Murrow Award Winner: The power of music transforms, heals and inspires us

By Laura Oakes , 830 WCCO

Laura Oakes: We all know that feeling. You hear a song, and it instantly takes you back to a specific moment in time.

For me, it's the soundtrack to my teens—early to mid eighties when Madonna ruled with hits like "Holiday," when we would position our beach towels in just the right spot so we can see Prince's purple house across the lake. When a couple of underage goofballs named Laura and Janet may or may not have ended up in a wedding dance in the basement of a Wisconsin VFW - an incident that sparked years of trying to outdo each other on who could best sing, "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cowboys," OFF TUNE.

Real artists also have their own songs that transport them right back to where it all began. Take local singer and guitarist Joe Gamble.

WCCO Radio’s Steve Simpson knows that power all too well, in the form of the groundbreaking Broadway musical Hamilton. He's seen it seven times.

Simpson: People say this and I guess I never understood this. The music spoke to me like I don't ever remember having a musical speak to me before. It was this song about this old guy that I read about in history books put to rap, R&B and hip-hop and it just totally worked.

Laura: My former junior high music teacher Colette Sherman—I still call her Mrs. Sherman, because that’s what you do—was a master at using music to corral a bunch of overdramatic, annoying eighth graders.

(Dialogue with Laura and Mrs. Sherman)

Laura: You would be directing us and I was an alto and you'd be pounding on the piano. You'd get us our notes. Your hair was flying and then you would raise up your arms and bring us in and pull in the other section. And it was the coolest thing that you were just kind of this wild woman in control of all of these squirrelly, 13 14, 15-year old kids. But that was a moment when it was just happening for you. You weren't trying to do that stuff.

Mrs. Sherman: No, and I guess I was wanting that feeling to come into you.

Laura: One thing that I remember you talking about was how rock music in many cases took its roots from classical music. And I remember you using Led Zeppelin as an example.

Mrs. Sherman: Well, it works because you have the ostinato - the drums are keeping that solid beat. And then you have the improv with the soloist, and that sort of sets the stage and all of a sudden the fill comes in. And so there's this gradual build of emotion as the song goes on. And it's a nice mix.

Mrs. Sherman: The blues is about self expression. It's just wailing out what's inside. Everybody has sadness that they can relate to in their life. And so when people listen to the blues, whether they're talking about the same thing or not, it's still that feeling. It's the beat. It's the way they sing it that people could identify with.

Laura: Is there any, I don't even know if it's scientific evidence or a psychological evidence, that shows that something is going on in your brain or in your body when you hear certain types of music like the blues?

Ms. Sherman: I'm a strong believer in connections. And so whether that's in life—your connections with the people around you --with your faith, your job, with everything you come in contact with—well that's the same thing that happens in music. So when you're listening to a piece of music, if you really respond to it and it fills you up emotionally, you're connecting to something.

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Laura: That connection was not lost on another of the most prolific and successful blues-influenced bands of all time. Any old cover band can handle a Stones tune or two. But the Twin Cities -based Rolling Stoners are in a league of their own.

Photo credit Timothy Olson at TMOR Photography

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Laura: In an empty Baptist church on the east side of Saint Paul, Minnesota, the newest member of a Twin Cities musical dynasty doesn't yet know what he's in for. But today, what’s important is lunchtime with Grandma Jevetta.

Jevetta Steele that is, who juggles little Kyrie and a banana in one hand, microphone in the other, as she, sister Jearlyn and their band rehearse for an upcoming Minneapolis concert.

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Laura: Talented musicians everywhere struggle to get their music heard by the right people. But some use their gift in other, more personal ways—to communicate, to heal and to connect.

Laura: For now, Dustin and his guitar will continue to criss cross the country in his new, used Subaru, playing shows, continuing to emerge from his shell, and making more connections through his original music, which he tells me is about to take an Americana-esque turn.

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Photo credit Ash & James Photography

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Laura: One running theme with all of these folks is a genuine passion for what they do. Fueled by an indescribable feeling of being carried away by the music while at the same time becoming that vehicle through which the rest of us can sit back and take it all in.

Gamble: As long as you treat ideas with that kind of respect and take yourself out of it, take the ego out of it—and that's hard to do. I''m still learning how I can become more of a conduit rather than someone who's trying to usher things. The second you try to have an idea—we all know how that goes.

Song list from Power of Music special:

Struts: Kiss This
Aretha Franklin: This is the House that Jack Built, Chain of Fools
Velvet Underground: Some Kind of Love
Billy Squire: Lonely is the Night
Madonna: Holiday
Run DMC: It’s Tricky
Jearlyn Steele: This Little Light of Mine
Jevetta Steele: I Will Always Love You
Prince: Willing and Able
Timbre Ghost: Coming Down
Rolling Stones: Jumpin Jack Flash, Loving Cup
Samuel Barber: Adagio for Strings
J.S. Bach: Air on a G String
J.S. Ondara: Mother Christmas
Def Leppard: Pour Some Sugar on Me
REM: Crush With Eyeliner
Sheryl Crow: If it Makes you Happy
Blind Melon: No Rain
Journey: Don’t Stop Believing
Depeche Mode: It’s No Good