July Reflection -

Summer time, live it up!!

Stephanie

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Soul Purpose Music Video...

SOLIDIER'S COMING HOME

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Steph & Chesley Knox meets Mike Holmes in Listowel, ON

Holme's "Biggest Little Fan!"

SONG REVIEW: By Jim Hagarty
Editor / The Stratford Gazette
Stratford, Ontario , Canada

If you haven't had a good cry in a while, you might want to take a listen to a new song written by a Canadian singer/songwriter about the death of a young American soldier in Iraq and how that loss is felt by his family.

Stephanie Martin-Smith takes the listener through the sorrow of the young man's father, mother and young children as they watch his casket being taken from a plane upon his arrival back in the U.S. What they wouldn't give to put their arms around him one more time...

Martin-Smith's raw, simple lyrics make no judgment about war, only about loss, about grieving, about the pain of permanent separation. There is an imagining at the close of the song about the soldier comforting his loved ones, but that assurance doesn't take away any of the raw emotion expressed throughout the song. This is a neatly written piece that all comes together full circle at the end, a favourite technique of this writer.

The singer's voice is passionate, almost pleading with fate to turn back the clock. The musical accompaniment is simple ­ a piano, a cymbal, light guitar. The beat is a slow march, as if...

Every parent's worst nightmare is to outlive their child, every child's greatest fear is to be deprived prematurely of a parent. Both these awful realities are brought to life in Soldier's Comin' Home. A mother of four boys, Martin-Smith obviously had little trouble in imagining the devastation of losing a son.

There is power in music ­ to enlighten, to amuse, to elevate spirits. At its best, it can also heal. Martin-Smith's song goes a long way down that road simply by encouraging the listener to experience a reality of no one's choosing. In shared sorrow, sometimes there is comfort.

And even if no part of this song causes a catch in your throat, it will no doubt bring you to hesitate and think, which is what remembrance is all about.

MUSIC ~ MUSIC ~ MUSIC
	The new full length CD titled Believe with 10 great songs written by Stephanie and 2 bonus tracks by Les Smith. read more > read more >

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