On an August summer night in 2006, a young homeless female named Tara Cole was sleeping on a wharf at Riverfront Park in Nashville, Tennessee, when two men stepped out of the shadows and rolled her into the Cumberland River. Witnesses tried, but were unable to rescue her.
Tara's body was found ten days later when the city, after several nights of ongoing vigil and much prodding from local advocates, finally moved an entertainment barge. According to media sources, city and police officials later blamed the owner of the barge for the nearly two weeks it took to search for her body, even though it is common knowledge and practice that police power and priority trumps private property rights at a suspected crime scene. The leader of a Nashville volunteer K9 Search & Rescue Unit wrote a letter to the Vice Mayor stating she had notified her supervisor she was "95% certain" Tara Cole's body was under the barge and that the barge was not moved until several days after her notification. She was later removed from her position for writing this letter; in fact, for being a conscientious whistleblower; authorities of course, deny this was the reason.
Ballad of Tara Cole based on the tragic story of Tara Cole, a homeless Nashville, Tennessee citizen who was deliberately murdered for the 'crime' of being poor.
Believe in Love based on First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 13.
Some Soldiers Return for the family of LCDR Michael Scott Speicher, whose plane went down January 17th, 1991, the first night of the Operation Desert Storm air war. No part of Lieutenant Speicher’s body has ever been found and he is presumed to have survived the crash and been captured by Iraqi forces. His official status remained KIA-BNR, killed in action—body not recovered, until January 11th, 2001, when it was officially changed to MIA—missing in action. The most liberal and most conservative of families, losing a loved one to war, share a same common loss, cutting deep beyond all ability of words to describe.
Solomon's Song based on recollections of Mother Theresa by Sir Bob Geldof, as detailed in his book Is That It?.
Country Girl Who Was a Princess (Diana's Song) based on the life and example of Diana; Princess of Wales.
Me and My Dad for Thomas Johnson, Sr..."down home on the family farm"; Walker County, Alabama.
Thought it Was a Jet Plane inspired by a Mark Twain story, where he describes how a steamboat seen for the first time coming down the Mississippi River at night, all lighted up spewing fire and smoke, is mistaken for Elijah's chariot. Also inspired by Sam Cooke: "...change is gonna come, oh, yes it is."
Copyright © 2006 by Freedom Tracks Music. All Rights Reserved.
Tired of being told by various and sundry music industry insiders that many of his songs are good in quality but will never be recorded in Nashville due to political and social content, songwriter Richard Aberdeen rounded up some of Nashville’s top musicians and session vocalists and began to record material content that many here in Nashville (and elsewhere) believe should be heard on 21st Century American radio, given the dire straits that members of both major political parties have managed to drag our nation into. So far, four CDs have been released under the generic band title "Nashville Session Players".
Our first effort, Homeless In America (20 tracks +2 free downloads), was released in June of 2005. It contains multi-genre socio-political, serious and satirical issue-oriented material, as well as a few inspirational-type songs; issue addressed include homelessness and poverty, anti-war, congressional corruption, neo-con and religious wrong, healthcare, social security, unjust taxation, human, civil and native rights, gun control, globalization and more. It has received airplay on several thousand radio stations throughout the United States and foreign markets. Some of the tracks have also been used on various television programs and radio talk shows, such as Thom Hartmann’s Air America show, some in documentary films and, the song “Big Mack Donald” was selected for a recent VH-1 “Save The Music” charity CD release. Songs from our other CDs below have also received growing radio airplay and film use as their dates of release allow for.
We released our second CD, entitled Gonna Rise Up (19 tracks + 1 free download), in September of 2006. It was produced by established country music songwriter and artist Razzy Bailey, who has written thirteen number one songs and recorded over fifteen albums. Two of his own new songs are included on this second release and his seasoned country-blues vocals can be heard on four of the tracks. This second multi-genre project is “populist” in slant and centers on the absolute national security necessity of affordable and quality healthcare for everyone within our borders (i.e., disease spreads), which is a growing national concern among U.S. citizens of all political persuasion. Other issues addressed in this new project include congressional corruption, immigration and homeless war veterans and the title song, “Gonna Rise Up”, is a tribute for recent hurricane victims. Most of the tracks on this new project are mid to up-tempo; there are tribute songs for Rosa Parks and Pete Seeger included, as well.
Our third Nashville Session Players CD, American River (19 tracks +1 free download), was released in January of 2007. Unlike our first two CDs, this third multi-genre collection is politically non-partisan and contains mostly inspirational song material. With contributions from several outside writers, it was released as a tribute to Tara Cole, a Nashville homeless woman who was murdered for the 'crime' of being homeless. Severe beatings of homeless people, sometimes leading to murder and, often filmed for both sadistic and profit-motivated reasons, is a most unfortunate, serious growing national problem. Information about the Tara Cole incident can be found Here.
Our fourth Nashville Session Players release, Who Would Jesus Bomb? (20 tracks), was released in September of 2008, as a free downloadable CD. It was 'inspired' by the necessity of responding to the overt lies and covert crass propaganda machine of former presidential adviser Karl Rove and the Junior Bushwacked Administration and, the knee-jerk, inept and ongoing totally corrupt actions of the members of both houses of Congress in Washington D.C. (Samuel Clemens would have a field day). This 20-track multi-genre release, which can be downloaded at no charge from our website, contains both satirical and more serious socio-political material, as well as several inspirational songs. Included are tribute songs for Satchel Page, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesus of Nazareth and the murdered students of 1970's Kent State and Jackson State universities.
Our recordings have been featured in a Joseph Piner homeless documentary film, Uncertain Days: Living Homeless and in several television and film productions. And, our CDs have been used by the National Coalition for the Homeless, New Orleans Common Ground Collective Relief and several other organizations as a fundraising tool. We are open to select organizations using our recordings in this fashion at our cost and they may be used for no charge in approved video, film and television releases. For fundraising opportunities, many free song downloads and more information, please visit our website: www.FreedomTracks.com.