Kieron's America 
Volumes 1 and 2

Kieron's Millennium has been repackaged as Kieron's America. Very few of the 
original covers are still available. Please email for availability.

Produced By: Kieron and Cathedral Whispers
Recorded By: E320 Productions
Mastered By: David Vest
Cover Design: Brad Wallace

COMPOSER'S NOTES: 

     Kieron's America is a very special CD set to me. I love this country. I love the ideals and standards for which my country stands. It not only represents the very best of what human beings can accomplish, but IS the best relative to our living together as a collection of beings with common goals and an established common good. Each of us as human beings has a complex inner makeup, capable of the most inspired and awesome ideas, acts of courage and sacrifice, inventions, hard work, and accomplishment. At the same time, we each have access to our darker, more base nature. This is universal. But in this country - this land called America - what we are and what we strive to be - represents the very best of the human heart and condition.

         By far, the majority of my professional career has been spent in service of our country, especially to those who help keep us free and secure. Kieron's America was conceived as a way of expressing the depth of love and gratitude I feel for the blessing of having been born an American citizen - AND - as a direct response to the growing culture of fear and stress that some would have us all believe is our future. I can state with certainty and confidence - that that culture of fear and of pandering to our lower human natures is pure baloney. Our heritage speaks for itself, and our future IS, AND ALWAYS WILL BE, what we choose to make it.

         President Franklin Roosevelt said at one point during the worst days of World War II, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." What an awesome truth! Originally conceived and known as Kieron's Millennium 2000, the Kieron's America CD set represents a turning away from the fear and doom-and-gloom pronouncements of the self-appointed experts and "keepers" of the untruth. Whether talking through their heads about the impending millennium 2K changeover, or constantly reminding us that our way of life has changed forever as a result of 9/11, they forget the most important facts above all - the indomitable American Spirit and our fundamental right to choose our future based on intelligent thought and plain hard work and ingenuity. The melodies and arrangements for the Kieron's America two CD set were carefully selected to evoke a feeling of calmness, certainty, remembrance, heritage, and blessing that is all too often forgotten - yet which is always available to provide a powerful source of steadfastness, courage, and spirit. The music was chosen to gently remind of us of the great strengths of our heritage, common unity, moral foundation, single-minded purpose, and yes, even our collective differences. Notice that I said, moral foundation, not religion. Our country and its ideals were factually founded based on moral principals, even though there are those who would wish to re-write real history by replacing it with something that suits their own individual purposes (deliberately confusing moral principles and the acknowledgment of the existence of a higher being with religion).

         You may be interested in knowing that I was already in the process of revising the cover of the Millennium 2000 CD set to the current Kieron's America covers the summer before 9/11, as the millennium furor and nay-sayers were fast becoming a distant memory. When 9/11 occurred, it only strengthened my conviction that this music CD set was the right mood, the right message, the right answer at the right time, and that an update of the CD covers was appropriate… Fear of the unknown in the form of the changeover to a new millennium (the numbers "2000" seemed to be really scary for some reason) and what it might do to us based on our dependence on modern computer systems was replaced in an instant. Now we were afraid of terrorists who appear to abhor our way of life and everything we believe, everything we have accomplished and represent. Now we were afraid, because they might be lurking about in our neighborhoods and backyards.. These are precisely the kind of things President Roosevelt was talking about, and precisely the truth that applies so very much today. Perhaps it (truth) always will, in the sense that it seems each generation has to be reminded of how precious are the freedoms we have and the ideals which are America - perhaps each generation has to endure some measure of sacrifice and crises to fully understand and appreciate the full depth of what it means to be American and free. My most fervent wish is that the music of Kieron's America may help, in a gentle and easy way, for us all to be reminded again of how precious and imperative the existence of this land called America is upon this earth.

         Musically, Kieron's America, volume 1 was conceived as a small collection that expresses what America is at its core, and as reminder that its very okay to be proud of our heritage, and of where we will go as a country in the future. We the People reminds us all of the ideals, courage and sacrifices that have made this country what it is - a beacon for all humanity. America The Beautiful is a "thanksgiving" and remembrance of the blessings and abundant resources possessed in our lands and in the talents of the American people. Battle Hymn of the Republic (with Dixie segue) reminds us that we are ever evolving - that a little over a hundred years ago this country's people fought a great battle over its future path and principles - a battle that had far greater consequences for far many more years to come than many of those who fought could even dream about. The Stars and Stripes Forever with Disney's When you Wish Upon a Star - a fast march to make the blood course faster through our veins, by one of America's most gifted and beloved composer's encased in the magic of a dream and the eternity of the heavens. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star to remind us all, no matter how old, of the importance of staying in touch with that part of us that is still a child at heart- we need that innocence, that can-do anything I can dream attitude- that unbounded energy and joy of life, and as a reminder that the very real seeds of our future are sown indelibly in our children and the things we teach them to believe in and struggle for. And finally, the symphonic poem, Star Spangled Symphony - perhaps my own personal favorite piece - as a tribute to the first two hundred plus years of our country and to its bright future.

         Volume 2 of Kieron's America was composed and arranged so as to celebrate the strength of our diversity - not only do I not have to be afraid that my neighbor is different then me - his or her speech, worship practices, skin color, birth origin, etc.- but I can relish in the knowledge that that very diversity is what makes us strong as a country. So strong, that in the celebration and understanding of the importance and contributions of that diversity, we really are one nation "Under God", and a nation that is indivisible. So - I hope you enjoy my arrangement and the energy of Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA. I hope you "feel" my small tribute to the abundance and importance of our county's natural environments and natural resources in The Eagles Cry…an open acknowledgment that native Americans we here first, and were literally "one with the land", and that they ARE Americans. I hope you feel the prayerful thanksgiving and invocation of God's continued blessing in my arrangement of God Bless America. My Country 'Tis of Thee opens with a traditional Scottish melody followed by the bagpipe war cries, which then segues into my version of My Country Tis of Thee - a reminder that our country includes many peoples who came here from far way lands and with foreign customs and ways- but with common dreams of a better, more free and just life.. It is set within a dreamy new age backdrop as a way of acknowledging that we are still individuals with our own dreams to write in our hearts, which will ultimately continue to define our future…and that's its an ever evolving, ever unfolding event. Neil Diamond's Coming to America opens with original music intended to impose feelings of the urgency, excitement, and even trepidation that many who came from foreign lands felt as they took a chance and made their way to America- most leaving their past life…friends and family behind forever. And finally, Amazing Grace….a direct acknowledgment again of God's many blessings showered down upon this country called America….and that in a sense, its very existence is a testament to His continuing mercy and providence. How appropriate are the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, in what has come to be called his freedom speech given on the Capitol promenade- "Free at last- Free at last. Thank God almighty I am free at last."

         Final thoughts…. I am NOT ashamed to recite the Pledge of Allegiance I learned as a youth, nor am I ashamed to have included music which acknowledges that this land called America has been a land of many heavenly blessings from its inception, imperfections and all. I am NOT ashamed to state as part of that pledge…"one nation, under God"…nor am I fearful of hearing those words echoed in the voices of today's children- tomorrow's adult Americans…tomorrow's leaders and believers in the American dream and spirit…..No- not ashamed- I am grateful, and Kieron's America says…I am thankful and proud…and strong of purpose and will….and so shall our children be.

Please click any cover for details about that CD and  ordering information.