Amplifying Lives

“This profoundly changed my life and I can’t put my finger on exactly what it was. I guess maybe just knowing that I could express myself in a way that’s musical, or you know, just taking that layer of sludge off the top…and that just wears it...

Winner Again

Tyler Magerkurth, West Point Class of 2010 Graduate, Division 1 College Tennis Varsity Letter Winner, High School State Champion, social club leader, and my son, came back from his US Army deployment in Afghanistan in 2013, a changed man. Why? Why would one of the...

Encore!

On August 1, 2019, many of our songwriters gathered on stage at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium to sing “I Am a Soldier,” a song written at one of the first SongwritingWith:Soldiers retreats. The song was one of 18 performed at a concert filmed...

Gaining Strength from our Peers

At retreats, past participants join the team as peer support to welcome new SW:S participants to their first retreat and after, into our community. These peers let them know that they were once there as a first-time participant as well and they understand. Going back...

Sparking Connections

“I don’t think these pieces are lost on those who haven’t served in the military… Writing and expressing these things has a whole lot more to do with getting through things, using good tools that are there. Expressing is so helpful.”-...

Finding Strength In Shared Experiences

As a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer with a long history with SW:S, Rick Loomis had always dreamed of bringing together a group of fellow photojournalists who had served alongside veterans. Those men and women who embedded themselves with soldiers, sharing the...

A Note from a SW:S Songwriter

This is a picture taken at a recent SW:S retreat. I had just written with a father who carried so much pain. My job was to collaborate with him and get that pain down on paper so he could get it out of his body and be able to look at it from a distance. Something...

Back To The Future

Celebrating 10 years of serving veterans had to be a momentous occasion! So, in October 2022, SongwritingWith:Soldiers headed back to the site that started it all – Cedarbrake Retreat Center in Belton, TX. Celebrating 10 years of service around the country, with...

Community Support

“Just wanted to let you and the team know that one of the participants from the retreat, Jeff Dawson, was injured in combat about four weeks ago. He is currently at Walter Reed recovering and his wife Trish is by his side, along with other family members. He is...