There are 3 true to detail songs on the Kowbelle Album, "Our Red Cross".  The song I just mentioned, "I Love My Family" and "Takin' a Break".  These 3 songs are about things that happened to me or I witnessed.  Now that Tornado Season is upon us, I would like to take some time and discuss this amazing, sad, but hopeful song.  When you listen to and see the video to "Our Red Cross", please remember those that have been affected by any natural disaster and be thankful for all the wonderful organizations that help these victims during such difficult times.  This song is the driving force for Kowbelle and our mission to raise funds and awareness for the American Red Cross.

  On April 27, 2011, although I was, of course, very aware of the possibility of a major tornado outbreak (forecasted for days), my day started out pretty typical.  I had a 10:00 AM appointment in Chattanooga, but was wondering if it would be safe to make the 60 mile round trip.  I looked at the Weather Channel, and saw a window of no storms at least for awhile, and decided to make the appointment.  5 miles west of Chattanooga, is a suburb called Tiftonia.  And when I drove through there, an F-2 tornado apparently had touched down earlier that morning.  It just missed the elementary school, but caused a good bit of damage along the main road. I made the appointment and rushed home as soon as I could.  That afternoon, I was glued to the TV set, watching the Weather Channel and seeing footage of a large tornado hitting Birmingham, blowing around debris, causing massive electrical flashes. 

  About 2 hours later, around 4PM, I saw something catch my eye out the window and I stepped outside on the deck.  It was not raining but a little breezy.  And then I saw something I have never seen before, stuff falling from the sky.  The first thing I saw was a red, soda can size object fall heavily in my front yard, then a large red banner float down across the river, like one of those large banners you would see at a convenience store.  After that, more stuff and at a faster rate, falling.  This went on for about 45 minutes and it was obvious that all this stuff must have come from an area with a good amount of population, not a rural area. 

  That night was really upsetting seeing on TV all the destruction in so many communities, and actually feeling some guilt that my place was safe.  Needless to say, I really did not sleep well with all that had gone on.

  Early the next day, I got up, got dressed and went outside.  There were small pieces of insulation scattered in my yard, and I looked towards the woods up the hill and started in that direction.  Pretty soon, and only 300 feet from my cabin, was the back cover of a phone book, in pretty good shape, not rained on at all.  I looked at this cover and saw the advertisements of two businesses in Cullman, Alabama.  I went inside to look up Cullman in a road atlas and saw that that town was just at 100 miles away to the Southeast.  I was amazed at this and realized how powerful storms can be, but my heart gave out, and I could not imagine the horror many people felt in Cullman, in Birmingham and in many other Southern communities.  Seeing pieces of schoolwork lessons further in the woods the next morning, just made me lose it.
 

  In the following weeks, I spoke to several people saying they found utility bills or other paperwork on the ground all having information on them, indicating where they came from: Cullman.  Apparently what happened, (and what tornadoes generally do) is that the F-4 tornado hit Cullman and dumped the debris over the Chattanooga area.  This all happened within 3 hours.  No debris from any other tornado landed in our area.  And so, there was the common link here, Cullman to Chattanooga.

  I had just finished my 3 song demo, "Songs from Bar-B-Cutie" in early April.  But this event inspired me to write more, and so I completed this song by mid May, paving the way for the rest of the Album's songs.  This event helped shape what Kowbelle has become; that we want to enrich lives through our music, but we want to save lives with our mission of awareness. 

  And so I must stress that preparedness is vital in the time leading up to a forecastable natural disaster.  Have a plan and stay informed, always.  You also will find all kinds of helpful, useful information at redcross.org to help you in your disaster plan.  And I will tell you,  I am a little nervous about this Spring season, as I was 2 years ago.  Be safe.