Possibly the fluoride in the water; maybe it’s the sunset that breathes words into their hearts; it could be the hymns we all sing growing up.  Whatever the reason, the best songwriters I know all seem to be from the same plateau.  Though I never knew this person while we were both growing up in/around Lubbock, Texas, Kelsey Schneider seemed to be frequenting the same coffee houses and burrito shops I was so fond of.  She found heroes in the same writers I learned to write from, and learned who Jesus was in a church I worked with for a season.

I first heard Kelsey on her YouTube channel and was so inspired by her work, that I closed my computer, without letting her finish, and wrote my first song in over a year, and that’s not the only time she has challenged me out of a writing slump.  I was almost angry at how good she was.  But she has taught me over the couple of years we have been friends to appreciate everyone’s art, and to separate myself from it, while seeing myself in it.

NO  ONE crafts a song like Kelsey Leigh Anne, and NO ONE writes with both quality and quantity like this kid.  I had the honor of playing a tiny bit on her EP, a song called “You Got Away.”

Here are some nice things she has to say about one of my songs:

“When Zach asked me to guest write for his blog I, first of all, was incredibly honored, and, second, was surprised that I selected “Heartbreak Remedy” to write about. I love this song; don’t get me wrong. It is wonderfully crafted, creatively pushing boundaries, and pretty dang catchy. Even so, my selection of this song was puzzling to me. After contemplating, I realized this was the first song of Zach’s that I had heard. It was my introduction into not only the life of this great songwriter, but also the love that he so freely offers to everyone around him.

I am not great with emotions. All right, that is an understatement: I am impoverished in the economy of emotions. Romantic relationships have always been a social formality for me; the thing young adults are “supposed to do”. So, whenever I heard the lyrics for the first time and when I hear them to this day, it is not a ‘romantic heartbreak remedy’ that I connect and empathize with. It is, however, the daily, monthly, yearly heartbreaks the universe sets before us that summon us to grasp and fumble for a remedy.

Maybe you didn’t get that job or promotion you were hoping to get. Maybe you lost a grandparent to cancer or a friend to an unexpected car crash. Maybe you keep having haunting nightmares. Maybe you tripped over your words in an important conversation. Whatever the heartbreak, there is a remedy. It is up to you to find it, and guess what: you will. There are things that hold us back from the remedy. Zach touches on some of them in “Heartbreak Remedy” like fear, bitterness, jealousy, and denial. If we allow these things to set up camp between our current state and our freedom, we will never be able to move beyond the distress. When fear is allowed in, we become idle in our heartbreak; in bitterness, we become isolated; in jealousy, fatigued; and in denial, we simply fool ourselves. Each of these things hinders you from becoming the fullest, most alive human being you can be! Why live in chains when you can run free?

Yes, heartbreaks hurt. Let them hurt. But, after the mourning comes liberation and joy!

Don’t let the heartbreaks you encounter find you without remedy. The heartbreak remedy is right in front of you.”

Kelsey Schneider

Find Kelsey’s music here

listen to “Heartbreak Remedy” or buy VERSES  from Zach Balch on iTunes

Karyna Micaela is smarter than me… and a better writer… and a better singer… and has better musical taste… and I’m okay with all of it.  If ever I had a friend that challenged me to the point of breaking, then continued to challenge me while trying to pull myself back together again, it’s this friend.  This California-sweetheart certainly has a way with words, and takes time to understand mine like no one else.  You would be wise to learn what else she has to say.

http://www.karynamicaela.com/

“If at the end of my days I sat down and opened my life like a book, I’d want it to be the greatest story I’ve ever read. I want it to trump any novel I’ve ever loved, and be filled with more drama, more adventure, more danger, and yes, more romance than any movie I’ve watched dozens of times over. But the princess/prince/white horse sagas never ended up in my list of top favorites. Why? Other than being cliché and generic, they are sorely inaccessible to a mere “peasant” of the 21st century.

What is a modern day fairytale, anyway? Falling in love, having a perfect relationship and living happily ever after? I have two things to say to that: happiness is a choice, and perfection doesn’t exist. Happiness is not something that happens to you, ushered in by a gleaming knight who sweeps you up and kisses your sadness away. Happiness is obtained by appreciating everything you have, rather than dwelling on the things you lack. And perfection? Even if it weren’t as mythical as unicorns, it is awfully boring. Life is – and should be – messy, complicated, painful and confusing. And I’ve found that love worth having is all those things too. What kind of story would your life be if it lacked those qualities? One that your grandkids wouldn’t stick around to listen to.

Every story writes itself

You can’t control everything that happens to you, and you certainly can’t manipulate events and the people around you to form your perfect fairytale. Why would you want that anyway? Why surrender that element of surprise enjoyed by reading one page at a time, letting the story enfold before you, and taking each adventure as it comes your way?

Put your book back on the shelf

Your story is yours and yours alone. Relish it. No one has ever read it before.

The more I struggle, the more it means to me

Without experiencing pain, hardship, heartbreak and sacrifice, the good stuff means less. Nothing worth having is ever easy. The trophy won at the end of a race that almost killed you means a hell of a lot more than one that was handed to you after you strolled through, taking shortcuts.

I’d rather be the fallen hero who learns from his mistakes and shortcomings than the bored and helpless princess who spends years waiting around in a tower to be rescued. Because you know what? No matter how handsome her prince is, he can’t hand her happy ever after on a platter. ”True love’s kiss” is not some picturesque montage followed by a ride off into the sunset as the credits roll. If that’s what you’re waiting for, you’ll be waiting forever.

Love is not a fairytale

But it’s pretty darn great. It’s better than a fairytale. Love is everyday. Love is what happens after the credits roll. In fact, there are no credits. The story keeps going.

Don’t expect perfection. You’d be selling yourself short. Expect better. Embrace the unknown. Fall in love. Risk heartbreak. No matter the outcome, you will live to tell the story and be stronger for it.

Write one with me

There is nothing more beautiful than living your own imperfect story. Love is finding someone who can live theirs with you. Alongside you. As equal partners. Dented armor and all.”

Hear “Every Story” and the rest of VERSES on iTunes here:

Zach Balch on iTunes

Lots of folks have asked about track 12 on VERSES.  Only 27 seconds long, with no lyrical content, and recorded on my iPhone microphone, “Your Hands in My Hands” may be the single most important musical piece on the record.  Maybe it doesn’t speak to you like “Victory Song” or “Take Hold” but to me and my family it represents all the things we grew up wanting to be and honors the ones that have taught us the way we should go so that we do not depart from it when we are older.  It’s difficult to share the purpose behind this bonus track without getting choked up and I’ve tried a hundred times or more to articulate its intention.  So I’ll share a bit from two of the hands that played it, my big sister Whitney:

“They say music is a gift.  In my case, my grandparents gave my siblings, cousins, and me that gift.  Our granddad was the son of a Baptist preacher and our grandmother grew up pounding the ivories.  On Sunday mornings, she could be found behind the church’s baby grand with her best friend across the way on the organ. As we grew in life and in love, our time spent with them very  often involved long sit-downs at the piano working our way through the tattered and worn pew hymnals she practiced with at home and our grandad belting out the words from the kitchen. She would take our little  hands in her wise old hands and mash our skinny fingers to the keys.

On a cold December day in 2003, we received the news that our grandad was waiting his turn to be ushered into heaven.  The family gathered round his frail, tired body and wrapped him in love while we waited. Three days later, and only months away from their 60th wedding anniversary, he slipped away with the love of his life by side.

When asked which was better, the first thirty years or the last, she said “by far and away, the last. It gets better in the end”.

The gift is now being shared with the next generation.  Our granddad was lucky enough to know and adore his first great grandson, with whom he shared his last days. Then, he was a knobby-kneed toddler who brought laughter and joy to the two of them.  At the time of this writing, he is eleven years old and growing up to be a remarkable young man. Our grandmother has had the joy of mashing his little fingers, and now his little sister’s, on the keys too. And the baby grand piano she sat with their mother at now graces the entry of their home.

Music is a gift worth giving.  And, true love never dies.”

Whitney Dove

Check out this link to find “Your Hands in My Hands” and the rest of VERSES on iTunes. 

“I am afraid this might sound like a dumb fan girl, but I just really wanted to thank you for sharing your music with us, the world. I dont think I can ever express how much Victory Song means to me. To every person it can mean something different. Its a wonderful song but to me, it gives me so much hope. On days like these, I turn on my itunes and blast Victory Song on repeat. It makes me feel okay. You know, the first time that you played that song, I remember turning to Meagan and saying, “Wow that song reminds me of my dad.” There was just something about it that reminded me of him. Ever since he passed, or was lost it was the first thing i turned to, no joke. It just almost felt like he was saying that to me. He was telling me not to worry that even though he had a hard time and he went through all those issue (alcoholism) while I was growing up he found Jesus and He now had a victory song. And now that he is gone, that he will be remembered for his better days. that line gets to me every time, Zach. Its helps remind me that is what i need to remember. And that Jesus loves him.. that no matter what He loves Him.I know this seems crazy but your song just reassures me so much. If we ever do have a service for him, Victory Song is seriously a song I want to play because I really feel like it summarizes what he would say. And so I just wanted to thank you for that. Feel encouraged that your music is touching people. even when it gets tough, dont stop. There are many of us that believe in you and are moved by your words. Continue to let God use you in such an awesome way. And know that if ever in anyway I can help, you have a friend in me. ”

Instead, I was reminded through meditation this morning of the few folks I encountered in Denton that have changed me, the way I see things, the way I think, and the way I hope for my future. Here’s a short list of folks I’d like to thank:

Banter Bistro
Every artists at the Banter Open Mic!
Jake Laughlin
Bone Doggie
Kelsey Schneider (fellow Lubbock transplant)
Hailey’s Bar (yes, I’m siding with them- they returned my emails)
C2
DentonRadio.com
Luci Acevedo
Megan Lee
Jenn Lynn Myers
RYAN FREAKING POOL
Storied Productions
ArtSix
Kyle and Annie Tilton

There are others, of course, that I love and appreciate. But these are the folks that make me want to write better songs and not be a jerk anymore. Thank you all for your support of the not-so-popular musicians in town. You didn’t buy into the Denton mentality of I’ll-support-local-but-only-if-it’s-a-popular-band-and-people-notice-me-for-it. You have genuinely supported because you see and hear things in song that relate to your life. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your transparency.