Soul of the Nation
Music plays constantly in our cities, cars, and cafes. This sonic landscape subtly shapes the way we feel about a place and ourselves within it. In the West Village neighborhood of New York City where I lived, this sonic landscape reverberates with diversity. Bruce Springsteen thumps through janky speakers in a cobweb laced corner of WXOU Bar. And on a leisurely stroll on the West Side Highway, you can feel the bass from a biker with a boombox passing by in the fast lane. In my new home of Winston-Salem, jazz nights transform the local cocktail bar into a speakeasy and vinyl record players make dinner parties a DJ experience.
As a singer-songwriter, I believe songs have the power to give us access to our deeper selves and build bridges to each other, especially when we shift from being passive consumers of our sonic landscapes to attuned and intentional listeners of songs and the meanings they contain. As Leo Tolstoy writes, art is “a means of union among people, joining them together in the same feelings, and indispensable for the life and progress toward well-being of individuals and of humanity.” Music has the power to bring diverse voices into harmony.
As a community organizer and experience designer, I’m always looking for ways to create connection, vulnerability, and empathy among diverse people. The pandemic lockdowns, political discord, and social awakenings of the last two years have shown us that, on the deepest levels, we need human connection both to overcome our challenges and flourish despite our struggles.
It is against this backdrop that I was ignited to write a song for the common good of our civic society. “Soul of the Nation” is a song to form generational leadership. It comes out February 25th.
Nations, people, and communities throughout time have been woven together and formed by the songs they sing together. This song is anchored in the leadership tradition of speeches that use the phrase “let it be said” to frame an intention for living one’s legacy and casting a light of hope and kindness into a culture of division and discord. Each verse describes virtues and attributes needed for a flourishing society. The structure is similar to a hymn, four singable verses bringing the simple central concept of the chorus into ever brighter illumination.
This is more than a single––it is a message. I would appreciate your partnership is sharing it wide and boldly when the song hits on February 25th. Whether to friends, family, colleagues, or the nation, each share and send gives this song wings.