Over the past few days, I have been struggling, like many of you, to grapple with the unspeakable tragedy that occurred in my beautiful home state of Connecticut this past Friday. While I am not directly connected to the events in Newtown, in a way we are all connected to this small New England community.
Being from an even smaller town in Connecticut, I understand how folks from Newtown don't say they're from Newtown. When asked where they're from, they say "the town next to Danbury." If you ask me where I'm from, I'll tell you "just outside of New Haven." There's also the connection as a former teacher of young music students. No matter how hard of a day you have as a teacher, you are always guaranteed at least one smile from your students-- whether it's hearing them finally "get" that difficult section of a song, or your own personal episode of "kids say the darnedest things." And lastly, my mother is a teacher-- a special education teacher at a small elementary school in a town in Connecticut similar to Newtown. She is my rock, she is my greatest teacher, and she is a constant source of inspiration.
But, rather than go on and on about my feelings, I want to share a song with all of you from my latest album. The song Always was written for an amazing family friend who passed away several years ago. She would light up a room, and was always guaranteed to make you laugh. It is with her spirit in mind that I will be donating all profits from the downloads of this song to the Newtown Memorial Fund. The track also features the Elm City Girls Choir, a choir I am proud to have been a part of and am so happy to have as part of this song.
So, between now and January 31st, please consider purchasing the song Always and sharing this with family and friends. Let's work together to show this small community how much we care.
"Always" can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon, and Ourstage.com.
