The Journey to “Freedom Song”
It was early morning on June 8th, 2020.
I had been experiencing incredibly vivid, almost nightmarish dreams throughout this week. It was a time of extreme upheaval—cries for social justice were echoing across the nation in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. I had found myself in a series of tense conversations with more conservative family members, who were trying to understand the outrage. The protests, riots—an anger rising across the country that was centuries in the making. I wanted to be the best force I could in those conversations, in bridging the chasm of fear and limitation that divided us from reaching an understanding. I feared for many of my friends, and felt an unshakable rage that I couldn’t quite transmute.
Then, I had this dream…I was standing in a choir of people, who were singing in unison around me. People of all different ages, cultures, shapes, and sizes. Everyone was in a deep violet silhouette, standing together in the face of a brilliant orange, vivid light. Like an intense rising sun. The sound and lyrics of what they were singing were so clear that I felt them. And from there, I woke up. I immediately ran to the piano, to figure out the melody that I had heard in the dream. It became the chorus for a new song, that I spent the morning writing from start to finish. I decided to call it “Freedom Song,” since that was the key word I had heard sung in the dream.
I truly believe that sometimes, certain messages come through you as an artist. They are not meant for you to keep, but to share. Whether the message manifests into a piece of writing, visual art, music—-I think it depends on the source, and how you best interpret it. But, I do feel a great responsibility to bring these ideas into formation and share them when this occurs. This song is absolutely one of those messages. It is my hope that it will reach exactly who needs to hear it. Perhaps this is why it’s the first full song off the new album that I’d like to open the door to, as I develop it further and carry it into a final recording. It’s still rough around the edges, but solid—and I truly love that I’ve been able to bring it into reality, from a dream.
I decided to push myself a little to record at least a first-draft version for election week. It’s such a pivotal time for our nation, and this feels like the right moment to share it. This recording is from Episode 6 of Apostrophe Soul Radio, the podcast I produce with my incredible friend and business partner, Mary. “Freedom Song” is not exactly polished yet, but that’s part of the fun. I am happy to welcome you on this song’s journey, alongside me, as I continue to develop this for the final album recording. Welcome to the process!
Apostrophe Soul Radio is available on several podcast platforms, including Anchor, Apple Podcast, and Spotify.
You can check out the full episode on through the link below (to Spotify):
https://open.spotify.com/episode/78hlvIjeEYqOA8Tg2lQH9m?si=_ejy1JvkTcSDrMSqgMW_ug
Here’s a video of a rough recording, live from November 7th, 2020—in my home studio.
