This is a song about questions. It’s a song about family and about history.

“Promised Country” is loosely based on the poorly-remembered story I was told about how my great-grandmother, Gussie, came to this country. It had an emotional impact, of course, but the details, like so many of the details of my family’s history, are fuzzy. Unfortunately, my great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother are no longer alive to corroborate, so we’re left with something like a legend. Which is ok: legends make for interesting songwriting.

This song was written while at a writing retreat under the inspirational influence of Nerissa Nields. Very little changed from the first draft to the final version, except of course that Tracie and Stephanie each added their own special brand of awesome. (I sometimes think it needs a bridge, or something, to give it a little more shazam, but nothing’s come to me yet.)

Give Promised Country a listen, won’t you?