Veterans Empowered Together and the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum recently wrapped up the second annual Camp Enlisted, a three-day program that pairs veterans with songwriters to create original music.
The first two days focus on writing, while the third is a performance for family and friends. Organizers also host monthly songwriting sessions throughout the year, but the July camp is the main event.
“It is very much therapy, but none of us are therapists,” said organizer Randy Lanham. “It started because Brian Basham approached me about it because he said when he got out of the army, playing guitar and songwriting was his therapy. I’ve since learned that being able to express yourself through song has lots of healing powers.”
Lanham said many veterans arrive hesitant, shy, and quiet.
“After we are done, many will say, ‘I really did not think we would be able to do this, I had my doubts,’” he said. “But it does not take long for the walls to start coming down, and they start opening up, not because we ask, but because they want to talk.”
He said the shift often happens when veterans first hear their stories in a simple melody accompanied by guitar.
“It’s like magic, like a switch has been turned on, and a big smile or sometimes a tear lets us know that they are now with us, present, fully engaged, and do not feel like they are a patient in a therapy room, but that they are part of a small team that just wants to help with their God given talents,” Lanham said.
During this year’s camp, Lanham and Basham worked with a Gulf War veteran and his wife. The veteran initially said, “I’m not ready for this and don’t think I can do it.” Lanham reassured him that the song didn’t have to be personal.
The veteran’s wife brought a binder filled with letters they had exchanged during his service. That collection became the foundation for their song, which told a “love story in letters.”
Lanham said the songwriting process is meant to be organic.
“We don’t have any preconceived ideas or direction we want to go; we just let it happen,” he said. “And we have to remember to leave our artistic obsessions behind. … These songs are to make the veteran happy, give them a gift of thanks. We are not trying to write a radio hit song that someone will record and make a million dollars.”
The couple eventually agreed to perform the song during the final-night concert.
“He said, ‘I don’t even sing in the shower,’” Lanham said. “At the end of the day, it’s not about how good you are, but how good it feels to sing or play an instrument.”
The performance, Lanham said, was powerful because it was authentic.
“Everyone listening cried,” he said. “It was raw and real, and that’s what moved people.”
Lanham said the camp fosters an atmosphere of “love, support, grieving, happiness, brotherhood and sisterhood.” One veteran summed up the impact by saying, “I feel like this has been a release, a weight off of me, to say in song words I can’t hardly speak.”
Lanham hopes others are inspired to take action in their own ways.
“Just do it,” he said. “Start small and easy, don’t worry if it does not work out like you thought it would. … Whoever it is that makes this world a better place, adds a little more light and chases away the darkness, just do it.”
