“I am a Man of Constant Sorrow”

One of my favorites from “O Brother Where Art Thou?”, this is a cover of a great folk song by Dick Burnett that I performed with Homeward Bound at an outdoor worship service in the Good Samaritan UMC amphitheater this past summer. With (L-R) Josh Carlin on drums, Nate Carlin on bass, Emma Hutson on percussion and backing vocals, Steve Kumagai on harp and mandolin, and Scott Card on guitar.

“Boys… we’re in a tight spot!…” Hope you enjoy it!

All music reprinted/podcast/streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-710821 & CCS License #12712. All rights reserved.

“A Ride Back Home” by John Mellencamp (cover)

I had been looking to perform this lovely but somber song in church for months, but its themes of aging, loss, despair, and even suicide made it difficult to fit in. Fortunately, Christian Nielsen was preaching on his use of music therapy in hospice and other end-of-life settings one Sunday, and I finally had an opportunity to share it.

With Emma Hutson covering the crucial harmony vocal (originally done by Karen Fairchild from Little Big Town), Josh Carlin on drums, and Christian Nielsen on lead guitar. Thank you guys; great job ❤️

Therapeutic group singing of Taize songs for persons with dementia (PWDs) and their family caregivers (FCGs)

Brief presentation and demonstration of the use of therapeutic group singing of Taize songs, which are simple, chantlike songs that are flowing and can often lead to a deeply relaxed, meditative state. The goal here is to improve spirituality and feelings of wellbeing in this population through an approach that essentially combines music and prayer. The presentation includes a live demonstration of three such songs, and indicates how they might be used with this or other populations.

Review of “Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers” by Anne Lamott

This is a brief review of a great book by well-known spiritual author Anne Lamott, highlighting its connection to music therapy theory and practice. Its simple approach to prayer (that all prayers boil down to one of these three basic concepts) offers a great way to build a spiritual practice, and one that’s particularly well suited to working with persons with dementia and their family caregivers.

Brad Carlin on Medium | Therapeutic Songwriting for Persons with Dementia (PWDs) and their Family Caregivers (FCGs)

In compositional music therapy, the music therapist (MT) helps the client write songs, lyrics, or instrumental works that lead to a musical product, such as a written copy or recording of the song. The MT often handles the more technical parts of the process, and engages the client at an appropriate level (words, music). Goals of such work often include expressing thoughts and feelings, as well as developing decision-making skills.

Read the Full Article Here: https://brad-carlin.medium.com/brad-carlin-therapeutic-songwriting-for-persons-with-dementia-pwds-and-their-family-caregivers-f8caf7694721

Brad Carlin and Homeward Bound Perform “River”

This song was written and made famous by Leon Bridges, a talented young soul singer from Fort Worth, Texas.  While the song dates to 2015, its original video strongly reflects many themes of the current Black Lives Matter movement, and so was strongly prescient in this sense.  The song’s lyrics describe baptismal and other redemption themes through their religious references and water images.

This socially distanced version was recorded in Fall 2020 by Homeward Bound:

Brad Carlin, tambourine and lead vocal
Josh Carlin, drums
Steve Kumagai, electric guitar and vocals
Heather Succio, organ and vocals
Susan Thompson, acoustic guitar and vocals

Christian Nielsen, recording engineer and video production

Original Post: https://brad-carlin.medium.com/brad-carlin-and-homeward-bound-river-15fcbe7b07bc

Stuck in the Middle With You (Studio Version)

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s been so hard for musicians to get together and play.  However, many bands and other performing groups have gotten by with programs like Acapella, which enable combining multiple video tracks into a single video for online posting.  Such platforms are also great for making demo videos for bands to build upon.

Here is such a video of me performing all the parts on “Stuck in the Middle With You”, by Gerry Rafferty.  The famous line, “clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right” inspired me to “cast” the two backup singers as the Clown and the Joker, respectively.  It was also fun to add a surprise trombone solo at the end as well.

Brad Carlin:  drum programming, piano, organ, trombone, and both lead and backing vocals.

New Original Composition: “Hello!” by Brad Carlin

This is a “hello song” composed for music therapy master’s program at Augsburg University. It’s dedicated to the folks living in the memory care program where my mom used to live, and where I have the privilege of playing once a week (pre-COVID). In the middle of the song, I name each resident and say one thing I love about them. I miss them all so much, and hope this video will give them a smile & let them know I’m still thinking about them.