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Alabama artist uses artwork to bring beauty and healing to the world

December 6, 2019 By Kara Kennedy

Deb Paradise artist — Deb Paradise’s goal is to bring beauty and healing to the world through her artwork

Deb Paradise’s artwork has always been about bringing “Beauty” into the world. In fact, her philosophy has been to use art as a way to help enlighten others so that they can express their beauty inwardly and outwardly. She also believes art is a powerful tool for impacting the viewer intends that her artwork be uplifting and healing for everyone.

Deb Paradise Alabama artist — A piece of Deb’s artwork commissioned by the Hilton at Duke University

Bringing Beauty and Healing to the World

When she first began working with clay, Deb went the traditional route by showing her work in festivals and shows, but soon found that the traditional way of doing things was not something she wanted to continue to pursue. “I had a moment where it became very clear to me that I wanted to create art and sculptural pieces that would hang on the wall for everyone to enjoy. So I began seeking and finding clients who wanted to hire or commission me to create a specific art piece for their home or workspace,” said Deb Paradise, owner and founder of Paradise Creative Expressions.

Deb’s artwork hanging in a Fountain View Hotel in Dubai

Commissioned Artwork

Since discovering this about herself, she has never looked back and has continued forging her path in the world of commercial art. Deb now is a well-sought after artist commissioned to produce works of art for corporations, individuals and hotels and resorts worldwide. Deb’s work can be found all over the world, from Dubai to Cairo. And in the United States from North Carolina’s Duke University, JB Duke Hotel to Alabama’s new Gulf State Lodge in Orange Beach. One such commission for The Fountain View Hotel in Dubai was commissioned for the Majlis. The piece, entitled “Whisper” was large and had to be made in 3 panels but appear seamless upon installation. This type of problem-solving is a common challenge when working with designers.

Heirloom Pieces of Deb Paradises artist — These pieces were designed for a husband for his wife as house warming gift.

Commissioned Heirloom Pieces

One of her most satisfying commissioned pieces was for a man who wanted to do something special for his wife as they moved into a home that the two designed together. Deb met and spoke to him about his wife and what he wanted to do with the artwork. After their conversation, they agreed on the creation of three serving pieces because his wife loves to entertain. He also wanted the artwork to be unique and special to the family so they decided to incorporate the name of the street within the pieces. Deb created functional pieces, two bowls and a platter, each of which could be handed down generation after generation.

Alabama Gulf State Lodge — Deb’s commissioned work in Alabama’s Gulf State Lodge

“I had fun going back to my roots on these pieces and he was so excited, enthusiastic and grateful. My heart was so full when I delivered them to him, and they were a big hit with his wife,” Deb added.

Gulf State Lodge

Another extraordinary opportunity for Deb was being chosen to commission pieces of art for Alabama’s newly renovated Gulf State Lodge, a Hilton property in Orange Beach, Alabama. “The opportunity arose because of a client I had been working with for a long time. She had the contract to provide the artwork for the Lodge. They contacted me and I created two pieces that are hanging in the pre-function area of the Lodge. I also was asked to recommend other Alabama artists to create work for them, and I happily recommended several,” said Deb. She went on to say that it was the best feeling to have her art hanging in a property in her home state.

Artists on the Plaza

Most days Deb can be found working in her studio at Shades Mountain Plaza West in Bluff Park, Hoover. She is involved with several artists, in a group called Artists On the Plaza. They came together and formed a collective after Hoover’s Board of Education took over their spaces at the former Bluff Park Elementary School (Artists On The Bluff). Many artists landed in spaces at Shades Mountain Plaza and now they have come together collectively for events throughout the year. One such event is the Holiday Open House on Dec. 14 and 15 from 1-5pm.

Deb hosts craft nights throughout the year where artists come together for fellowship. They bring their own craft and learn techniques from each other. One of her goals for 2020 is to partner with a gallery or work with local designers in the Birmingham, Alabama area, however, for now, her work can be viewed on her website, www.paradisecreativeexpressions.com.

The Heartland: Alabama’s Gospel Roots

November 1, 2019 By Terry a. ONeal

Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, AL, 1900s. Images from Encyclopedia of Alabama

Gospel music has been the primary ingredient that has bound Black life together as a surviving people fighting to overcome racial and systemic inequality.

From generation to generation, gospel music has undergone dramatic transformations, traveling a long way from its humble beginnings of quartet music that was birthed from cotton fields and back wood churches back in the early 20^thcentury.

Although the origin of gospel music is not well-documented, Black gospel is rooted in the oral method of interaction through songs and chants called call-and-response. It was from this practice that African-American spirituals were born.

“Negro Spirituals” published by Belmont Music Co. in 1937. Image Retrieved online from Black Music Scholar.

Heartland of Gospel Quartet Music

In the 1800s, Jefferson county was no different than any other slave state in America. With its deep roots in Alabama soil, it is known as the heartland of gospel quartet music, given rise to notable, award-winning gospel quartet groups from as early as the 1920s.

Birmingham and other neighboring towns birthed countless gospel quartet ensembles that would later become recognized in the 2012 documentary, “The Jefferson County Sound”.

Some notable southern gospel groups including the Sterling Jubilee Singers (1929), The Four Eagle Gospel Singers (1938), the Fairfield Four (1921), the Blind Boys of Alabama (1939), and other pioneering gospel groups from the yellowhammer state, have been instrumental in shaping gospel music throughout the ages, and still remain influential today.

Voices were the instruments.

Gracefully, the breathtaking isolated vocals created a music all its own. The melodic acapella sound that emerged from the steel mills and coal mines of Birmingham led to its recognition of being named birthplace of acapella gospel singing.

Songs of Struggle and Spirit

Gospel hymns were born in a period of deep economic depression and racial segregation in America. In a time when hope was dying, praise songs ministered to the hearts of the people. Songs, such as “We Shall Overcome” and “We Shall Not Be Moved”, played an integral role in the civil rights movement. These freedom songs became the soundtrack to the largest mass movements in America.

Before long, gospel music began to gain popularity in Birmingham in the 1920s. In the course of time, songs from local artists received national exposure. Classic tunes, like “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around” and “In the Upper Room/I’ll Tell the World”, by The Fairfield Four, won national awards, and appeared on several movie soundtracks.

Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the “Father of Gospel Music”. Image retrieved online from the Georgia Encyclopedia.

Influential Figures

Known as the father of black gospel music, Thomas Dorsey, is an influential figure in the world of gospel. He established the first black music publishing company in the early 20^th century. Dorsey began his music career as a jazz and blues singer in the late 1920s. Years later, after undergoing several personal hardships, he transitioned from blues to the church circuit.

Dorsey was the first to write and publish gospel songs in 1926. His amazing skill and composing talent would forever change the gospel sound. Dorsey sophisticated the call-and-response in his music, while cleverly introducing jazz rhythms into gospel expressions. He composed numerous gospel classics, such as “Peace in the Valley”, “On the Battlefield”, and “Take My Hand Precious Lord”, laying the foundation for gospel composers to come.

Deeply loved and revered, Mahalia Jackson, was known worldwide as the “Queen of Gospel”, taking worship music to the next level. Discovered by Dorsey, Jackson traveled the world with him, becoming the voice to his lyrics. It was the jubilant grace and soul in her contralto voice that would catapult traditional gospel music to the wider world.

Over the years, there has been a cross-pollination between gospel, blues, and jazz. Today, it has expanded to include hip-hop, rap, and rock-and-roll.

The five-time Grammy award-winning gospel band, Blind Boys of Alabama, is one legendary group that have created timeless classics over the 70 years of the band’s existence. Reigning from Birmingham, one of the gospel quartet group’s founding members, Mr. Jimmy Carter says that gospel has definitely evolved over time.

Jimmy Carter of Blind Boys

“Times have changed. Gospel has changed. But the feeling hasn’t changed—not for me,” he says. “When the Blind Boys first started out, they started with nothing but an old hollow-box guitar. That was the music. To remain impactful, you have to change with times.”

Over decades, The Blind Boys witnessed their fair share of troubles of the world. They sang their way through the world war, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, the death of John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other pivotal moments in history.

“In the beginning, we couldn’t sing to anyone but Blacks. For us, it was a means of togetherness. We could all come together and be on one accord. It was a great feeling,” he recalls. “As time progressed, doors at White establishments were opened to us…We were determined no matter what they cost that we were not going to turn around.”

Today, gospel music has become more global, reaching deeper into the secular world. Unlike the traditional way, it’s taking secular beats and creating gospel songs.

Some say that nothing can replace the gospel greats of yesteryears. These artists created music that was purely original, from the heart and soul—a missing ingredient from the gospel music of today.

For the Blind Boys, their greatest rewards have been achieved through sharing their gift and uplifting others.

“Our goal, our aim, is to touch people’s lives. And let them know that there is a God,” says Mr. Carter. “If we just touched one life, it was worth what we all had to go through.”

Nashville singer-songwriter, Mark Elliott releases The Sons of Starmount a book about childhood innocence and adventure

July 17, 2019 By Kara Kennedy

Inspired Southerner Mark Elliott — Elliott is an award-winning singer-songwriter in Nashville

We sat down with Nashville singer-songwriter Mark Elliott to interview him about his new book The Sons of Starmount, which is about childhood innocence and adventure, to see what the response has been since he released it back in February. The audiobook will come out in the fall. There also is a companion EP Sons of Starmount now available.

Inspired Southerner Sons of Starmount — The Sons of Starmount

The book was born from Elliott’s love of songwriting, blogging and telling stories about his childhood. We found the book intriguing, quirky, funny and reminiscent of what life was like growing up in the South in the late 70s. Most who grew up in that era had a pack of friends who were adventurous, who dared us to do things, who we got in trouble with and who helped us shape who we are today. Elliott’s book takes you back to days when kids let their imaginations captivated them, and before children lost their innocence to screens and instant notoriety.

Where did you get the idea for your book?

Mark Elliott: I’ve been a singer/songwriter for the past three decades, and have written for many of Nashville’s music publishers. With the music business changing by the day, and sometimes not for the better, I thought I’d search out the one creative industry uglier and more poverty-producing than music. I found it in being an author.

Mark Elliott: In all seriousness though, starting a blog a few years ago, and having the room (500-1,000 words a week) to write, intrigued me and sparked a new interest in writing. I enjoyed having room to develop thoughts beyond a two-and-a-half-minute song. As I began thinking beyond the blog, a book seemed the next step for me.

“The memories of friends, the outdoors, and all the adventures I had on Starmount, in 1977 have stayed with me throughout my life I wasn’t necessarily looking to start my author career with a memoir, but you tell the story begging to be told,” said Elliott.

**What is the Sons of Starmount from your perspective?**

Mark Elliott: We all have a place and time in our childhoods that help define the adults we eventually become. Seeds are planted, and habits are formed. The experiences and relationships we share when the world is still wild, and our hearts are still open to it all – sculpt a life like the forces of wind and water do upon canyon walls and ancient river beds. This is the story of how an era as free as the seventies, with its parental permissiveness and music, coupled with a one-in-a-million neighborhood filled with friends, swamps, creeks, woods and tree forts, set in motion a creative and adventurous life rarely devoid of either.

Inspired Southerner Mark Ellott — Singer-Songwriter Mark Elliot releases his first book, *The Sons of Starmount*

What did your friends think of The Sons of Starmount?

Mark Elliott: Two or three of the old friends seemed interested and enthusiastic and helped to fill in my 40-year-old memories. And others were either care-a-less about me telling our story or outright uncooperative. It had been 40 years since I had seen all of them and nearly 20 since I had seen some of them. I thought that the dilution of time and circumstance was the main problem.

Mark Elliott: But in writing the book and having some of the conversations, it became clear that I left Starmount at the perfect time. I left the neighborhood while the waters were still wild and the trees were still tall. I left before the bull dossiers pushed through the dead end and the woods, all the way to the mall parking lot. The rest of my friends, those who stayed on Starmount through their teen years, witnessed the slow undoing of Neverland, to the point where it was just another street in any town USA.

What do you hope people take away from the book?

Mark Elliott: The stories in the book are, I hope, funny and poignant, and filled with an Americana zeitgeist that most will relate to. My earnest hope for the reader is that they find their own Starmount, no matter what generation or geography it may lie in. The experience of finding those straight lines between the man or woman you’ve become and the boy or girl you once were, is a unique one. The journey is not always easy or obvious, but I believe it to be for all of us, a journey well worth the taking. I hope my Starmount points the way to the reader’s Starmount.

Mark Elliott and Runaway Home

We first met Mark Elliott and his band Runaway Home six years ago in Alabama at the Black Creek Arts Festival. The band was the headliner for the festival. He continues to tour with the band. He also has received accolades for his songwriting. The song he wrote for Neal McCoy, Everyman for Himself, hit the top 40 Billboard Chart. Billboard called the song, “a song with rare lyrical and musical edge and the best cut on the album.” He also has written other award-winning songs. Elliott is currently working on Rippers, a novel with co-author Joe Johnston. Click to purchase The Sons of Starmount and companion EP.

Songwriter Alvin Garrett releases ‘This Hill’; Gives electrifying musical performance

June 24, 2019 By Rebekah Ledbetter

Inspired Southerner Alvin Garrett — Songwriter Garrett gives an electrifying musical performance

Inspired Southerner sat down with singer-songwriter Alvin Garrett at Workplay in Birmingham, Alabama, hours before his CD release party for his new album This Hill. After the interview, Alvin gave the audience an electrifying musical performance.

Favorite Song on This Hill

Q: What is your favorite track on your new album?

A: The one that means the most to me is the title cut, This Hill, because of what it means. It stands for hope, inspiration, love and loss. Because of hope, I have the inspiration to pursue what I love at the risk of loss. You can’t live on the hill if you’re afraid to take a loss. The imagery I am trying to get fans to visualize is to keep climbing, don’t give up and you can get up that hill.

The song itself represents my mentality, my life mantra; just let your hope inspire you to pursue what you love at the risk of loss. You can’t predict the challenges you’re going to face when you’re chasing your dreams. But you gotta face them or else it never happens for you. So, that song because of what it means, is my favorite.

Inspiring Lyrics

Q: What is one thing you’re hoping people get from this album?

A: Inspiration. Absolutely, because I feel the state of music, outside of the Christian genre, has become music with lyrics where you have to cover your kid’s ears. I wanted to write and perform music that my kids can listen to. At some point, I believe we lost the poetry of music. Parents need to be able to enjoy music around their children.

My music is not pop or kiddie music, but it’s just good old-fashion music that is in the spirit of the Motown and the Stax Records era. It’s good lyrics and instruments that can be played around children. Garrett has little girls and wants them to be able to listen and sing along to all of the songs on my album.

Q: Favorite part of your job?

A: OOoohh! I have many jobs that I am literally”all in.” I’ve been full-time in the music industry since 2002 after leaving corporate America. When I started out I did everything, from being in the mailroom to the boardroom. I am at the point now, where I can focus more on strategic planning and moving the company forward because I now have a team. I even have a publicist now, and it’s pretty exciting.

Ask me again ‘cause I feel like I got off on a tangent.

Doing less. My favorite part now is delegating. I find that I get so much more done. I have had to learn to trust people and empower them to do what they do and be great at it.

The Music Industry

Q: What’s the hardest part of your job?

A: Handing things off! *Lots of laughter*. It is. Well, I can’t turn off my eyes and ears. When you work for yourself, you have to do everything. I’ve done everything from writing songs to being the sound engineer.

Garret also states that he has had to learn to not to get involved with what his team is doing. He still gives them feedback, but he has to trust that they will do their jobs. He does this because he can’t be in five places at one time.

Recording Music

Q: Who has been your favorite artist you’ve worked with?

A: You know, I can’t say that I have a favorite artist that I’ve actually worked with because I value them all the same. But I will say that there is a favorite artist I have that has sung my music. R&B artist named Joe. Growing up, I was a big fan, and in my early songwriting days, I would always imagine his voice singing my songs. I would hear him in my mind, so when he started singing my music, I literally cried. I was like, “Oh my God, Joe is singing my songs.”

It’s an amazing experience to hear an artist that I’ve looked up to sing my songs the way you wrote them. Oh, he sounds amazing. WOW! That’s been my favorite experience as a songwriter.

Working with Other Musicians

Q: Dream artist to work with?

A: Not really, because of the experiences I’ve personally had in the music industry. I’ve grown to the place where I just want to do good business. I’m more about what I give to people through my business and my art than I am about who I want to work with. I was on the stage with Luke Bryan, I know he’s a big huge star, but he’s just a guy, he came on stage like “Hey, y’all know some Lionel Richie?” Luke Bryan coming on stage with my band saying, “hey guys let’s jam to some Lionel Richie!” It’s freaking Luke Bryan, he’s just a guy who loves Lionel Richie.

I have realized that I am sort of a celebrity figure to other people, I just feel like a regular guy, but to them, I’m somebody special. However, when it’s peer-to-peer, other musicians, they are regular people just like me. When we work together they all say adamantly “don’t bring that star stuff here.” We just want to work together.

Q: Any interesting fan or fellow artist stories?

A: I won’t say a name, all right, but there was this famous, famous, famous, producer-songwriter. I mean you can’t even count all the awards he has. The immense number of songs he’s written for people. I had the chance to be in the studio with him, not as a writer, but just the chance to be in the studio in his presence. Before we went into the studio, he made us wait about three hours in the lobby, but when we got in the room, you knew you were in the presence of greatness.

You just felt it and to hear him talk about his process and types of songs he writes, you’re like oh my god, I’m in the room with this guy.

Music History

Q: How important is the history of Stax Records to musicians in Birmingham?

A: Through my personal experience, Al Bell, who was the president of Stax Records actually reached out to me when he heard my song, Wait and wanted to meet me. Some mutual acquaintances told me that Al Bell wanted to meet me. I was like “WHO ME? Little Old Me??” We’re actually like brothers now. He heard the connection in my music to the types of songs he wrote during his era. So he’s excited that there is somebody out here carrying on that legacy of quality soul music.

Being in Alabama, and for someone of his stature and legacy to hear my sound and say “I want to find the guy who made that song,” it was just mind-blowing.
Purchase: This Hill

Alabama singer-songwriter Alvin Garrett celebrates the release of his new album ‘This Hill’ on June 7

June 3, 2019 By Kara Kennedy