In an earlier post, I talked about writing and recording both versions of The Promised Land. I wanted to do a black gospel choir arrangement for the background vocals. Most people who know me know that I play music primarily by ear. I can read music, but I’m not very good at it. Practically all of the other songs that I have recorded are arrangements that existed only in my head prior to the sessions or were developed during the recording process. For this recording, I felt the a little more planning was in order.
I wrote the song The Promised Land to sing during the memorial service at a church homecoming. The church I grew up in has a homecoming celebration every year on the second Sunday in June. Most of the people that go to this church are related to my mother. The same goes for the people that come to the homecoming celebration every year. For several years, I had been asked to sing special music immediately after the memorial section of the service. I usually tried to sing something that fit the tone of the memorial. I wrote this song probably about a year after my mother had past away. I wanted to try and write something special for her. As I approached writing the song, I thought about a lady in the congregation we called Aunt Erin who had written something special for homecoming. She read it as the memorial service every year when I was younger. I thought about how poetic her writing was and wished that I could set that to music. I never tried very hard to find her memorial service. I’m not sure but her memorial service could have died with her. I hope not.
