(uplifting music) - Starting with sounds.

(uplifting music) - Hi, my name is Rissi Palmer, and I am a singer, a songwriter, and the host of "Color Me Country" radio with Rissi Palmer on Apple Music Country.

And today, I am gonna be reading a beautiful book, love this book, called, "Magnificent Homespun Brown," written by Samara Cole Doyon, and illustrated by Kaylani Juanita.

Deep, secret brown, like the subtly churning river currents playfully beckoning me through my grandmother's kitchen window, winding steadily past banks of tall grass and wild rose bushes, carrying miles of life and endless possibility on their never-ending journey to the sea.

Deep, secret brown, like my eyes.

Feathery brown, like the jagged shadows of hemlock branches thrown over me and Daddy on a gentle mountain hike.

They pull back periodically to let sunbeams watch over us in patches, and slowly grow more enormous than the towering, tattered triangles from which they stretch as the day begins to fade.

We pause every now and again, say nothing, breathing in the full, fresh aroma, and breathing out our worries, like an offering of prayer.

Feathery brown, like my lashes.

Amber brown, like honey harvested from the hive in Auntie's yard, a sacred healing elixir, a balm for beleaguered voices and aching throats, born from the billowing bustle of her industrious bees, stretching into a soft, squiggly line as it slips from the spigot to the bottle.

For a moment, it's golden, dangling delicate in the air before pooling thick and earthy in the hollow of the gaping jar below.

Amber brown, like my hair.

Radiant brown, like the flawless surface of towering summer sandcastles built in long, easy mornings at the beach with my mother.

Every bump and curve is lovingly smoothed by our expert fingers as we craft royal fortresses of dampened seashore splendor, shimmering with the glory of a million tiny mica flecks glowing in the sun.

Crowned with iridescent shells and bits of sea glass jewels, proudly proclaiming the majesty they are fashioned to enfold.

Radiant brown, like my skin.

Smooth, creamy brown, like the flawless flow of caramel gloriously smothering my favorite fall fair delight.

Every year, I line up with my brother, eager to purchase the apple treats from vendors in brightly-lit carts before bouncing off to the midway to watch show horses pose and prance, while we giddily devour a most ordinary fruit transformed by the most extraordinarily silky sweetness.

Smooth, creamy brown, like my laughter.

Thundering brown, like a boisterous crackling dive into a mountain of autumn-dried leaves on my grandpa's lawn.

As my shrieks of joy and triumph shoot to the top of the clear, pale sky, the last remnants of fragile foliage relent their grip on bare branches, and come tumbling down in defeat.

Thundering brown, like my power.

Cozy brown, like hot cocoa, a comfortable cup of liquid dreams sliding lazily over contented lips, filling mouths with quiet happiness as our family gathers to watch the swirling rage of a winter storm, tucked snugly inside the folds of our giant sofa.

Cozy brown, like my peace.

Magnificent, homespun brown, like the family tree on Meme's homemade quillet, quilt.

(chuckles) What's a quillet?

I don't know.

Like the family tree on Meme's homemade quilt, forged from fabrics of every shade from creamy, to amber, to deep secret.

Each inch, a poignant memoir, a personal story, a portrait, lovingly sewn one into another, names and dates held together in the form of roots, trunk, limbs, and leaves.

Magnificent, homespun brown, like all the treasures, places, and people I love coming together in me.

And that was "Magnificent Homespun Brown."

And this book illustrates exactly why I love reading, and why reading is so important.

Without those beautiful pictures, you still got a sense of what Samara was talking about.

You could taste that candy apple, you can taste the honey, you can feel the sand in your fingers.

Reading takes you on a trip without ever having to leave your home.

And it makes you use your imagination.

And not only that, it gives you so many different ways to describe, just very ordinary, yet extraordinary things that you see in your everyday life.

And as a songwriter, that's something that's very important to me, the power of words, and the ways that you can transform and transport people with your words.

And so, the song that I'm about to do for you is from a children's album that I put out, called, "Best Day Ever," and it's a song about being yourself.

And I love the pictures in that book, of the trees, and the leaves, and the way that they were described.

And in this story that I'm about to sing for you, we're talking about a tree, and a raindrop in the sky, and you being yourself.

And so I hope you enjoy.

This is called, "Be Me."

(bright guitar music) (vocalizing) ♪ Wonder what a tree is thinking ♪ ♪ Does she wish that she could fly in the sky ♪ ♪ 'Cause she'll be here in my backyard ♪ ♪ For all her life ♪ ♪ Oh, does she know ♪ ♪ How important she is ♪ ♪ With every leaf that grows ♪ ♪ And every seed that she gives ♪ ♪ She makes the world so much better ♪ ♪ By being who she was meant to be ♪ ♪ All a tree has to be is a tree ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ ♪ Wonder what the rain is thinking ♪ ♪ When he has to leave his home in the sky ♪ ♪ Does it ever get scary ♪ ♪ Falling to the ground ♪ ♪ Oh, does he know ♪ ♪ How important he is ♪ ♪ He helps the seeds to grow ♪ ♪ And helps the tree to live ♪ ♪ He makes the world so much better ♪ ♪ By being who he was meant to be ♪ ♪ All the rain has to be is rain ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ ♪ All I have to be ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ (vocalizing) ♪ I wonder what you're thinking ♪ ♪ So many choices, so many things to do ♪ ♪ Do you wish you were different ♪ ♪ Or do you like being you ♪ ♪ Oh, do you know ♪ ♪ How important you are ♪ ♪ Whether you're dreaming on a cloud ♪ ♪ Or dreaming from your backyard ♪ ♪ Ooh, you make the world so much better ♪ ♪ By being who you were meant to be ♪ ♪ All you have to be is you ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ ♪ All I have to be ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ ♪ All I have to be ♪ ♪ All I have to be is me ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ (vocalizing) ♪ All I have to be ♪ ♪ Is me ♪ ♪ Oh, yeah ♪ (vocalizing) Thank you.