#080: Project D.R.E.W. - Bringing Songwriters And Veterans Together - Brian Ferguson, Marilyn Zeidner, Mike Winnen, Tony McDonagh, J Scott Franklin, & Bill Kraker

What would you say if someone asked you to write a song about your life? A song about you. Your story. Who you are and what defines you. Music’s a powerful influence in our emotions and our feelings.  But usually, it’s another person’s story. Another person’s journey that we identify with. What if the song was your story? What if the song was about your life?

Fran Racioppi travels to Cleveland for Project D.R.E.W; a program bringing Veterans and Songwriters together and named in honor of Captain Drew Ferguson. Fran first sits down with the founders of Project D.R.E.W. Marilyn Zeidner, Drew’s Cousin Mike Winnen and Drew’ s brother Brian Ferguson to discuss Drew’s life, why we should tell our story through music, and how a barn turned music hall is changing the lives of our Veterans.

Fran also brings back Boston Firefighter Tony McDonagh to sit down with their songwriters, J Scott Franklin and Bill Kraker, to share their experience, the process for turning a full song in 24 hours, and what defines each of us in our path from Boston to the Army to civilian life. 

Learn more and get involved with Project D.R.E.W. at projectdrew.org. Listen to our songs throughout this episode and watch the concert and full video version of our conversations on YouTube. 

Read the full episode transcription here and learn more on The Jedburgh Podcast Website. Subscribe to us and follow @jedburghpodcast on all social media. 

Highlights:

-0:00 Welcome to Barnegie Hall

-5:59 Captain Drew Ferguson

-13:20 The power of music and songwriting

-22:13 How Project D.R.E.W. works

-29:30 Attending Project D.R.E.W

-34:16 “I Know a Place” Mike Winnen, Drew Ferguson & Friends

-39:17 The Veteran and Songwriter experience

-47:04 Only 24 hours to write a song

-59:32 “I Press On” Fran Racioppi & Bill Kraker

-1:06:23 “10,000 Holes” Tony McDonagh & J Scott Franklin 

-1:17:00 “First World Problems” Tim Driscoll & Ray Flanagan

-1:21:10 “One Choice” Corey Webeck & Bethany Svoboda

-1:26:28 “The Blur Between The Lights” Alejandro Aguirre & Tim Blake

Quotes: 

-”I’m going to call it Delivering Restorative Energy to our Warriors and name it after your cousin Drew.” (13:03)

-”I think everyone who comes here, they tell the story they’re ready to tell.” (14:50)

-”I view life as these series of chapters…and how do we position ourselves to achieve our goals and our vision in these different chapters?” (17:24)

-”I think it is part of a multi-part solution to getting people to not even heal, but to feel.” (32:26)

-”When you see something that’s this powerful you just got to dive right in and try to be as open and honest as possible.” (45:06)

-”This is the first time that I haven’t written the song about just your military experience.” (49:49)

-“That’s what Marilyn’s trying to do here. Is really get to the root of it and try to understand why we lose soldiers after the war and what as society are we going to do about it.” (58:00)

This episode is brought to you by Jersey Mike’s, 18A Fitness, and Analytix Solutions