Ashtabula, Ohio
Ashtabula, Ohio
ANNA HOROSCHAK, 17, of Stamford, Conn., recently did a tour
of West Virginia with her CD, "Welcome Home Jessica." Horoschak sings the title
song and wrote it with help from Jefferson native Suzanne M. Buckley. Buckley
and her husband, Fred A. Porter, produced the album, which is sold online at
www.welcomehomejessica song.com. The album contains music by other artists
represented by Buckley's agency and recorded on their label, Timberwolfe
Records.
By CARL E. FEATHER
Lifestyle Editor
A Jefferson native and her
husband have produced a CD of songs to heal America in the wake of 9-11 and the
resulting wars.
"Welcome Home Jessica" is the title song of the album, which
features Anna Horoschak, a 17-year-old from Stamford, Conn., singing the title
song. Also on the album is music by David Seering and Jason Wilson, artists
managed by Suzanne M. Buckley and her husband Fred A. Porter.
Buckley
graduated from Jefferson High School in 1961. Her pursuit of a career in music
took her to Cleveland and New York after high school. Her work has included the
house band of the New York Hilton and a featured soloist with the U.S. Navy
Band. She lives in South Nyack, N.Y.
The title song was composed after Anna
heard the good news about Lynch's rescue.
"I was, from 9-11 to the war in
Iraq, very distraught," she said in a telephone interview. "I was walking around
in our garden and the song just came into my head. It was "Welcome Back Jessica
to West Virginia. It kept repeating over and over."
Anna told Suzanne about
the song, and, over the next two weeks, they developed the verses and recorded
it. "It was already there, but the fine-tuning of the song took about 14 hours
in a two-week period," she said.
Both of them realized that more songs would
be needed to produce a marketable CD, so Suzanne called upon two other artists
she represents to contribute songs to the album.
"It is a very sad time we
live in right now, and I felt we needed to give the public an album rather than
just one song," Anna said.
Some of the other songs on the album are "He's My
Brother," "The Awakening," "Healing," "New Beginning" and "Peace in Our
Time."
Suzanne and her husband financed the production of 5,000 CDs. She said
if they sell 1,500 of them, they will break even.
To promote the CD, the
producers and Anna took to the road in Lynch's home state earlier this month.
Their one-week promotion blitz took them from Weirton in the northern panhandle,
through Parkersburg and Jessica's hometown of Palestine, and on to Beckley and
White Sulphur Springs. Suzanne said they gave out about 300 CDs to radio
stations, newspapers and store managers. They also consigned about 60 CDs at
stores.
The highlight of the tour was meeting Jessica Lynch's parents. Anna
said they pulled into a convenience store in Jessica's hometown and showed the
CD to an employee, who told them how to get to the Lynch house.
"Her parents
were working on the house when we got there," Anna says. After getting over her
fear of the Lynch family dog, Cody, Anna met the couple and handed them a
CD.
"I was crying when I met them. It was a very happy moment for me," she
said. "That CD from me to them was a warm gesture."
They spent only five
minutes with the parents and did not capitalize on the meeting by taking
photographs. Jessica's homecoming was still two days away, so Anna did not get
to meet America's sweetheart hero and does not know if she's listened to the
song.
"I would love to sing it to her live," Anna said.
Anna wants to have
a career in music, but if that does not work out, her 4.1 grade point average
will open doors for her in other pursuits, probably medicine, she said.
"My
dream, since I have been a little girl, has been to sing and dance," she
said.
Purchasing information for the CD appears at the top of this page.
