Billy Gilman and Mattie shape their art into 'Heartsongs'
PUSSSYKATT
Billy Gilman and Mattie Stepanek have met only once, but Gilman gives musical
voice to Stepanek's poetry on an album out this week.
The two teenagers first rose to prominence separately three years ago: Gilman
as the youngest singer to have a top-40 country single and Stepanek as a gifted
poet smitten by a rare and deadly form of muscular dystrophy. (Related item:
Lyrics from the heart of Mattie Stepanek.)
Music Through Heartsongs: Songs Based on the Poems of Mattie J.T. Stepanek
brings them together — after they were booked on the same episode of Larry
King Live.
"He was in Washington, because he can't leave his hospital," says Gilman, 14.
"I was in New York, and (they) put the two segments together. I knew his name,
but I really wasn't familiar with his poetry until that night. And that night
changed both of our lives."
Stepanek, 13, has a rare neuromuscular disease called mitochondrial myopathy.
The condition weakens him and causes breathing and heart problems, and he
requires a power wheelchair and a ventilator. He has been hospitalized at
National Children's Medical Center in Washington, D.C., since January. The
disease has claimed the lives of his three siblings; his mother also has it.
Stepanek began creating poetry at age 3. Since his first book, Heartsongs, was
released in 2000, he has sold more than 1.5 million copies of five titles.
"Not everybody prefers to sit down and read a book," says Stepanek, who
contributes recitations to three songs on the album. "Some people would love to
listen to music. I hope it spreads my message in a way that other people can
enjoy, not just by reading (the poems) but by hearing them in a different way."
Music Through Heartsongs is by turns inspirational, whimsical, optimistic and
heart-wrenchingly sad. Though Gilman has made his name in the country realm,
Music Through Heartsongs is anything but country. Songs of the Wind has a
breezy, Hawaiian sound, and The Gift of Color echoes Grover Washington Jr.'s
jazzy R&B.
The songwriters tried to stay as close as possible to the poetry's structure;
Stepanek had to approve any changes. As a result, the tunes make some
interesting departures from typical radio fare.
"Because the music was written to conform to the poetry, we've got some
beautiful melodies and unusual melodies — things, as writers, you wouldn't
normally go for," says producer David Malloy, who co-wrote two of the tunes.
Other writers include Bruce Roberts, whose credits include hits for Barbra
Streisand and Jeffrey Osborne, and Richard Leigh, who wrote Crystal Gayle's
Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue. Gilman co-wrote two tracks, About Memories
and About Watches.
Stepanek had declined previous offers to set his work to music. "I was nervous
in the beginning about making songs out of my poems, if it would work out or
not," he says. "We got contact from Billy Gilman's people, and they sent us
some samples of some of the things they were thinking about doing. We thought,
'This is great!' It turned into this huge, wonderful project."
Gilman, who has been named the Muscular Dystrophy Association's National Youth
Chairperson, says he expects the album to be only the starting point of his
collaboration with Stepanek, whom he met in person in February at the first
annual MDA HeartSongs Gala in Washington.
"It has so many branches, it has so many legs. It could even be a Broadway show
— that's how powerful it is. It has so many opportunities, so many doors. Who
knows where it will lead?"
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