A Soulful Laidback Country Chill with a flowing harmonica, encouraging piano and a backbeat that celebrates life!
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I guess the best way to introduce this song is to tell you a little about my childhood.
For much of my early life, my stepfather and I didn't have the easiest relationship. He was a military man—disciplined, demanding, and often harder on me and my sisters than I understood at the time. It wasn't until I became a husband and father myself that I began to appreciate what he was trying to accomplish, even if I might have approached it differently.
One of the greatest gifts he gave me was exposing me to an incredible range of music. He constantly warned me, "Don't get stuck in a rut."
Our home was filled with Frank Sinatra, Hair, Freddy Fender, Charlie Pride, Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty, WattStax, and even the complete Woodstock recording on reel-to-reel. My mother's collection was filled with Shirley Caesar, Dorothy Love Coates, James Cleveland, The Mighty Clouds of Joy and other gospel greats, while I immersed myself in P-Funk, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince, Brothers Johnson, Bar-Kays, Con Funk Shun, Rufus & Chaka Khan... and countless others.
Needless to say, my musical influences became wonderfully diverse.
Back in 2001, my friend Brad Marshall (along with his wife, Dalinda) shared a melody they had been developing. I built a song around it, but life intervened as SounDoctrine's Perseverance project took off, and this song quietly disappeared onto a hard drive.
Nearly three years ago, I rediscovered it.
I rebuilt the arrangement, blended the old recordings with newer production, asked Lisa McDavid to write and sing the vocal, and eventually decided the melody itself could tell the story even better. Jeremy Lucas added a beautiful piano performance, and after Danny Jones suggested adding drums, the song finally became what I'd always hoped it could be.
I was originally going to call it "Full Circle" in honor of my stepfather. Instead, I chose "Flow" because that's exactly what I hear—and because, in many ways, this song exists because one man refused to let me think inside musical boxes.
This release is dedicated to his memory.
I'd love for you to give it a listen, share your thoughts, and tell me: What genre would you call this?
Thanks in advance.
— B