[Spotlight Post] Songwriting With:Soldiers – via AJ Merrifield
This week’s Spotlight comes from someone I got to know through Rachel Caine and FenCon. AJ Merrifield is an amazing and charming person who came to FenCon to help Rachel Caine and Cat Conrad to staff the Morganville Fan Table. We’ve met him before at a signing, but this weekend, Jimmy and I got to know him a little bit better. AJ served four tours in Iraq with the Army and is a reader and fan – and a fellow lover of bacon.
AJ told me about a project he was involved with called Songwriters With:Soldiers. It’s a retreat for active duty and returning soldiers to help work through the struggle of coming home through music. This program puts songwriters together with these soldiers to put experiences into words and those words to music. It’s also a way for soldiers to begin coping with the transitions from military to family life – and to help the families understand what their loved ones may have dealt with.
Darden Smith is the founder of this amazing organization. He’s currently working with Radney Foster and Jay Clementi – as well as Gary Nicholson and Darell Scott – to work with soldiers in an atmosphere of trust and collaboration. Their retreat center is outside of Austin and the music that comes out of the retreat is powerful stuff. Seriously, don’t listen to it if you don’t have tissues handy. And really don’t listen to/watch the HLN/CNN piece done by Robin Meade for Stories of Courage.
One of the songs that just stabbed me in the gut was actually written by AJ and another soldier, Craig Chirco – “Call To Prayer“. It’s about how battle can affect your faith and beliefs – and it’s beautiful and sad and at the very core – truth. Nothing here is glossed over. Nothing is off limits. It’s pure emotion – raw, powerful, and a bunch of other things I can’t put words to.
The only thing that kept me from breaking down into a blubbering mess? Well, two things… 1)I listened at work. Must remain stoic. And 2) AJ signed the CD to me Bacon is the key to life, isn’t it? (We got to know each other over the hotel breakfast buffet.) It’s hard not to smile at that.
If you’re looking for a Non-Profit, charitable cause to support, look into this one. They are a certified 501c(3). They’re doing good work, and our soldiers need support systems wherever they can get it. We ask so much from them and then expect them to turn it off when they come home. That’s not possible. On any scale. We all need to take a moment to both realize that and thank those who’ve made this sacrifice possible, and those who served have EARNED our respect, our honor, and our gratitude.