Songwriting for recovery through "Come Back Kid" // Intercultural Microgrant Guest Blog
The following guest blog is from 2024 Intercultural Microgrant recipient Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum, in partnership with Hickory Hills Recovery. They received support through our Artist-led Projects Generating Economic Impact in Eastern KY fund. Learn more about this project at kyrux.org/microgrants/2024 and connect with the team at bluegrasshall.org.
“There is definitely something special about writing a song to express your feelings, but also to help someone else be able to do that and to see the excitement in their eyes as they create art.”
A letter from Randy Lanham & the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum
My name is Randy Lanham and I am the Education Director at the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, KY. We were thrilled to receive this microgrant to be able to work with the Culture of Recovery program in Hindman, KY.
On Saturday January 18th, there were three songwriters that traveled to Hindman, KY: Wayne Morris, Joe Christain, and myself. We got to do a short tour of the Appalachian Artisan Center and learn about the Culture of Recovery program with the arts, and building instruments.
We got to Hickory Hills Recovery Center at 1pm that day and played live music for all 60 of the residents. We had several of the residents that actually play guitar to sit in with us and sing some of their own songs. It was more of a jam than a concert and a great big sing along as we took requests and played classic songs that they knew. I knew that when we got there, the men would want to get to know us a little better before writing a song and asking them to be vulnerable about their feelings. I have learned that after doing our Veterans songwriting programs here in Owensboro, KY.
After the jam, we asked that anyone who wanted to join us to write a song to stay after. We were pleasantly surprised to have 11 men join us. For the next 2.5 hours, we all came together as friends to write a song. There were no preconceived ideas, as we asked them what they wanted to write about. I thought that maybe they might not be in a mood to write about their situation as they live that 24/7 in that very facility. The first thing we heard was an older gentleman say “let's write a comeback song”, and all agreed. They wanted to write about overcoming their setbacks!
For two and a half hours, they wrote this song and we helped them shape it. The one’s there that played guitar started with strumming a few chords and we started with one line and a melody. Ideas, lyrics, chords, strumming, singing, all came together in harmony as they poured out their hearts into this song, as if they could tell people their story to help them understand in a different way.
As a songwriter and leader of many programs, I loved being able to help them express how they felt and then listen to them sing it with all of their might. It did not matter if anyone there was a good singer, player, or writer, we were one unit just having fun but also had something to say.
We asked permission to film some of the songwriting progress so the video you see is the last time we went through the song for the day. You will also see some of the men give a few words of expression on video about their experience.
We also recorded the song with a full band, guitar, bass, fiddle, mandolin, lead and harmony vocals. The men wanted to hear their song record with a bluegrass band so we did. Both the video and recorded song were sent to them a few days ago.
Not only did the men at Hickory Hills Recovery have a great experience, but us three songwriters did too. There is definitely something special about writing a song to express your feelings, but also to help someone else be able to do that and to see the excitement in their eyes as they create art.
Below is the YouTube video with the guys singing the song and some testimonies.
— Randy Lanham
Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum
randy@bluegrassmuseum.org
270-314-0008
“Come Back Kid” was written by Brian Owens, Travis Keeling, Layne Tackett, Joe Phelps Jr, Nic Phinney, Brandon Derickson, Richard Webb, Wade Brian, Matthew Lynch, Josh Howell, Travis Himes, Wayne Morris, Joe Christian, and Randy Lanham. Recorded on January 18, 2025, at Hickory Hills Recovery Center in Hindman, KY. Thanks in part to a microgrant from the Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange.
The Kentucky Intercultural Microgrant Program is a seed grant to support two or more individuals or organizations collaborating across distance, difference, or sector on projects that celebrate and connect Kentucky's people and places.
Launched with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, Fund for the Arts, the Monument Workshop at UK, the Josh May Memorial Fund, and individual donors, the 2024 Microgrant Program invests in a series of seed grants (awards from $250-2000) to support short-term projects that foster dialogue, connection, or collaboration among Kentuckians from disparate backgrounds, identities, or experiences. Projects that involve diverse partners and invite the public to participate are preferred.