Creation of "Fade" Music Video

Jeff Caughron and I wrote "Fade" way back in 2007. We had exactly 10 hours to come up with a new song for Producer Jim Gaines and after locking ourselves in a small room for a few hours, we had written one of our greatest songs. Sometimes pressure really does help inspire creativity. The song was immediately added to our album in the works "Locks & Keys" and became one of our instant favorites.
When it came time to do a music video for Locks & Keys we all knew we wanted it to be for this song. The question was, what kind of music video should we do? Story line? If so, what kind of story line? Live Performance only? There were so many questions. Almost instantly I got my answer when a friend of mine returned home from being deployed in Iraq and was telling me about how he was having a hard time rejoining the world as a civilian. I imagined how much post traumatic stress he had endured and how the injuries had caused severe migraines which made it impossible to practically even function, let alone adapt and find work. Even more disturbing was the fact that nobody really knew or cared what he had been through. Here was a man who left his family and went to war. There were some terrifying situations. And nobody cared. I felt like it was up to me to bring attention back to what those people go through and how they are completely forgotten. I wanted to honor them in my own special way. The concept was clear.
The hard part was the money. It always is. The film company that I originally wanted to work with wanted $66,000 to complete this vision. Oh man. I doubt I've made that amount of money in a year in my life! I couldn't afford it. I looked for sponsors. They couldn't afford it. And it was clear that my vision was going to be just that...a vision for quite a while. We put that treatment to rest in 2008 and it hasn't seen the light of day until just a few months ago when I got a call from another film company called Table 8 Creative.
They have been working on mostly weddings and special events since they started their company, but their true love was making short films and music videos....although they haven't had a chance to really work on their skills because as I stated before, money is always the problem. I shared my concept with them and they were completely willing to give it their all. And here's the best part.....FOR FREE. Yes, that's right. Somebody else wanted to donate their time and equipment to help me achieve this vision. I knew I had hit the jackpot! We made plans immediately to begin working on this video. What happened next completely floored me....
We needed a huge American flag and the only place I knew that had one was Perkins Family Restaurant. I approached the manager timidly and told him what we were doing. He went in the back room and emerged with a 600 square foot American flag that was their old one. He donated it to me and wished me good luck with the video! Are you kidding me? I was blown away. My next obstacle was that I needed a location. I really wanted an old airplane hanger and the next call I got was from William Fain at Jackson Filmhouse saying Bill Douglas, owner of American Aviation has an airplane hanger that was built in 1946 to train WWII troops and was letting us film there...FOR FREE. Holy cow! Another amazing thing. You can't believe the things that just fell into place after that. We had an amazing Sgt. that showed up to teach us the specifics to make the video as accurate as possible. We had volunteer "troops" for the video. Their moms even came to help with whatever we needed....ON EASTER WEEKEND! It was meant to be and that's how I know this video is going to be amazing.
I really just wanted to say thank you to all that were there to help and made this possible. I called my friend to tell him this video was finally going to happen and located him in the trauma unit at the hospital where he's being treated for a motorcycle accident. Amazing how you can go through all of that in Iraq and return to almost be taken out on a motorcycle. Such is life. Live it to the fullest. You never know when you're last day is here. Ride safe everyone!

Teamwork

Here lately I've learned, or maybe re-learned the power of teamwork. When a group of people come together for a common goal, they are practically unstoppable as long as everyone wants the same goal. As people's goals change, it changes the team entirely and new goals have to be made to accommodate everyone involved, or sometimes it often results in the replacement of a new teammate who shares the same goals.
My band and I have been on the same team for about 6 years now and our goals have changed here and there, but we all continue to want the same thing and it's what has made us successful. But here lately I've realized that our "team" has expanded. Music has always been (and probably always will be to some degree) somewhat of a cut-throat business. There are tons of bands out there that want the same thing and they're willing to knock you down to get it. But they don't get it that there is plenty out there to be shared with us all. If you work hard enough, you'll get what you need. But here lately, things have changed and instead of being pushed away by my peers, I'm being embraced and that does several things. First it allows us to drop the petty crap and be creative together, which is what we were meant to do. Secondly it just doubled our fan base...for both of us because my fans will love them and their fans will love me. It's a win-win! And also, touring together is so much more cost effective. Venues get twice the bang for their buck and we share tour costs and make it more entertaining for everyone. In some instances, you can even share band members and cut down on people on the road.
I've been in Nashville long enough to have a small group of people who all have the same goals in mind and so we've all become somewhat of a little team and I'm having so much fun collaborating on songs with them, singing on stage with them, and sharing in the fun and excitement that music has to offer. So with that I want to thank everyone on my "team" and let the world know that we're packin' some heat this coming year!