Mark pulled his car up in front of a gray cement block building with a small black and white sign proclaiming "J & B studios". He shut the engine off and looked at Lori. "Well, here we are."

"I wish I was just going to record with you at Raitt Hall." She frowned at the building and added, 'It was certainly a classier building."

Mark laughed, "It'll be fine. You're used to singing in front of an audience, this shouldn't be so hard."

"There's something permanent about having it recorded," Lori mused. "There's a lot more pressure." She smiled thoughtfully, "I want to do well for Robin."

"If you make a mistake you can try again," Mark countered, "It's not like a live performance."

"I suppose so," Lori got out of the car, opening the back door to get her guitar out of Mark's back seat.

They went in through a plain door. The interior of the facility was short on frills, with nondescript worn furniture and beige walls. Robin was standing talking to a medium height man with long dark hair.

When she saw them, she broke off the conversation and greeted them, "Hi, you guys are right on time. This is Dave Marner, he'll be your engineer." She gestured toward Lori and Mark, "Dave, this is Lori Trager and Mark Brandt." They nodded toward each other. "Would you like a soda or something?" She asked them.

Lori said, "I think just some water. My throat is a little dry."

Robin opened a nearby refrigerator, got a bottle of water and handed it to her, "Anything for you, Mark?"

"No, I'm fine."

"So, Lori," Robin said. "Dave will take you in to the studio," she indicated a door, "and get you and your guitar miked. I've told him that we want to balance it to emphasize the vocal. We're demoing the songs, not the performance, after all."

Lori nodded.

Dave opened the door and gestured toward it. With a slightly panicked look at Mark, Lori carried her guitar through it and the door closed.

Robin assured him, "Don't worry, she'll be fine. Dave is a pro. He'll take care of her." She indicated another door, "We'll watch from the control room."

They went through the other door. The control room was large enough for several people and had a large glass window that opened into the studio. Dave had provided Lori a tall stool and was arranging the microphones for her. She gave a slight nervous wave to Mark through the window and he waved back.

In a moment, Dave returned to the control booth, sat down in front of the board and switched a switch, "All right, Lori, we have plenty of time, so relax and we'll have some fun. Let's start with your first song. We'll do it at least a couple of times so don't worry about mistakes."

Lori strummed a strong D and began a song with power and anger. It had done well at 'Pockets' the last time she played it. As she played, Dave watched gauges and gently adjusted levels. When it was over, he said, "That was really good, Lori. Let's give it another try so I can have a second copy to work with."

The session lasted for nearly two hours. By the end of the time, Lori was clearly tiring and Dave turned to Robin, "I think that's all the usable stuff we are going to be able to get today."

"It sounded like a good session to me," Robin agreed. "I think we've got something I can work with."

Dave got up and went to retrieve Lori. Robin and Mark met them in the entry area. Robin said, "We got some good stuff. Dave will clean it up and I can start sending it out."

Lori looked tired but happy, mostly relieved that it was over. She turned to Dave and said "Thank you. It wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be."

"You were fine," Dave assured her. "It'll be easier next time."

"You did great," Robin added, "Now it's time for your reward."

Lori looked at her with a puzzled expression. Robin took an MP3 player out of her pocket with earbuds attached and offered them to Lori who put them in. Robin pushed a button on the player and Lori listened with increasing excitement.

Lori turned to Mark excitedly, "It's Willow, singing 'Thursday'. It came out really great, just like I imagined it." She was still listening and sighed, "I wish I could sing it like that."

When the song ended, Lori took the earbuds out again. Robin handed her the player and said, "The album is scheduled for release at the end of next week, this is a prerelease copy, hang on to it. Keep it limited to family and friends only until the actual release."

"I will," Lori promised. "This is really great."

"I told you they were starting out platinum, so we're going to do pretty well with this. From now on, it all depends on how much play your track gets," Robin said. "Don't expect everything to go this easy, we got lucky with this one. It could be years before we get another major artist to record one of your songs. Or one of the ones you recorded today could catch someone's interest."

"I understand," Lori said. "But this," she held up the player, "is wonderful."

Robin said, "Be sure to let me know the next time you're scheduled for 'pockets', I want to be there."

"We will," Mark said, and they turned to leave.