What is 10 stories, 10 songs?
This will be a concept album about the lives of the impoverished in Nicaragua.
Every time I go back to the United States, friends and family ask what it is like here and what exactly we are doing. One of the best ways I have found to answer those questions is through song. It's my diary and my outlet.
I have written several of the songs that will be on the album already, and will continue to write them through the rest of this year. What you will hear, will be the stories of the incredible people that I have been fortunate enough to meet over the last 3 years.
Why 10 stories, 10 songs?
Simple. I have been touched and my life has been forever changed by the amazing people that I've met. It is difficult to tell the stories of families I've met that spend most of their day gathering water from a dirty well just to survive. When I come across a family in a desperate situation, I always find them filled with joy and often walk away from those encounters asking God to strengthen my faith because of the great faith I have seen in them who have so little. I am not reliant on the Lord to meet my basic needs such as food and water and my faith at times seems to pale in comparison to that of a family who does pray for those things on a daily basis. And with so little, they walk in their faith with exceedingly grateful hearts. This is one story, of so many, that I wish to convey through this album.
There is a song on the last album I did that lends itself to what this whole next album will be about, telling stories.
It's called "Move On and On" and I wrote it in response to visiting the local garbage dump in Chinandega 3 years ago. It tells the story of a group of people who were forced to move to the city dump to live there after a natural disaster. After living there for a while, they found it difficult to move away, to a healthier, safer home. I found that to be an incredible parallel to how I live my life. I get complacent, and don't want to move on to something more freeing, something better. You can hear the song here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7P2VopNSc8
How?
Over the rest of the year, I will continue to put these stories into songs and record them in my home in Chinandega, Nicaragua. My hope is to have the album complete by 2014. With your generous support through this campaign, this album will be free of charge to everyone. The goal set is the bare minimum required to fund this project. Any funds that may be raised above the goal will only help make this project better.
