Ada McGraw poses with her 10-month-old Legend for a photo at OPB, May 5, 2026. McGraw worked with singer-songwriter Bre Gregg while she was serving time at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility to write a lullaby for her son.
Allison Frost / OPB
For the second year in a row, women incarcerated at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility are joining other incarcerated parents and those experiencing homelessness in being paired with local singer-songwriters to write lullabies for their children.
Ada McGraw was among the first to participate last year — the first year that women at Coffee Creek were brought in. A lullaby McGraw wrote for her son, Legend, while he was still in utero and while she was incarcerated was performed by the Oregon Symphony. She wrote the song in collaboration with singer-songwriter Bre Gregg as part of the Lullaby Project, created in 2011 by the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall.
Ada McGraw poses for a photo with her son Legend and singer-songwriter Bre Gregg, right, at OPB, May 5, 2026.
Allison Frost / OPB
“I was nervous,” McGraw said. “And as soon as we started, got down to the nitty gritty, it was like butter. She was easy to work with. She didn’t make me feel any type of judgment at all.”
McGraw said Gregg was also a kind of coach and mentor, as she herself had no musical background at all.
“We actually worked very well, bouncing ideas. She was very motivating. It made me feel like, ‘Oh, yeah, I can do this,’ so it was great.”
Gregg, who’s been involved in the Lullaby Project since 2019, said it’s the most “soul-filling, inspirational thing” she’s ever done. Writing with McGraw was easy, she said.
“Ada was so clear about exactly what she wanted to write about. So, we only had 3 hours to write this, and she came in and immediately jumped in, and she wanted to write the verses [from] her perspective.”
And then, Gregg said, McGraw brought out a little piece of paper.
“It was a poem that Legend’s father had written and had sent over to her. He was also incarcerated in a different facility … and it was a fully actualized chorus … So the verses are from Ada’s perspective, and then the choruses are from Legend’s dad’s perspective, a little love letter to Legend.”
Jessica Katz, right, poses for a photo with Bre Gregg, center-right, Ada McGraw and McGraw's son Legend at OPB, May 5, 2026.
Allison Frost / OPB
The Family Preservation Project works with the women at Coffee Creek to see who is interested and available to participate in the program. Jessica Katz, the director of the nonprofit, says the decision to get involved with the Lullaby Project was easy.
“In all of this time, one of the things I struggle to wrap my head around is what it would be like to give birth and be immediately separated from your child. So, this was an obvious yes for me if we could be a part of anything that would make that more beautiful.”
McGraw said the recording of the lullaby continues to bring her comfort, along with the memories of creating it. She said her hope for Legend is that he grows up in a home that feels safe.
“And that he knows he’s always loved,” she said. “That he knows that he is always forgiven, that he’s always accepted and has unconditional love and family around him.”
This year’s performance of The Lullaby Project is Tuesday, May 12 at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland.
Click below to listen to Legend’s Lullaby played live on “Think Out Loud,” as well as the entire conversation with Ada McGraw, Bre Gregg and Jessica Katz.
