Every song is special, but this latest release might be the most important song I've written. The words and music need to be heard and felt, without interruption or distraction, because this original song is for those in this world who either live it every day or aren't around any longer to tell us about it. I hope you will help me get the word out about "Yesterday's News". Hi everyone. The genesis of this song is rooted in the news, stories, and tragedies that have affected our youth: School shootings, teen suicide, missing persons, and human trafficking. “Yesterday’s News” is about subtraction and loss, the price paid by the victims and survivors, and the cost when we don’t protect those who can’t protect themselves. Please help me spread the word about “Yesterday’s New’s”, release is set for midnight on the 27th and will be available on all digital music platforms🎶. 

Part 1: One of the stories embedded in my mind during the writing of “Yesterday’s News” is about a young woman who had been wounded in a school mass shooting more than 25 years ago when she was a high school student. She miraculously survived but suffered partial paralysis as a result of her wounds. She courageously went on to live her life, becoming an advocate for anti-gun violence. Sadly, she passed away in 2025 due to an infection caused by the bullets that struck her that fateful day in 1999. Her death was ruled a homicide…I had to read that a few times, a homocide. It’s in that moment you realize the victims and their families fight a battle each day, both physical and mental. While some stories become yesterday’s news, the pain is their everyday reality.

Part 2: “How many stones, how many tears, count the faces through the years” -from Yesterday’s News

Another story that weighed on my mind during the writing of Yesterday’s News was that of a father whose daughter was killed during a mass school shooting in 2012. It was inconceivable then, as it is now and always will be, that such a horrible tragedy could befall innocent children at an elementary school. The father turned his grief to action, advocating against school violence and establishing a foundation in his daughter’s name. Seven years later, sadly, he took his own life. In the news that day was a picture of him and other parents at a press conference holding pictures of their lost little ones, that indelible image made a lasting impression on me.
 

Part 3: “Ambers on the wall, they’re waiting for the call, today’s their yesterday, Spring Summer and Fall” -from Yesterday’s News

While Part 1 and 2 of my posts about the stories behind “Yesterday’s News” describe the influence of events in the national news, there are elements of the song that reflect personal experience. One day while standing at the checkout line of a grocery store, I happened to look over at the wall of pictures of missing persons. To me it seemed the entire wall was lined with missing people, many of them kids, their names, when they were last seen, what they may look like now. I thought “someone out there knows that missing person”, still searching, still hoping, waiting…still…for the phone to ring to tell them their loved one was safe and found. And yet, most people at the store that day walked past these faces without noticing. I could hear the metaphorical ringing of the Amber Alert on my phone. Missing is a scary word, especially when it comes to our youth.