JOHNDWILLIS

“Faith” was in the making for about two years. I remember casually telling my kids about this idea/concept while rummaging around the kitchen for something to eat. My thought was to write a song about a strong woman named Faith using spiritual connotations to bring this character to life. I began by writing down all of the spiritual metaphors about faith; grain of mustard, moving mountains (Matt. 17:20), and substance of things hoped for….. I wrote a first draft on a chorus lyric. The next writing session I had with my daughter (Alexa Meadows) we began working on the chorus melody. I remember when I heard the first two lines of, “A Little Bit Of Faith” come out of her mouth I instantly got chills (I still have it on tape today)! We continued to shape the melody. I was so happy it was exceeding my expectations. We spent the full session working on the chorus melody. We came away with cool, soulful 6/8 rhythm. We knew from the beginning the song was screaming for a Hammond organ which it hasn’t found yet.

I met a gentleman at a Jason Blume workshop. He pitched  a song called, “Stetson,” an insane piece of work. I was blown away! I chatted with Paul after the workshop. We exchanged info. Long story short, we set up a writing session. I knew from the moment that we scheduled a time I wanted “Faith” to be the centerpiece of that session.

Thankfully, Paul liked the concept and we ran with it. We began constructing the verses. The idea slightly shifted to a man who left Faith and realized the error of his ways and now was on a road to redemption.

The session went fantastic. We left with the bones of a really cool song. Over the next year we did several rewrites, strengthening the song.

Paul was kind enough to lend his amazing vocals on the song. He sang his face off, in my opinion. We have a piano/vocal demo with Alexa singing background vocals. I am very pleased with the outcome. I would love to have a full demo track in the future.