Singing with the "Kinship" Band

Last May, Grant sang with a band, the Nashville Tribute Band.  The group in our area has named themselves, “Kinship.”  Anyway, Grant was asked to perform again for a concert in November.  At one of the first practices, the group asked him if 1-2 of his girls would like to sing a song entitled, “Somewhere There’s A Mountain.”  He asked me about it and I said that I would really love for all of our girls to have this amazing opportunity.  He talked to the group and they were fine with it.  So we worked with the girls and taught them the song.  Then they attended the practices out at the barn.

The only thing that I didn’t     like was that they rehearsed in a barn that normally holds horses, which I happen to be very allergic to.  However, they were nice enough to make the girls practices super short and I took lots of allergy meds and  such before I went.  So it all worked out.

The girls had fun hanging out at the dress rehearsal—eating pizza, playing games, watching some of the other songs, etc.

Grant sang 3 solos with the band and also some backup on a few different songs.  His three solos were:  1) “Just for Me” was from the point of view of a missionary that wanted to get a witness that he was suppose to go.   2) "I Knew I Could Not Deny It," was from the point of view of Joseph Smith talking about his vision in the sacred grove.  3) "Today Is the Day," which is about someone who is feeling excited about sharing his testimony of the truth with others.  He did great on all three. 

The girls even had the chance to join in on the encore song, “Work.”  They danced around and sang “Work! Work!” on the chorus, with all the singers and band.

Sariah also had a special speaking part before the girls’ song… “It’s night almost and tomorrow we leave for… somewhere.  I will hide the two things I love—my kitten’s plate and my little dog.  Someday I shall come back and find you again…  Annie E.”  After she got her part, she came up to me and said, “Mommy, I feel sad for this little girl because I don’t think she really got to go back for her things and that is sad.”  What a sweetheart!  She made me emotional every time she said her part because of her sweet empathy for this little girl.

The song the girls sang was from the viewpoint of some little pioneer girls who were about to leave to go west.  Here it is…

“Somewhere There’s A Mountain”

Tierra, Karina, and Aurora- “Somewhere there’s a mountain, It must be far away,

Cause I stand on my tiptoes, and I can’t see a thing.”

Riana and Sariah- “Somewhere there’s a mountain, I heard the prophet say,

That we’ll build a home there, and never have to go away.”

All- “And it’s a long, long way to walk, but one day I’ll climb to the top.”

Riana and Sariah, with echo from Tierra, Karina, and Aurora-

“Somewhere there’s a mountain, with flowers in the spring,

 I will take my shoes off, and wade the mountain stream.”

All- “And it’s a long, long way to walk, but one day I’ll climb to the top.”

Violin Solo- by Carie W. (She did a beautiful job!)

Riana and Sariah- “And it’s a long, long way to walk, but one day I’ll climb to the top.”

Tierra, Karina, and Aurora- “And that’s where I’ll find Jesus, and when I see Him smile,

I’ll put my arms around Him, it will be worth every mile.”

All- “Somewhere there’s a mountain… somewhere there’s a mountain.”

In the two performances, they all did a wonderful job!  I think the band members all fell in love with them.  They all looked so proud of the girls, when they were performing, and afterwards told them what an awesome job they did.  (In fact, the Sunday before the performances Ric- the drummer, and a total tough guy, announced the upcoming performances to our ward and said they should all come and see him.  Then he said, getting a bit choked up, “but if you don’t come to see me, you have to come see the -------- girls.”  It was so adorable!)

It was so fun to see all 5 of our girls (all but Callie) up on that stage, with the band behind them, singing, each of them with their own microphones.  Aurora could barely even reach the microphone.  She would stand on her tiptoes (which happens to be a line in the song, “I stand on my tiptoes”) part of the time, just to sing into it—so cute!!  And she knew every single word.  I couldn’t believe that none of them looked scared at all!  They were pros!!  And the audience loved them!!  They cheered so loud for them and we had several sweet comments afterwards.  We were told that “they stole the show!”  So sweet!  We were so thankful that they were given this amazing opportunity to help develop their talents.