Like a mother rocking her kids to sleep, the rowboat Clarabelle sways gently on the Puget Sound. Nestled aboard the tiny vessel, singer-songwriter Halley Greg and her romantic partner, Jonathan Livingston (Among Authors), fill the sound with music as ospreys harmonize overhead. 

The duo, however, isn’t performing solely for their avian companions. Their captain, Jordan Hanssen, holds his iPhone aloft to capture the performance as rusted ships glow amber in the dying light behind them. 

This voyage is one of hundreds for Hanssen, who uses his intimate knowledge of the Pacific Northwest to film episodes of his project Tinyboatsession. Currently in its eighth season, the series showcases indie artists while sailing along America’s prominent waterways. 

Hanssen birthed the idea for Tinyboatsession just 10 days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down Seattle. While contemplating the state of the world, he became entranced by a musician playing a saxophone on the water. He quickly fired off messages within his artist network. By the end of the week, he’d managed to record forty-four songs with eleven artists. Six years later, these sessions continue to grow in number and talent.

Though Hanssen had originally invited Greg to perform during Season 4 of Tinyboatsession, the tides had pulled her in a different direction. 

“I was going through a little bit of a dark night of the soul,” said Greg. “I had just released my second album, had spent a lot of money on it, but I wasn't really stoked about it when it was done. A lot of the songs were coming out of the pandemic season, with anger and sadness. I was grinding really hard on music and lost the joy of it for a while, so I was saying no to a lot of gigs. I just didn’t have the spoons.”

Her 2022 album, Straitjacket, came hot off the heels of her time competing on the hit reality show The Voice, where she placed in the top 40 of contestants during season 20. 

“It was a highly productive season because I had a lot of time by myself,” said Greg. “I wrote a lot of songs in my hotel room with my keyboard.” Despite this creative spigot, Greg admits that both producing and performing these songs was not what she envisioned. 

As the studio process unfolded, she felt torn between her original vision and that of her creative partner. “I worked with the wrong collaborator,” she said, “and I’ll just have to live with that.” Though she would entertain  the potential for re-recordings, Greg said she’s more focused on future projects. “It’s hard to turn [your songs] into the vision you hope they will be,” she said, “but you just have to close the book at some point.” 

Ultimately, these factors contributed to her song choices on Tinyboatsession: “Why Do You Love Me” and “Let This Love Age.” Both songs are featured in her 2020 album American Harlot. Of course, when performing on a tiny row boat, logistics also come into play. 

“I'm not a huge guitar player,” said Greg, “which is why Jonathan was with me.” Though the musical lovebirds play in separate bands, they had recently jammed together at home and experimented with acoustic versions of Greg’s songs. The choice to include Livingston, then, in her Tinyboatsession episode was obvious to her.

 “It felt appropriately intimate,” Greg explained, “I would have been too anxious myself, and we don't play together often, so it was a fun thing to do!” 

When not floating around on the Sound, Greg finds herself balancing creative energies between her own music and that of fellow artists. Most recently, she opened her home studio to longtime friend and singer-songwriter Kelsey Sprague (affectionately referred to by Greg as her “music mamma”). The pair have been close since 2019, when Sprague first asked Greg to join her band. “Being in her band inspired me to start writing songs,” Greg reflected.