In a serendipitous turn of events, we released the video for our new single, Shelter, heading right into a huge winter storm that is basically seeing a large part of the country shut down. Due to this, our show on Sunday at 1810 Ojeman will be postponed to a later date.
Shelter is a cover of a Lone Justice song from their album entitled Shelter. We chose this cover because we’re at a point where we all need to be the shelter for folks who are being harassed and attacked in our country. We need to show up for the immigrants, the LGBTQIA+ community, the poor, the mentally ill, etc. We need to look out for one another and try to make the world a better place and a community led by empathy rather than the hate we’re currently being led by. If you’re in a position to have a voice, no matter how minute, use that position to speak truth to power.
While we would normally shy away from using someone else’s music in a “political” way, we’ve been long time followers of Lone Justice’s vocalist, Maria McKee, who is the writer of this song and we have seen that these values are held by her, as well. Hopefully she won’t find offense in our cover nor the message we hope it conveys. Though, we would argue basic decency, showing respect to your community members and accepting folks on their merits, not their sexuality, gender, heritage, melanin level, etc should not be a “political” stance, but the status quo.
We’re especially grateful that two of the most talented singers we know, Mel Torres and Jewelz Melody, lent us their voices for this song. Their performances put a smile on our faces that didn’t leave for a week…and still revisit every time we hear the song.
FYI: The cover photo is a shot I took years back at a protest in downtown Houston. We blurred the people to protect their identities, but left their messages loud and clear!