(November 11, 2014) On this fine U.S. Veteran’s Day, SoulTracks.com honors our military veterans and enlisted for their service. In honoring these noble men and women’s tireless and selfless sacrifice, we also honor the unsung heroes and heroines—their families. While paying tribute to our past and present troops, we also think it important to acknowledge the challenges many veterans of war and “engagements” endure once they come back to these sometimes less charitable shores for our vets. What better way to both celebrate and interrogate than through the country fried performance video premiere of “Gunpowder on the Letter” directed by Daniel Ryan for a rollicking cut from Cody ChestnuTT’s recent EP, Landing on a Hundred: B Sides and Rarities. The soulful rockers, ChestnuTT and Gary Clark, Jr., bring their A-game in an ironic song that both celebrates the bravery of our soldiers in its bright melody and lyrically challenges the less than ideal circumstances some soldiers experience during war and return home to following both them and their families’ sacrifice.
“This song was inspired by a documentary I saw on veterans that had been traumatized by the act of war. The broken spirit and disillusionment expressed by these veterans, granted me access to both the spirit and voice needed to communicate the narrative,” explains ChesnuTT.
As we strive to collectively do better here at home politically, socially, and economically by our troops and their families, we hope this energetic tribute helps lift able spirits on their special day while also opening our hearts and minds to the serious struggles some of our most dedicated and faithful endure. Happy Veteran’s Day.
By L. Michael Gipson
