It's time to Send it Out 

Politics, Whistleblowers, Gun violence, Hatred, Racism, Spirituality, Peace and Suicide Prevention meet the uplifting power of Gospel Music

Send it Out was released September 26th, 2016, ten days after the release of Oliver Stone’s “Snowden”, on September 16th. Predictably, many US citizens had turned their attention back to fear, anger, hatred, gun violence, police shootings and brutality, and a polarized US election. Songsmith Larry Pegg brought these serious issues all together in an uplifting new song that makes the surprising connection between the abuse of power, surveillance, losing hope and finding a way through to a better world.

Musicians

Ross Murray - Durms

Stuart Watkins - Bass

Fred Guignion - Electric Guitars

Steven Patterson - Saxophone (courtesy of www.souljazzorchestra.com)

Edmund Eagan - Keyboards, synthesizers, effects

Larry Pegg - Acoustic Guitar - Vocals

The Spirit of New Orleans - Gospel Choir

Jan Randolph, Chandra Grayson, Wanda Joseph, Lucian Randolph, Alfred Caston

Production & Engineering

Edmund Eagan

Production and arrangement consultant

Scott Jacoby EUSONIA Studios - New York City

Mastering 

Emily Lazar - The Lodge - New York City


From the suicide loss of Nobel-Prize winner Ernest Hemingway to John Nash’s paranoia, portrayed by Russell Crowe in the movie “A Beautiful Mind”, there is no doubt that fear of surveillance can have devastating results. Enter Edward Snowden. Yes! We ARE being watched! And in the final scene of Laura Poitras Academy Award winning documentary “Citizenfour”, reporter Glenn Greenwald shows Snowden a notepad. On it is written “1.2 million”. He explains that this is the number of individuals under direct surveillance/special scrutiny. That was in 2013. What is that number now?

Suicide Prevention Week in the USA was the week of September 5-11, 2016, and in the fray of hundreds of awareness and fund-raising events taking place across the country, the songwriter, and forever grieving father, sent out new music, a song entitled Send it Out, inspired, of all things, by the Edward Snowden story. 

Although Snowden doesn’t instantly bring the word “suicide” to mind, Pegg has made that connection, shedding some light on a dark subject and turning it into an uplifting message and musical experience that celebrates what he thinks Snowden is aspiring to…a better, more open, more democratic and ultimately safer world. Pegg is hoping that some positivity for real change, can make the future worth living for. 

While many people doubt Snowden is a patriot, and some even hate him, Pegg believes that he is a very committed American who is not only patriotic, but acting for the interests of citizens of the world, reflecting and defining the interwoven questions of humanity, humility, peace, sustainability, and the planet itself. Most importantly, he thinks Snowden shows us the courage to live through hard times with both conviction and doubt. 

Send it Out begins with tension, with the idea that the state is watching, that there is no escape from THEM. But it then calls us to examine ourselves, to exorcize our own demons that might be adding to hate-based violence and hopelessness. Ultimately it’s a call to rise-up and support positive human aspirations and he’s imploring us to “Send it Out” to people who need help and that need reasons to live. “Yes, the world is in trouble in many, many ways, but beneath this sinister world of public surveillance and espionage, oligarchs, authoritarians and untrustworthy politicians, we must understand our own capacity to affect the world positively or negatively. We need to remind people that there really are reasons for positivity and hope,” says Pegg. 

Pegg released "Send it Out" on the Friday September 9th for the debut of the Oliver Stone film “Snowden” at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). This was also the day before World Suicide Prevention Day (#WSPD), held annually on September 10th. #WSPD was the same day as his first album, released in 2013, a year after his cathartic experience in a Gospel church in New Orleans.

Determined to have "Send it Out" ready, on September 7th, the song went into the hands of renowned mastering wizard Emily Lazar in New York City at The Lodge. Emily put the final and critical polish to the sound that Pegg and his skilled producers have been working on since December 2014.

The production work was done in Canada by award winning producer Edmund Eagan, with help from Grammy Award winning Scott Jacoby. Alfred Caston, and the Spirit of New Orleans Choir helped with the very powerful Gospel arrangement, and the Canada-based musicians Ross Murray (drums), Stuart Watkins, (bass), Fred Guignion, (guitars), Steve Patterson, (saxophone), Edmund Eagan, (Keyboards and Continuum) provided great performances.

Pegg says, “This is an emotional subject for me, especially because it relates personally to Suicide Prevention and my goal of helping people in distress. My musical supporters are not only putting their talent and passion into this important work, they are all contributing to the moment. We all care and we’re all playing a small part in trying to make a better world.”

Pegg’s choice of a gospel choir was one that bridges from the darkness into the light. “No matter how beaten, no matter how lost, the power of music and the power of Gospel is so compelling,” says Pegg. He believes that he has come full circle, back to this inspirational moment in that gospel church in New Orleans.

Pegg continues on to say "Thank you Edward. The world needs so much inspiration, and right now, the USA needs it in heaps. I think you’ve brought us all hope, and I hope this song will inspire us all to never give up and to make progress in every path we take and choice we make.” 
 
The song is 100% Cancon and is available free on Pegg’s website. www.LPGroove.ca

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