Les Kerr - Contributor - Official Music Video
http://www.leskerr.com - Les Kerr is a songwriter, recording artist and performer who brings blues, Rockabilly, New Orleans music, Zydeco, and bluegrass together to create his “Hillbilly Blues Caribbean Rock & Roll.” Now based in Nashville, Kerr was born in Louisiana and raised in Mississippi in the Gulf Coast city of Pascagoula and in Jackson.
Contributor, the song, is written from the perspective of the men and women who offer The Contributor, a throughout the Nashville area and beyond. Many who sell the newspaper are shown in the video, as is the press where the paper is manufactured. In addition, Wagner’s artwork depicting vendors is included throughout the video.
“It was a treat to see this song come to life,” said Kerr, a Nashville songwriter and long-time Contributor customer. “As a songwriter, I tried to put myself in the position of a vendor who knows his customers may or may not care how he ended up on the street but are willing to help him by purchasing the paper. In addition, the idea that those who buy the paper are also ‘contributors’ in the process is important to me. It takes both vendors and readers to make the process work.
The Contributor is a weekly newspaper sold around Middle Tennessee, that provides homeless and formerly homeless vendors a source of income. While creating community between vendors and customers, the newspaper offers a diversity of perspectives and information relating to homelessness. Creative content including poetry, often written by the vendors, also provides a glimpse into day to day homeless life. Vendor profiles illustrate how people can end up on the streets and how hard it is to return to housing.
Kerr began writing the song in 2011 and completed it in 2014. He was inspired by the spirit of the vendors and their desire to get them off the street. The lyrics begin, “I’m standing on this corner; I stand here every day. Selling these newspapers to the people on their way.” The song’s chorus declares, “I’m just a small contributor; a spoke in a bigger wheel. When you buy my papers, we’re both part of a bigger deal…that makes us both contributors to the world we’d like to see.”
It is Kerr’s hope that the video and the song will bring attention to The Contributor and street newspapers around the country.
Artist Website: www.leskerr.com
Artist Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LesKerr
Artist Twitter: www.twitter.com/leskerr
Artists iTunes: http://apple.co/1e9KGMD
#LesKerr #homeless #Country #streetlife #contributor #streetnewspaper
Used with full permission of artist and label