio. I would bring in everybody one at a time … and it was so cool to hear the different layers as they were added.”

Kalamazoo, Telluride and Earthwork Harvest Gathering

For Stories We Told Along the Way, Thorp assembled a group of older and newer songs she had written and then took them to Kalamazoo’s La Luna Recording & Sound. There she spent about a year recording the album with studio owner/head engineer/producer Ian Gorman.

“I had just compiled these songs over the years … and I had heard the themes and thought I could make an album out of this. There really wasn’t too much thought into the whole concept of it,” said Thorp, who started playing piano as a child.

“Ian’s super great at feeling the vibe of the song and being like, ‘Why don’t we listen to this direction and let me know what you think about it?’ He lays out what he thinks might work and then lets you shape in the way that you want to.”

Thorp also shaped the album’s sound with several collaborators, including Jordan Hamilton (cello), Max Lockwood (upright bass) and Charlie Millard (organ, accordion).

“It’s so cool to work with those guys. Jordan listened to each song once, and he did what he did. He’s the layer master. As for Max, I booked a day, and I think we had him tracked in four hours for all the songs,” she said.

“Charlie happened to be passing through, and he was like, ‘Yeah, I’ll put some layers in there, too.’ He had his Nord [organ] with him and his accordion. I’ve known Charlie for a long time, and we’ve done a lot of different musical stuff together.”

Outside of the studio, Thorp received national acclaim after submitting two album tracks—“Superhero” and “Every Little Thing”—to Planet Bluegrass’ Telluride Troubadour Contest.

Her songs were selected out of 200 entries, and she traveled to Telluride, Colorado in June to participate in the national songwriter contest and was named a top 10 finalist.  

“It was not like a competition at all; it was so cool to meet all those other musicians … and it was interesting because a lot of them had been to FARM [Folk Alliance Region Midwest], too,” she said. “It was such a good experience, and I love Colorado, and I’ve spent a lot of time out there; it’s a great place to be.”

Thorp also will spend time outdoors this weekend sharing her music at Earthwork Harvest Gathering in Lake City, Michigan. She will perform Sept. 16 at the festival alongside a star-studded lineup of Michigan artists, songwriters and musicians.

After the festival, Thorp will perform Sept. 27 at Gabriel Farms & Winery in Petoskey and Sept. 28 at Two K Farms in Suttons Bay. She’s even looking ahead to her next adventure, which could include moving to a new location, and writing new material.

“I’m not really sure where the new stuff is headed yet, and I’m potentially going to be hitting the road for a little bit, too,” Thorp said.