As we prepare to honor women everywhere on Mother’s Day 2017 Sunday, May 14, a beautiful new ballad of eternal love titled “Never Let Me Go” has been released as a single and video to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Greater Fort Worth.

“Never Let Me Go” is the first single from “Hope,” the companion album promoting the 2017 “Race for the Cure” fundraiser for the 501c(3) non-profit foundation’s Fort Worth chapter on April 22.

Singer/songwriter/guitarist and Grammy-winning producer Gary McGrath wrote and recorded “Never Let Me Go” for “Hope,” which he compiled and has just released on his independent 4818 Records label, headquartered at his 4818 Studios in Fort Worth.

Both single and album are now available to download from iTunes, Amazon, Yahoo Music, Spotify and other digital music outlets. All proceeds will go back to help fund the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s mission – to find a cure for breast cancer.

The album also features songs by Danny Wright, Elizabeth Wills, the Dorothy Shaw Bell Choir, and the Texas State Men and Boys Choir, of which McGrath serves as executive director and producer.

McGrath, who accompanies his heartfelt vocals with acoustic guitars on “Never Let Me Go,” gets tastefully understated accompaniment from bassist Eric Delegated, percussionist Luis Conte and accordion player Phil Parlapiano.

All three musicians are present or past members of The McGrath Project, the contemporary classic rock band McGrath leads that earned a gold record for their 2010 album “Love is a Four Letter Word.”

McGrath also produced a companion video for “Never Let Me Go,” and posted it on YouTube the day before the “Race for the Cure” event. The video amassed thousands of views just in its first weekend online.

Directed, shot and edited by Dustin Meyer for Motion Fire Media and Dustin Meyer Photography, the video intercuts footage of McGrath singing and playing acoustic guitar with footage of model Gabriella Bryan. She appears pensive, alone with her thoughts and feelings; the viewer gets the impression she misses someone very much and is lost in precious memories.

The “Never Let Me Go” chorus is a simple expression of eternal love:

“Listen to the wind whisper
It sounds like a nightingale
Listen to the words that speak of love and you beside me
Hold me in your arms and never let me go.”

“That was me singing about the love of my life, who will soon become my wife, and about the little things she does that make me, or would make anybody, just swoon,” McGrath said. “Simple things, like how she welcomes the day, the way she sips her morning coffee. When you’re in love, you love everything your significant other is and does.”

While McGrath wrote “Never Let Me Go” to reflect love’s romantic side, the song takes on a deeper meaning in the context of the “Hope” collection, and in the visual subtext of the song’s video.

“This song is really for all the significant others who just want to let the cancer-fighters in their lives know they’re right there fighting with them, and will never let them go,” he said. “We should cherish the ones we love while they’re still with us, and never give up hope.”

McGrath said two of his friends’ wives have been fighting breast cancer, and both women have been survivors.

“But when I asked both guys how they’ve been holding up, taking care of their kids and their wives, too, both told me how much their wives’ bravery inspired them,” he said. “It just made them fall back in love all over again, so now every memory they share and everything they do is so much more precious.”

‘Hope’ Uplifting for Cancer Fighters and Families

The “Hope” CD has many such uplifting moments, lyrically and musically, that resonate with cancer fighters, especially on Mother’s Day 2017.

“These are all songs men could sing to their wives or sisters or mothers or girlfriends who are fighting cancer, to show their support,” McGrath said.

How the “Hope” album project developed so organically, and quickly, reflects the enthusiasm the artists have for aiding the Komen Foundation’s fight to eliminate breast cancer.

He was producing an album with famed pianist Danny Wright at 4818 Studios when the Susan G. Komen Foundation of Greater Fort Worth asked Wright to compose a song for them.

“Danny wrote an anthem titled ‘Hope,’ and when the Foundation leaders heard it, they asked if we could make an entire CD of songs with hope as a theme, as part of their annual fundraiser,” McGrath said. “We got right to work and put it together in about a week.”

Wright contributed “Hope” and three more new songs he’d already recorded for his next solo album (“It’s All Wright,” “Send In the Clowns” and “Eternal Love”) as well as “What I Did For Love,” a track from his multi-million-selling “Black & White” series.

“Elizabeth Wills is a friend of Danny’s who came in to sing with him on a song for his album (“It’s All Wright”),” McGrath said. “She was phenomenal, so I asked her if she had anything she’d like to contribute to ‘Hope.’ She donated two amazing original songs —  “The Light is Coming” and “Love Hear My Voice.”

In addition to serving as executive director of the Texas State Men and Boys Choir, McGrath and another youth group, the Dorothy Shaw Bell Choir, record for McGrath’s 4818 Records label.

He brought in two songs from each choir – the classical “Ubi Caritas” and the Donovan “Colours” variation “Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair” from the former, and “Concerto” and “America on Parade” from the latter. Then McGrath contributed a pair of his own songs, “Never Let Me Go” and “Sunsets in Santa Monica,” to complete the 12-track “Hope” album.

As to the early reception of “Never Let Me Go,” McGrath admits he was caught by surprise.

“I am so glad it’s has been so well-received and so many people are sharing it,” he said. “It’s a message everyone and their mother can love this Mother’s Day.”

For more information about the Komen Foundation of Greater Fort Worth, click here. Find out more about Gary McGrath and The McGrath Project at the band’s website and Facebook page.

Media Contacts:
Gary McGrath
(818) 312-8546

Deborah Buffington
Associate Director
The Texas State Men & Boys Choir
www.texasstatemenandboyschoir.org

Grammy-nominated producer, veteran journalist, PR consultant and website producer Stephen K. Peeples posts music-related stories and interviews at https://stephenkpeeples.com. RIP Joan R. Sullivan-Peeples.

Article: Ballad of Eternal Love Brings ‘Hope’ for Mother’s Day 2017
Category: News & Reviews
Author: Stephen K. Peeples
Article Source: StephenKPeeples.com

Ballad of Eternal Love Brings ‘Hope’ for Mother’s Day 2017