Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Veterans Day

Today on Veterans Day I am thinking of my Father, Robert C. Harvey, Jr, LTJG US Navy, Veteran of WWII and Korea. Growing up my Father always taught me to be respectful, appreciative and generous towards Veterans. I appreciate what they've done for our country and what they've given of themselves to protect our freedom and way of life. One may not agree always with the politics of war, but one MUST respect those who have given so much. I applaud and thank our military veterans and those who currently serve this great nation.

So, to shift gears...I thought I'd throw out quite possibly the ONLY patriotic tune I've ever recorded (again...repost warning). Now time for a little history - not that you want to hear it, but humor me (and thank you). Years ago I worked at the good guys! Hayward Service Center as a manager and I had an employee that worked for me named Idia Huntley. Idia and I got along very well and since we're both into music we worked together a little. Idia has a great smokey vocal style and it can be heard on some Rain Station recordings. One day (long after the good guys!) she called me and asked if I would record a track for her. She had written a patriotic tune that she recorded at a studio in Oakland, but it didn't have the feel she was looking for. She explained that she told the folks at the studio what she was looking for, but it ended up sounding wrong to her. She paid them and was disappointed with the end result. I told her I'd be glad to record the track for her and I wasn't going to charge her since she'd been gracious enough to sing on my tracks without charging me.

She sat in Pumpkinland Studios with me humming the tune and telling me how she wanted the track to sound. She also played the other track for me. What she wanted and what I heard were completely different (I actually liked the other track). As we worked through the track she got more and more excited about how things were turning out and was saying her usual "Thank you, thank you" to me over and over again. The track complete we sent it out for copyright and then sent a copy to Bill Clinton (there's a family relationship there somewhere that I can't recall, but from what I vaguely remember Bill thought of her Mom as a surrogate Mother or Aunt type back in Little Rock). We actually got a response from Bill - pretty cool letter.

I'm not sure where Idia is today (somewhere in the Bay Area I imagine), but hope that someday she finds me again so we can work together. She's a brilliant songwriter, has a lovely voice and is one of those people that you just love to be around - in short she's a blessing.

Anyhow, here is a FREE MP3 download of "It's A Different America" (click here to download) by Idia Huntley and Mark Harvey. (link disabled)

Enjoy the FREE track and drop me a comment.
Remember, all of my CDs are available for purchase at NobodyRecords.com.
Be sure and support independent music by purchasing CDs from us!

Thanks,

Mark Harvey

Click here if you can't figure out where you're supposed to click to download the song.
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