NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Everyone has a story to tell, and our local songwriters are especially good at sharing theirs. Some of those songwriters just got some new collaborators. The music they made is beautiful.
A series of rooms inside the Friends Life Community program sees puppets and pieces of art hanging from the walls. It's eclectic, colorful, and creative.
"It's everything that you can possibly think of," said Stormy, a friend at Friends Life. "It's like a clubhouse where we can hang out!"
"Our big focus is helping people tell their stories," said Emme Teller, a member of the Friends Life team.
"This is the space the friends write scripts, they write poetry, they create songs," added Friends Life CEO Waverly Ann Harris.
Friends Life Community gives opportunities to adults with developmental disabilities. This particular day was an especially good one to visit.
"Do we want to sing through the song again to remind us how it goes?" a songwriter asked one of the friends before playing through a song on a guitar.
"Today we had multiple songwriters that have published music come and do a co-write with a lot of our friends who are in our songwriting class," Emme explained.
The songwriters will be recording these collaborations, and the friends will get to hear their finished songs in a few days.
With six songwriting sessions happening around the space, some songs were deeply personal, others were fast-paced and fun.
"Shoot, I might have to record this one!" laughed another songwriter.
"You wanna say, 'makes me feel better' or 'til I feel better?'" a songwriter asked Stormy, the two of them huddled in concentration.
Stormy wanted to share some of her story through this songwriter collaboration. A theme I heard more than once was how the friends had searched to belong to something before they came here.
"Didn't have many friends," Stormy said. "I struggled a whole lot until I came to Friends Life."
The idea is that all the art created in this space builds confidence, and that can be carried into any part of life.
"Through the arts, they're able to find their voice," Waverly Ann said. "A lot of them have never been asked how they want the world to see them."
"Perfect! Look at that!" a songwriter said, finishing a run-through of Stormy's song with completed lyrics.
Stormy took off her glasses and wiped away tears.
"Oh, these are happy tears," she said.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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