Local musicians Jim Carothers and Rob Kramer officially released their CD “Once in a Lifetime” at a party on Sunday.
This is the first CD for the pair of Athabasca area residents.
Carothers said he started writing the first song on the CD, “Athabasca,” because he wanted something to memorialize the Freedom Riders – people during the Civil Rights Movement who rode buses in the southern United States to protest segregation.
He called these people “pioneers,” because he believes they’re responsible for “where we’re at today.”
“One day, these lyrics just started coming to me. And I wrote them down and after I wrote them, I realized this is about Athabasca, it’s not about the pioneers,” said Carothers.
“The song’s great. It tells the world what Athabasca’s about. The rivers, the whispering hills, the Northern Lights, the people. It’s all there.”
After he wrote the song, he went to Athabasca Mayor Roger Morrill and asked if there was any legal issues with using the town’s name in a song.
After Morrill listened to the song, he suggested it be put on the radio to see what people think.
Carothers said, “In order to do that, of course, it has to be made in a studio. The CD has to meet all the radio requirements, everything of that nature. So, I said, ’Well, I better write another one.”
The second song, “8 O’clock in the Morning,” came from an idea for a song title that Kramer had one day and it came up again at a jam session.
“One night him and I were jamming and I said, ’Lets play 8 o’clock in the morning,” Carothers explained.
“He said, ’Well, did you write the words for it?’ I said, ’No, but let’s play it and see what we get.”
The CD was posted online at www.clearrivermusic.ca after the two songs were finished with a colorful cover by Athabasca native Jason Kramer.
According to Carothers, there hasn’t been many people buying the CD yet, but “that takes time. If it’s out there long enough, somebody will want to pick it up.”
However, he said there’s a lot of buzz about it on Facebook.
The proceeds from the sale of the CD will be used to raise money for a monument for the “Pioneers of Amber Valley” and to support a few other organizations.
