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► Listen on AMAZON/SPOTIFY/APPLE music: ► Get the SHEET MUSIC (now includes CHORD symbols): ► Get our NEWEST ALBUM “10“ here: ► Learn about our beliefs here: FPV Drone Pilot: Blastr Follow Blastr on Instagram: @_blastr More videos by Blastr: Story behind the music video: [Steven #, the cellist, here] So as you might have guessed, we haven’t been touring lately. It’s safe to say that Covid has thrown us for a “loop.” In nothing short of a miracle, last year, before the pandemic showed up, we had determined as a group to take our first break from touring in 10 years and focus on family during 2020. It might have been the first time our plans actually matched up with our reality. We love performing. Touring can be grueling. I dread the inevitable tour-induced insomnia. During a recent tour I was determined to make something of my sleeplessness. My friend Devin, who works in an international ancestry research company, inspired me to dig into my family history. With his help, I found a slew of stories -- profound stories of my great great grandfathers and grandmothers and how they overcame an impossible past to make our family’s future possible. In my insomnia, during many late nights on tour, I summarized and rewrote these incredible accounts in first person addressed to my children, so that I could read them as our bedtime stories. That way, my children’s heroes would be their ancestors -- their own kin. The lesson we could learn together was this: If THEY could do hard things then WE can do hard things too. Resilience is inheritable. What does this have to do with this video? Everything. In this music video, we sped through an eerily empty natural history museum and a public library -- something we could only do during Covid. Why? To prove the same point and send the same message asserted in these bedtime stories. We have grand places like these that you see in this video all throughout our world. They are monuments to human resilience. They house exhibits and shelve books upon books of biographical buoyancy. They showcase hard-earned scientific scenes that serve as the shoulders upon which we stand today -- evidence written into the very fabric of our earth’s crust of how hard things are what we do. We’re built for them. We’re made for them. And all those that have gone before cry out to us -- wanting to mean something to someone. To be someone to us. Someone to You. It’s not as much about WHAT is in our past, but WHO is in our past. Our ancestors stand ennobled by their own grit and perseverance earned through things much harder than what we face, not only to inform our future, but also to endow us with much needed strength for whatever is ahead. They’ve earned our respect, gratitude and our commitment to overcome. “When our hearts turn to our ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves.” -Russell M. Nelson If you’ve read this far into the description, you are truly resilient! :-) Post a comment about someone in your family history that you admire. If you want to find out more about your own family history, try this link (it’s where I started). (this video is not sponsored by this website or its company, we only provide it in an attempt to be helpful) Credits Someone to You written by Michael Joseph Nelson as performed by Banners Arrangement written by Al van der Beek & Steven Sharp Nelson Performed by Jon Schmidt: Piano Steven Sharp Nelson: Acoustic & electric cello, piano, cello percussion Al van der Beek: Percussion, piano, vocal textures Recorded, mixed and mastered by Al van der Beek at TPG Studios in Utah Video Produced, filmed & edited by Paul Anderson & Shaye Scott Production manager: Craig Knudsen Production team and piano moving: Frank Nelson & Jeremy Crawford Behind the Scenes: Sean Pullan Special thanks to the noble curators of our history -- the people who made this video possible: Jason Cryan, Abby Curran, and Beth Mitchell with the The Natural History Museum of Utah, located on the campus of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City Website: Facebook: Instagram: The Salt Lake City Public Library. The Main Library, along with its seven neighborhood branches, proudly serves our community, where over 86% of residents have Library cards. Website: Instagram: Special thanks to Elizabeth King and Courtney Stahl
