I am writing to tell you about a extraordinary event that happened while visiting our daughter Kelli, in northern  Idaho, Thanksgiving 2005.  I wrote a song!  Both lyrics and music [ music is in my head – don’t know the notes].  How did this happen? That’s the extraordinary part.  While out shopping Nov 21 I asked my granddaughter , Sloane, if see was going to chop down a tree for Christmas?  She replied no, trees are living things and we should buy one already cut.  Made sense to me and thought nothing more of it.

Later, while leaving a mall I noticed more land being graded for development. I asked my daughter, Kelli, if more houses will be built, as Northern Idaho is expanding at a rapid pace. She said , no, it is for another mall. While tossing and turning in a new bed that night I awoke around 2:30 A. M. November 22. For some unexplainable reason I started thinking about the seemingly never-ending development. All the land lost to more malls and housing. Well, within one hour I had the chorus. I started thinking about all the ramifications of growth. What does it really do to the environment regarding us and creatures supported by it? I thought about the effect of a new strip mall / expansion from a creatures point of view? I never really stopped thinking about it until about 6:00 A.M. when I had had enough tossing and got up. While shaving the tune popped into my head. It was a tune I made up when reading to my grandchildren. . Now more ideas came instantly. It was happening so fast I realized I had better go write this stuff down now. Thank goodness I did! After writing down the chorus the rest just flowed from the pen. All remaining verses were written within 30 minutes . As luck would have it two of the five cords I know fit the tune in my head. Now I played the cords and sang it for the first time. I was amazed how good it sounded and how wonderful the words talked. Well, I was possessed by the song. THE SONG as I refer to it. Called it A NEW STRIP MALL/A SONG OF AWARENESS. I decided to take this as far as it wanted to go! I was along for the ride!

About one year ago I met a woman at a friends birthday party. She is the VP of talent at Universal Music [ she signs new talent]. Well of course she came to mind. I asked our friends if they would ask her to listen to my song? She said OK! Our friends said she was taken by the unusual circumstances of how the song came about. Early December I went to Universal Music with my guitar to play it for her. There I was explaining that I was not a guitar player or song writer but this song came to me and I felt there was something to it. I was a bit nervous but what the heck either she liked it or not! SHE LIKED IT ! Said I couldn’t play the guitar very well but she liked the song, She asked if I wanted to make a demo? I said of course! She immediately called a friend who owns a recording studio and asked if he would work with me to make a demo. Ned is his name. He agreed and we met January 6, 2006. Ned is a producer, arranger, songwriter, musician, and most importantly a wonderful human being. Ned put on his best face and met with the guy how hears songs in the night! Well I played it for him and did a better job. He liked it too! In fact he liked the tune and the words.

On January 13, I went to the studio to make a recording of me with the guitar. There I was with this song that wanted to be heard. I did it in one take-should know it I wrote it. I was feeling pretty hot listening to myself in the control room [ when I listen to that recording now it is rather rough]. Thank goodness nobody said it. On January 18 we hired three musicians recommended by Ned. They listened to my track of Jan 13 twice then went into the studio. They recorded the music track in two takes. Wow, I could not believe how good it sounded. In addition to the base, drums, and lead guitar we had Ned on keyboard. I lived with the music track for five days working on how to sing the song. It is a lot different with the music than just my guitar. On Jan 23 I was ready. I was surprised how well it went.. The next week we had two backup singers do a backup track. They sound like the Andrew Sisters to me. I just loved it as it gave the sound more body. On Jan 30 the tracks were mixed. Sent it to Universal Feb 8, 2006.

After finishing "New Strip Mall", Ned and I continued to stay in touch. Ned started asking me when I was going to write another song. I told him that Strip Mall came exactly as I had said, in the middle of the night with no conscious effort on my part. Ned said thathe thought I had talent and should consider writing more songs. I really dismissed Ned's comments as nothing more than kind words from a kind person.

On March4, 2006, for some reason, I thought about Ned's remarks and took his advice. I wrote"Oh MY Son". On March 6, I wrote "Big Old Tree". On April 27, while visiting my daughter in Idaho, the magic came again and would continue. April 27, I wrote "Pioneers of '96", May 1, "Seven Little Angels", May 4, "Medicate Yourself with Music", May 6, "War Baby", May 19 "So Much Love", May 23, "No Reverse". As of August 25, I have written four more songs, for a total of 16.

Point of interest: The song "Hey, What's New", written May 6 is about honoring Veterans of WWII. I first sang it May 7th to my father-in-law, who is a WWII vet. After singing it to him, he said, "Do you know what day this is?" I replied,"Sunday?". He said, "Yes, of course, but it is also the 61st anniversary of VE DAY (The unconditional surrender of all German forces). He fought in the Battle of the Bulge, in Germany. I found it very eerie that this song would be heard for the first time on that day.

To this day, I still find it hard to believe what is happening. I hope it never strikes midnight!

~ Tim Myers