Quad Cities Songwriter: Eleven Fifty Two

https://www.facebook.com/ElevenFiftyTwo/

The Quad Cities is ripe with talent.  We've got an amazing music scene.  As strong as it is diverse.  As a songwriter myself, I feel like that creative part is something that gets taken for granted.  You hum along to a catchy melody...because songs are supposed to make you hum, right?  You tap your foot because it's got a good beat.

But it's not that easy.  It's got to come from somewhere.  In this feature I call "Songwriter Spotlight" (until I come up with a better name) we take one song from a local band and we drill down on how it came to be.

What was the inspiration...the drive?  Because, you may or may not know...once the song rears it's head...you better hold on because it might be painful and it probably won't leave you alone until it's out of you.

It's got to come out.

I could not have foreseen how the first episode would have effected me.  I reached out to a handful of friends that I know are also talented songwriters.  Dusty was the first to reply, so...he goes first.  Easy enough.

I sent him a questionnaire...gave him a bit of direction as to what I wanted to do and what I wanted to focus on and his reply blew me away.

He recorded his explanation of the song on his phone & emailed it to me. It was a heavier topic than I had anticipated.  I re-listened to the song and connected to it in a completely different way than I had previously.

Instead of being in awe of the production & musicality, I was with my Uncle Don who passed away recently.  What was once just a catchy song was now making me bawl my damn fool eyes out. Uncle Don was right there in the room with me...thanks to this beautiful song.

And that's what this is about folks.  Songwriters have a gift. We're lucky to be allowed to share in that gift.

Thank you Dusty.

Thank you Eleven Fifty Two.

The Man on Brown Street

Connect with Eleven Fifty Two

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