Striking a chord

Since August 2007, country music singer and motivational speaker Michael Peterson has served as the national spokesman for The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund, which provides college money for children of military personnel killed on duty since Sept. 11, 2001.

In addition to creating public-service announcements on behalf of the campaign, Peterson has donated to the fund $5 from each sale of his "It's Who We Are," DVD.

The recipient of the 2008 Bob Hope "Spirit Of Hope" award presented by the USO and the U.S. Army, Peterson is now in production of a new single, "You Could Hear a Pin Drop," which will appear on an upcoming album bearing the same name. The album also will benefit the Legacy Scholarship Fund. Release dates will be announced in future Legion publications.
Peterson recently spoke with Dispatch Editor Steve Brooks.

Q: Talk about the new album and how it differs from "It's Who We Are."

A: The "It's Who We Are" project is primarily a DVD project that has two short documentaries: the first being on what is The American Legion, and the second on what is The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund. It has a couple of 60-second PSAs, and then it has a music video incorporating the song "It's Who We Are." We've just had so many requests from people over the past two years saying, "It's great that we have a DVD, (but) I want to listen to a CD in my car or truck on the way home or whatever. When are you going to just put out some music?" And so, that's what this project is. It is a collection of my favorite inspirational and patriotic songs we've created over the past few years.

Q: What is it that really stands out to you on this album?

A: One is the song version of "It's Who We Are." You'll be able to have the DVD if you want, but if you just want to have the CD to play in your car, you've got it here now. You'll always have the musical version of what has become a very requested lyric. At the 2007 American Legion National Convention, I shared at a number of places a poem called "The Road Les Traveled," which is a play on words around (my) Grandpa Lester. So "The Road Les Traveled" would be the road that my grandpa traveled. We were just bombarded with requests for that lyric from Legionnaires who said it just moved them so deeply. So we decided to create a piece of music for it, and originally it was going to be the title track for this CD because so many people requested it, and we thought they'd enjoy it as a song.

Last, but not least, about six weeks ago, "You Could Hear a Pin Drop," was born. It was born out of an article I read on the Internet about how Condoleezza Rice was meeting with British Parliament, and some person in the British Parliament asked Rice if the war in Iraq was just another example of Bush and America' designs on imperialism, at which point, Condoleezza Rice responded by saying, "The only land that America has ever asked in its defense of others' freedom was enough to bury our dead." And then the article said, "You could hear a pin drop." I thought, "Wow, what a fantastic song idea." And so, we wrote this song, and it turned out in such an incredible way.

Q: That song has some impressive contributors, correct?

A: The cast of people supporting it musically turned out just extraordinary. Tony Smith, who has worked almost 10 years with famous record producer David Foster, created this track. He did all of the soundtrack for the movie, "The Bodyguard." He did all the programming on that. You're going to hear the orchestra and Tony's arrangement on this song. And the lead singer for Chicago, Jason Scheff, has agreed to sing on this record with me and do a duet version as well. With all the excitement around that, we thought it would be really appropriate to title the album, "You Could Hear a Pin Drop." When you think about the extraordinary Americans who served in World War II and Korea who are passing at an alarming rate, this song really speaks to that generation and what it was that they endured and overcame.

Q: How did the collaboration with Tony and Jason come about?

A: Tony Smith is an old friend of mine from the music business, and about three months ago we came together on another project. The work he did on this other project was so exciting to me that when we went to create the soundtrack for "You Could Hear a Pin Drop," I asked him, on one, knee, "Please do the arrangement for this." He was so excited to do it, and he's such a patriotic guy, he said, "No question."

Jason is a newer friend of mine, and he lives in Nashville now. When he heard the song, the song so moved him, and I think he was moved by the purpose behind it: to help raise awareness and funds to support children whose parents gave their lives in service to our country.

Q: "It's Who We Are" obviously struck a chord. One of the reasons you got into this project was to let people know what's going on with The American Legion and the Legacy Scholarship Fund. How does it feel to know that's been accomplished?

A: How do you describe a smile if you've never seen one? It's hard to find words sometimes for the deep emotion I feel, the joy I feel, around the privilege of being able to serve with The American Legion for the betterment of our nation. When people hear "You Could Hear a Pin Drop," the reaction is overwhelmingly the same. People are very excited to hear a new piece of music that touches their sense of patriotism and their authentic commitment to a strong America. It's been awhile since we had something new that really touches that chord. I'm getting from people that they're just very glad to have a new piece of music that authentically touches their experience. That just feels really good to me. It feels purposeful.

Q: Describe your experience with "My Real Life Tour-TAG! You're It" " in 2008.

A: We ended up doing 65 high-school and middle-school assemblies to over 70,000 high-school and middle-school students in 10 weeks. Everywhere we went, we were supported by American Legion volunteers who played a significant role in impacting high-school and middle-school students, and their parents, by supporting the assembly program. If people would like the My Real Life Tour to come to their city and impact their schools, they can get a hold of us through mpmovingpeople@yahoo.com. Or you can call Ret. Col. Jill Chambers at (615) 337-6006.

Q: Is another tour planned?

A: We are in negotiations right now with the Army for serving the Nashville battalion with a couple of weeks in the fall. We have pending dates in the Salt Lake area, pending dates in the Plant City, Fla., area, and pending dates in Harrisonburg, Va.

www.tagyoureitonline.com
www.myspace.com/michaelpetersoninfo

The American Legion Dispatch