8 Songs That Helped Me Write "My Brother's Keeper."

 Music in some form has influenced me my whole life.  When writing my first book, it wasn't any different. It started out with me listening to random songs but quickly realizing that some of these songs inspired me to write. They put me in the right mood to create the next section of the story.

I collected these songs on my YouTube playlist. I am going to share them with you here with a few notes as to when these songs helped me in the story and why.

#1 Leo Bridges- River (Live on Austin City Limits). I first heard this story on "The Voice" and knew I had to look it up. The fact that the song talks about "a river"(which plays a big part in my book) also has an old-time church feeling of making a commitment to be a better person no matter how bad you might have been in the past. This feeds right into my message of acceptance and connecting with that better part of yourself and the creator. I liked to listen to this song throughout the writing process to remind me that I am committed to being better and doing better by my fellow man.

#2 Marian Anderson- Deep River. This may seem like an odd choice because Marian Anderson was an opera singer professionally, but she also sang a lot of spiritual songs too. I found this song after randomly watching an interview with Nina Simone. I ended up buying an entire CD with Marian Anderson singing several old spirituals, but I still think this one is my favorite. I really felt this one while writing the parts where Okla was struggling to understand what was really happening to him and the people that cared about him.

#3 Ricky Skaggs- Missing Vassar. This one is pure bluegrass! It is such a happy song that I had to include it for my listening pleasure either to write or to just lift my spirits. I had discovered this song a couple of years ago, and since I clog dance, I can't help but move my feet when listening to it. This was a fun song when the book called for a light-hearted beat for moving along from place to place such as when Newton and Sada were taking part in the Spring Social activities. 

#4 Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder- Road to Spencer. This is also a bluegrass tune, but it has the drum rhythm at the beginning that reminds me of native drums, and a little bit of Irishy tune that speaks of this area's roots. It combines all the bluegrass instruments repeating the main tune over and over in a way that makes you want to get up and dance with your partner. I imagined Newton and Sada, James and Sally having fun to the square dance numbers to this tune.

#5 Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra- Wayfaring Stranger. I first heard this song when I was a kid attending a little Baptist church near where we lived. This song speaks of a stranger to this world just wanting to cross over to the next life because it has just become to much here below. It is a sad sounding song, but also hopeful because of all the people waiting over where this stranger is going. I wanted to quote this song during the scene where Charles first runs into the crowd yelling about a creature in the woods (but of course I couldn't do that for copyright reasons). This is the place that the story will take a turn from what Newton has always thought into what is real. It is hard to pass from childhood to adulthood without sadness for what is lost and left behind. What we need to remember is what is waiting. 

#6 Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra- All My Tears. This is a cover of a song Emelue Harris sang some years ago. I really loved the pureness of this song. Everything that happens to us is just temporary. There is a better day coming. "I will be free." Sometimes we think we are stuck in a situation that will never get better or on that we have no control over, but things do change. They keep moving along. It is really based on what our attitude is about it. Okla had no idea what was in store for him. He thought he had it all planned out until he didn't. He was moving in a direction to accomplish things beyond himself. I played this song a lot at the end because it is a little sad that things will change, but hopefully because it was for the better for them as a whole.

#7 Alison Krauss- Down To The River To Pray. This was definitely the song I wish I could have shared at the end (instead I had to make up my own lyrics). It was a time that Newton was putting all those thoughts of who he really was together and coming to the conclusion that we all do as we grow up, that we have to decide the kind of person we want to be. People can give their opinions, good or bad, but it is us that lives within our skin. It is us that ultimately have to choose for ourselves as we go through life and out into eternity. I didn't give a definite answer at the closing, but I think it left it open for everyone to come to their own conclusions about Newton and themselves.

#8 Lauren Daigle- You Say. This was song was strickly for me. There were so many times that I had to fight through getting the next chapter written. There were so many times that I thought about what was I thinking when I started this. I am not good enough to do this. I would play this song and remember that I am the person I was created to be at this moment. I am not the "sum of [just] the highs and lows." I have to keep pushing; and I did. No one was more relieved when the rough draft was done than me. I knew I had the editing still ahead of me (which thanks to my wonderful friends were much easier). But the hardest part was over, and I would do it all again for the story that came out of it. Yes, it is the first book with some flaws, but I am very proud of how it turned out.

Here is a link to my YouTube playlist if you decide you want to listen to the songs yourself and feel the story right along with me.   Book 1: Newton and Okla

10 Things you should know about “My Brother’s Keeper.”

 

1. The setting is in a fictitious town called Tolivers Pond which is actually based on a town called Grandin MO.

2. The story idea is based on a writing assignment that my daughter was doing for a high school English class.

3. Sada Marsh was a real person that died in 1905 and is buried in Mt. Carmel Cemetery.

4. While many of the last names in the story are familiar to local people, the name Newton Marian Burns is taken from my great-great-grandfather Newton Jasper Burns, and my great grandfather Francis Marian Bounds.

5. The “song verse” at the end of the book was totally made up. Since it is copyright infringement to use someone else's lyrics in a book. I made up my own instead to replace the words to “When I went down to the River to Pray.”

6. Boyer’s Chapel is actually the original name for Mt Carmel Missionary Baptist Church that is still located some eight to ten miles from the real town of Grandin. The church was established in the late 1800’s and is still active. Many of my family members have attended this church over the years (some of us have been excluded from that church too, but that’s another story!).

7. Pastor Adams was named after a pastor I had when I was growing up. Although I assure you the name is the only thing that is like him. Bro. Jerry Adams and his beautiful wife Suzan were a big part of my teenage years, taking me to youth meetings, revivals, and summer church camp. I spent many Sunday afternoons at their house. This is meant to be a small token of appreciation by using his name for one of my characters (sorry Bro. Jerry, he turned out to be nothing like you!).

8. The religious practices of the clan were a combination of Choctaw and Norse (there is a reason here) practices. I had a great deal of fun just making up how they would do things. I wanted it to be primitive and simple, but still symbolic of my Christian faith. We will be exploring this more in book three entitled, “The Birth Right.”

9. The dog, Prince, in the story, was named after a dog my husband had when we got married. We didn’t bring him to live with us, though, because he was more at home on the farm where my husband grew up. He died at a good old age running the field and the woods on his grandparent's farm.

10. The name Boyer comes from my husband’s family. There are still a lot of family members that live in the local area. The name James comes from my father, who was never called that by his own family. Instead, they used his middle name, Lester. James Boyer will show up again (in future generations). Because the two families (the Burns’ and the Boyers’) are tied by a special mission, it is imperative that they work together to help mankind.

Any other questions readers have? Leave them in the comments and the author will try to answer.