by SWS | Dec 5, 2014 | Uncategorized
I have been affiliated with SongwritingWith:Soldiers for about 2 years now and have had the opportunity to be present both on the participant side and volunteer side. Believe it or not, both instances have provided and continue to provide a sense of healing...
by Mary Judd, Co-founder and Board Member | Sep 23, 2014 | Uncategorized
Imagine being a child and saying goodbye to your parent who is going off to war. Or being a parent, and saying goodbye to your family before you head off to combat…not knowing when, or if, you will make it home. When SW:S was asked to hold a retreat specifically for...
by SWS | Jul 30, 2014 | Uncategorized
What would happen if you put 15 soldiers and 4 professional songwriters in a retreat center for 2 1/2 days, and asked them to write songs together, with the sole purpose of getting the veterans to open up and talk about their time in the service? So the...
by Mary Judd, Co-founder and Board Member | Jun 15, 2014 | Uncategorized
“That is exactly what I felt after this weekend, open, with light shining through armor. I’m hoping to see more veterans share their light; to break out of the box as one participant phrased it. The songs bring a complicated voice to the invisible soldier,...
by Mary Judd, Co-founder and Board Member | May 9, 2014 | Uncategorized
“Chasing meaning is better for your health than avoiding discomfort.” – Kelly McGonigal “I never leave my house…” No matter how many times we hear these words from veterans arriving at our SongwritingWith:Soldiers retreats, it is always a jolt. We...
by Mary Judd, Co-founder and Board Member | Mar 22, 2014 | Uncategorized
SongwritingWith:Soldiers was deeply honored to be invited to the Bob Woodruff Foundation’s special event at the Hay Adams Hotel in Washington, DC. Not only were we able to thank our BWF friends in person for their guidance and support, we were also able to help them...
by Mary Judd, Co-founder and Board Member | Feb 19, 2014 | Uncategorized
These words were said to me earlier today when I asked Peter, one of our SW:S Veterans from Albany, NY, how he felt listening to the songs he had written. “I still feel more release, even now. We need more of this for veterans,” he said quietly. Peter is a Vietnam...
by Mary Judd, Co-founder and Board Member | Jan 30, 2014 | Uncategorized
So, what do you see when you look at this photo? A bunch of men eating lunch, right? Maybe co-workers at a picnic, a ball team after a game? They are US Veterans from various wars sitting around the table with professional songwriters from Austin, Nashville and LA....
by Mary Judd, Co-founder and Board Member | Jan 16, 2014 | Uncategorized
“It should be written on every door A thing of beauty is not a thing to ignore” Lyrics from the song, “Thing of Beauty” by Hothouse Flowers hit me hard the other day. ““Look out your window on a winter’s morning Your breath is steam and there’s...
by SWS | Dec 31, 2013 | Uncategorized
“I am standing here today because of SongwritingWith:Soldiers.” Sgt. Nikki Shaw shared these moving words as she introduced Half-Horse Town at our September fundraiser, a song she co-wrote at a retreat with Darden Smith and Radney Foster. We...
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