A couple years ago, JD Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy came out, quickly became a best seller, and naturally many of my longtime Hillbilly Culture Club members took an interest in reading it.
One of my Songpreneurs students and now signed writer to our Hillbilly Gold (ASCAP) music publishing company, Pete Garfinkel devoured Vance's Elegy, frequently bringing song ideas to write with me based on the book's themes.
As a hillbilly writer, I was only too happy to oblige.
We wrote an entire collection of songs in this way, all related to themes common in hillbilly culture, Vance's family and mine including: overcoming addiction, family dynamics, Appalachia culture specifics and hillbillyology, and the underlying themes of self discovery and resilience.
Pete and I stepped back to look at our collection of songs and decided to take the project into the recording studio to dress up the tunes and make them presentable.
Right now we're in the process of mixing and mastering the first single release from the Hillbilly Collection, but the title is still a secret as of today.
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Looking forward to seeing the Hillbilly Elegy movie when it comes out later this year. Ron Howard aka Opie Taylor's production company Imagine Entertainment has been filming the movie for the past year or so on location in Macon, Georgia among other places, and Hillbilly Elegy is due out on Netflix later in 2020.
It will be fun to release the Hillbilly Collection along with the movie.
Here's a little sample of one of the Collection songs "I Am Saved" -
Love & Light,
Amanda
PS - the link for the Hillbilly Elegy book takes you to my Amazon Affiliates shop. If you purchase there, I will earn a few pennies commission. Thanks!
