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I welcomed Connecticut balladeer Shawn Taylor to WSHU’s Studio A to discuss the project he is spearheading to create a compilation album with a focus on hope, healing and positive vibrations in the wake of the horrific murders one year ago (on Dec. 14) of 20 school children and six teachers and administrators at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT. Shawn has a direct connection to the tragedy — his wife is a second grade teacher at Sandy Hook and was with her class in her classroom that was located near the school’s entrance through which the murderer shot his way in. Miraculously, she and her class were unscathed during the shooting. Shawn embraced that good fortune, saying “Our family was given a second chance and we intend to make it count.”
To that end, Shawn designed the idea for a “Songs of Hope” album and the response from fellow folksingers has been overwhelming. The compilation is now in the final stages and has grown into a double-disc album. He offered Profiles listeners a sneak preview of some of the tracks and also performed some of his own music during a later discussion of his own blossoming career. WSHU’s Jeremy Hewitt engineered this live segment of Profiles. For more on the compilation, go to www.sandyhooksongsforhope.org. For more on Shawn Taylor, go to www.shawntaylortunes.com The show’s second hour observes the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on this day in 1963.
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