Sometimes, story ideas are borrowed.
So, before anything else is said here, Bob Boilen of National Public Radio's All Songs Considered is the reason for this story.
Last month, the host and creator of the show released Your Song Changed My Life (William Morrow, $25.99), a book in which Boilen talked with 35 musicians about what tune inspired them to begin their musical journeys.
Each conversation starts with a simple question: What song changed your life? Not, what's your favorite song or what song do you listen to the most. But what unforgettable song changed your life?
It's a question that's so deceptively straightforward and obvious, but open to millions of answers.
Boilen asked the question of musicians ranging from Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney to Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. But what if the question -- what song changed your life -- was asked of Arkansas musicians?
Here are the answers to that very question from 13 state musicians.
BIG PIPH
"Between Me, You and Liberation" by Common
"[This song] caused me to re-evaluate my love for others. Each verse in the song is about a different individual who once played a part in his life who found 'freedom' in a different way. Although I believed myself to be open-minded and a good listener at the time of hearing this song, his verses laced with CeeLo Green's hook and pulsating drums made me further realize how deep an individual's story can go. From the first listen onward, I wanted to understand people's chapters better and not just their synopses."
Big Piph is a Little Rock-based hip-hop artist and self-described "community builder" who performs at White Water Tavern in Little Rock on May 27 with his band Tomorrow Maybe.
RODNEY BLOCK
"It Never Entered My Mind" by Miles Davis
"From the very beginning of my musical career dating back to the sixth grade, Miles Davis was the trumpet player I adopted as the standard, and the one musician I wanted to emulate. There was this perfection, sophistication and coolness that stood out about him. I played the trumpet throughout junior high, high school and college. ... In 1997, I went through a really rough patch (as we all encounter at some point in life). ... Around my birthday of that same year, my friend Amanda Martinez gave me a CD of Miles Davis' ballads. I never heard this one particular tune before by Miles -- me, the champion of everything Miles. ... 'It Never Entered My Mind' was the tune that changed my life. From the opening piano intro to Miles' pure tone, it spoke to the sadness I was feeling inside, but it gave me hope, too, that things would get better. I listened to that CD every night before I went to sleep for six months. Things gradually got better. ... Even today, years later, if I feel sad or apprehensive at whatever the situation, I listen to 'It Never Entered My Mind' and I'm immediately better and hopeful about this life."
Rodney Block is a Little Rock trumpeter who released his fourth smooth jazz album, Hey You! in 2015.
SONNY BURGESS
"We Wanna Boogie" and "Red Headed Woman" by Sonny Burgess
"[Those songs] really put us in the business and if [we had not] recorded on Sun Records we would be unknown in Europe ... where we have been able to tour and keep going all these years. We play these two songs at every show. Even [though] we recorded other songs at Sun, these two are the best now."
Sonny Burgess of Newport is the leader of Sonny Burgess & the Legendary Pacers, who are members of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
BOBBY CRAFFORD
"Short Squashed Texan" by The Pacers
"We recorded 'Short Squashed Texan' in 1965 before the Texas vs. Arkansas football game and we still do it at shows in Arkansas. [We] recorded in Little Rock the morning of the game and then we took tapes to radio stations and ask that if Arkansas won to please play [the song], which they did."
Bobby Crafford is the longtime drummer of The Pacers, which formed in 1955 and still performs at venues across the country and in Europe.
ADAM FAUCETT
"NYC Ghosts & Flowers" by Sonic Youth
"The first time I saw Sonic Youth, they played their entire NYC Ghosts & Flowers record in front of thousands of bored Pearl Jam fans. In particular, the [title track] was so beautiful, so dark and so loud that it woke me up and I realized that that was the type of alienation I wanted to spend the rest of my life in. That song, that performance in Memphis killed any doubts or any Plan B to what I wanted to do. It's been war ever since."
Little Rock singer-songwriter Adam Faucett plays music that is a blend of folk, blues and rock 'n' roll. His 2014 release, Blind Water Finds Blind Water, was named a top album of that year by American Songwriter magazine.
DANNY GRACE
"Heart of Darkness" by Pere Ubu
"How did it change my life? Well, in several ways. First, I guess I was introduced to a sound that I had never heard before. All the voices in the band -- instrumental and human -- demonstrated a departure from and transformation of most of the music I had been exposed to up to the fall of 1977. This was something new. Beginning with the driving instrumental overture announcing David Thomas' tensely focused vocal, adding the darkly imagistic lyrics ('Maybe sanctuary is an electric light'), 'Heart of Darkness' is a harbinger of much of the music to come. ... I feel 'Heart of Darkness' and all that came after has given me permission and for that I am forever grateful."
Danny Grace is a professor of theater arts at Hendrix College in Conway and the head of psycho-Western garage rockers The Frontier Circus, who play White Water Tavern on May 26 with Austin, Texas, cow-punk outfit the Hickoids.
TRAVIS McELROY
"Alright" by Pussy Galore
"In high school, I would skip school and go to the record store. My friend Dave and I would take chances on buying records from bands that we knew zero information about. I remember picking [Right Now!] up and taking it home to my room to listen. Sitting on the floor in my bedroom, I remember thinking that I didn't understand one thing that I was listening to. I was confused because I didn't know whether I absolutely hated the song or absolutely loved it. It was like nothing I had listened to before. It was the most beautiful noise I had ever heard. So the year 1987 changed my whole concept of what music should be and what I previously liked. It opened avenues of genres that I had never previously explored."
Travis McElroy is the founder of Little Rock-based Thick Syrup Records.
BONNIE MONTGOMERY
"Your Cheatin' Heart" by Hank Williams
"There are thousands of songs that have changed my life, some of them in their timing as the soundtrack to moments and life events, others in the sheer genius of their instrumentation and arrangement, and others with the stories they tell and spirit they provoke. The first songs that did this for me were songs I heard, like we all do throughout childhood, by happenstance.
"The grand finale of our family's Christmas Eve sing-along around the piano was always 'Your Cheatin' Heart,' played on the piano out of a pink Hank Williams song book. My mother would play a thunderous descending bass line while we hollered at the top of our lungs. This finale tradition was going on as far back as I can remember.
"It wasn't until I was 11 that I asked to sing it while caroling with friends and was informed that it was not, in fact, a Christmas song. I'm so grateful to have learned one of the golden standards of American song by rote, with the voices of my family. Although it was a huge radio hit, 'Your Cheatin' Heart' was a song I learned through a tradition passed down to me by family. I can still hear that chorus in my memory, sung by my grandfather and punctuated by the claps of his weather-worn hands. Nothing in my life changed upon my first sing-through of this Hank Williams song, but that is what songs do -- they change lives by giving us roots and binding us together in this life and beyond."
Bonnie Montgomery is an Arkansas-born and -bred musician known for her classic country mixed with Ozark folk music.
JUSTIN MOORE
"Honky Tonk Man" by Dwight Yoakam
"I would say the song that changed my life would be 'Honky Tonk Man' by Dwight Yoakam. The first time I heard that song I was probably 5 years old, and it changed my life in the sense that it made me fall in love with country music, which is instrumental in my life and my career and it's super important to me and my world. It's not maybe the type of song that usually changes somebody's life but for me it helped me fall in love with country music."
Originally from Poyen, Justin Moore recorded the No. 1 country songs "If Heaven Wasn't So Far Away" and "Lettin' the Night Roll."
JEREMY 'SKULLCRUSHER' PARTIN
"Shock Me" by KISS
"KISS' Love Gun was the first album I ever bought, and I immediately gravitated toward Ace Frehley and his song 'Shock Me.' Even at the tender age of 10, I realized that the guitar solo on this song was a work of genius. A few months later they released Alive II, and 'Shock Me' was the song that Ace did his extended live guitar solo on. I would put on my headphones and escape. KISS was the band that introduced me to rock 'n' roll, and 'Shock Me' started the dream. If it wasn't for this song, I'd probably have a desk job at an insurance company."
Jeremy "Skullcrusher" Partin is the bassist and vocalist for Vore, a Fayetteville death metal band.
SEANFRESH
"Running Back to You" by Commissioned
"From the first time that I heard 'Running Back to You' by Commissioned, my life was changed. That song exposed me to something that I had never seen before: vulnerability. But it was not just vulnerability, it was vulnerability from a black man. You see, my father was an uncompromising man [at the time]. I had never seen my father cry or witnessed him say, 'I'm sorry.' I knew my father loved me, but that song depicted the integrity of love. I wanted to be everything that that song conveyed. Vulnerable. Bold. Redeemed. When I pursued my music career, I seek to personify all of those elements in my songs. #MyMommaStillWantMeToSingGospel #JesusLoveR&BSingers."
SeanFresh is a Little Rock R&B singer whose newest work is titled The Teshuvah Project I: FreshSeason.
CHRISTOPHER 'C.T.' TERRY
"I Love It Loud" by KISS
"I know it's not Bowie, Springsteen or Dylan, but this song has been the score for two profound moments in my life.
"The first one happened in the ninth grade in early 1990. ... My mom was basically making me go to this Wednesday night teen thing at our church that had the smallest teen group in history. I hated it but at least I was out of the house. So this one particular week I was grounded, but this time my mom had grounded me from listening to music, the one thing I loved. The Wednesday of that week I asked her to drop me off at church 10 minutes early. It was dark, and I was alone in the parking lot of the church. As if I had a joint or something bad, I ran to the woods and pulled a small Walkman out of my pants from under my shirt. I put the headphones on, and the one song was 'I Love It Loud' by KISS. The heavy drums kicked in, and the vocal chanting began. ... I remember loving it more than I ever had.
"[The second one was when] our local friend, hero and heavy metal legend TC Edwards had just been murdered [in December 2014], and we were all very sad, and angry and seeking justice. A huge group of TC's friends planned a march from Pizza D's and made a huge circle passing his house. ... Just as the walk began I pulled out a small jam box, turned the volume all the way up, pushed play and held it in the air, John Cusack Say Anything style. ... Just like the ninth grade all over again, those same heavy drums kicked in. It kind of woke everyone up from the sadness and sharpened our wits and anger as to why we were all doing this.
"Never underestimate the power of a song."
Christopher "C.T." Terry is the vocalist for North Little Rock doom metal outfit Rwake.
PAGE TOWNSLEY
"Veteran of the Psychic Wars" by Blue Oyster Cult
"Back in 1982, I bought the soundtrack to the animated film Heavy Metal. On that soundtrack was a synth-heavy dirge by Blue Oyster Cult called 'Veteran of the Psychic Wars.' This was not a song about girls, parties or rocking. This song had sci-fi lyrics about warriors weary from years of psychic battles and for an introverted 12-year-old kid into Marvel Comics and Dungeons & Dragons, it was the coolest song ever written! I used to listen to it nonstop; it took me to another world. It was my first influence in regards to using lyrics and mood to create imagery with music."
Page Townsley is the guitarist and vocalist for Fayetteville-based death metal trio Vore.
What song changed your life? Tell us why in 100 words or less and send email to Shea Stewart at sstewart@arkansasonline.com. Please include a daytime telephone number.
Style on 05/15/2016