Ten days after the flood, I came down into the town of Marshall. I needed to hear from my friends there, to see them and hold them. I brought a small film kit along and began documenting what I saw. I interviewed business owners and volunteers who had been working tirelessly to clean up, pouring their energy into reshaping both the physical space and their own resolve to rebuild this magical town they call home. They spoke of their harrowing experiences during the storm, the grief they felt and still carry, and the deep, powerful drive to rise up again. It didn’t take long for the town’s energy to transform, shifting to a spirit of productivity, as if recreating the timeless story of a phoenix emerging from the ashes.

As I filmed, my good friend Donna Ray Norton came up behind me and wrapped me in the warmest hug. She was with Sheila Kay Adams, the matriarch of Madison County’s traditional music. We walked together into the Old Marshall Jail with the owner Josh Copus. Inside, they each sat down for an interview, then sang a ballad, their voices reverberating through the hollowed shell of what the building once was. The power in their singing spilled out, slowly cleansing the space of the heavy, lingering presence left by the flood. I sat there, tears in my eyes, witnessing the way art could heal our hearts and renew the spirit of the place. It was as if we had been living in black and white, and now, color was slowly returning.

That experience was life-altering. It sparked the idea of bringing musicians into this space to record an album and to film each live performance. And so, the The Resonance Sessions were born.