When I was eleven years old, my youngest brother passed away. He had a weak heart and it just gave out. The loss was too much for me to bear at such a young age that I turned to music to express my emotions. I could express how I was feeling by playing as a result much of my music was wild, angry, and alot of agression. This led me to my path of writing songs and soon music became my passion.
I think my mother was the only one who understood, even better than me that I was pouring my emotions out in my music. I would play for hours, sometimes the same phrase or pattern over and over again. My Dad might have wanted me to stop but my mother persuaded him to let me be as she knew I was working something out in my mind and needed to get it out.
It has only been resently that I have been able to connect the dots. Prior to the loss of my brother, music was something my parents expected me to do. It was part of my schooling but not something I was passionate about. Not knowing how to express my grief, music became that outlet. However, I can say now looking back that my ability to express into words how I was feeling never grew in the way that it should have.
Now, back to present day, I have had a lot of therapy and a wife that insisted that I put into words what I was feeling I have gained the skills to put into words what is going on with me. I have opened up to being more truthful to myself and to others. No longer hidding behind my beard and glasses (some friends have thought that was what I was doing because of my long pregnant pauses).
This album, “Finding My Voice” is that journey that I took to finally find my voice and to tell you what I am feeling and why. I like to do this in the form of stories and each of these songs has their own story. I have released each of these songs as singles except for the song that I open this album with. That song “So Soon” has been the song that I did not realize but have been trying to write for the past 50 years or so. You can find the stories behind each of these songs under the songs menu.
Song Order
1. So Soon
2. Hot Java
3. Always on my Mind
4. Party in the Street
5. Father (I give my Life)
6. Play the Game
7. Beach Talk
8. Penny for your Thoughts
9. Missing Harv
10. I’m Here to Stay
11. The End and Goodbye
I would encourage you to listen to this album in this order to experience the journey. This is the order in which things happened, but you get the benefit of having a better understanding of the journey then when I was actually on this road. If you are interested in the actual details of this journey I do have a website where I have documented my life story in pictures and stories. You can find this at https://www.donaldschulz.com and my story is not complete and will continue to update this website as things happen.