From Beth Ellis, mother of 2016 Handmade Songs Participant Eric Ellis:
“I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for inspiring my son, Eric, to make and record music! He entered the Handmade Song competition twice and although he never won, he learned so much from the process. I do not know if he ever would have written and recorded his own music if this competition had not given him the idea that he could. During the last couple of years, he discovered that his greatest passion is to create music with other people. As I was dropping him off at college, he told me that one of his favorite memories from high school was jamming on the e-Town stage with other high school musicians at the end of the 2015 show. During Eric’s senior year, he wanted to branch out from the music that his “indie-rock” band (Vuja Day) played, so he started a nine member ska band and they played at the Boulder Creek Festival. The kids arranged the music and practiced in my basement, so I was privileged to hear their growth (as musicians and otherwise) during the six months that they played together. It’s been a little too quiet around here lately!
One of the things that Eric did before he left for college was make a better recording of the first Handmade Song that he and Galen wrote. Eric learned to set up a DAW on his computer and the two boys recorded all of the parts (piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, vocals). While it’s far from perfect, they were thrilled with the outcome the first time they played it back. (Here’s a link.) When I compare this to the original recording that they made for eTown in one take with a looped bass, I’m stunned to realize how much they have grown. They also spent their final days of summer vacation recording their favorite songs from Vuja Day and Ska Tissue and they presented me with an “album” of their music. Now that Eric’s studying engineering at CSU, he’s already started putting together the next ska band – the journey continues.
I figure you hear a lot of gratitude from the people who win the competition, but I just wanted you to know that your work has a huge, positive impact on the kids who don’t win as well. Thanks for putting together the Handmade Song program and thanks for all that you do to promote and encourage musicians in our community!”