NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — You can ask a city full of songwriters. Inspiration for a song can come from anywhere. The inspiration for a new release this week is dedicated to a special moment from a major news story.
You gig in Nashville, you end up playing on all sorts of stages and venues. Songwriting partners William Hinson and Marielle Kraft are adding a new one.
"You ever gig'd in a planetarium?" I asked them.
"This is definitely our first in a planetarium," Hinson laughed.
The two sat at the Sudekum Planetarium at The Adventure Science Center. There's a lot about NASA space exploration in there. That's pretty cool for Hinson who was just keeping up with something.
"I just think it's amazing we went to the moon," he smiled. "We went to the moon!"
Hinson was watching everything about the mission of Artemis II, sending four astronauts around the moon and back.
"I wanna go!" Hinson continued. "Send us to the moon! Put me on the moon!"
It was during one of their writing sessions, Hinson showed Kraft a video from Artemis II.
"William clued me in to what had gone on in the livestream that day," Kraft remembered.
This is the backstory. In 2020, Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman lost his wife Carroll Taylor Wiseman. She died at 46 after living with cancer for five years. She was a pediatric nurse practitioner.
On board Artemis II, the crew decided to give a name to a crater on the moon.
"We would like to call it Carroll," said astronaut Jeremy Hansen, speaking in the livestream. "You spell that C-A-R-R-O-L-L."
"I just started sobbing," Kraft said. "The story really moved me in that moment, watching these astronauts who had bonded together for so many years and becoming family and wanting to honor him and his loved one."
"She said, 'I don't want to write anything else. I want to write about Carroll,'" Hinson said of Kraft.
"The spacecraft was about to go on the far side of the moon for those 40 minutes of losing communication with mission control," Kraft continued.
"We set a timer for 40 minutes," Hinson said. "We are going to write this song in 40 minutes."
On Thursday, Hinson and Kraft will release their new song, Carroll. Tuesday morning, it just felt right to get to play the song under the moon at Sudekum Planetarium.
Hinson and Kraft's hope is the song might someday reach the family of Reid and Carroll Wiseman and anyone else who has dealt with a great loss.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
Austin Pollack brings us an update on a remarkable young man facing great odds, and his family has one simple request: pray for Cole. I believe in the power of prayer and hope you'll join me in lifting up Cole and his family.
- Carrie Sharp
