h2ogether's Blog

‘Way You Pick Me Up’ will be performed live tonight with my good friends @chrisfranzmusic, @viennemusic, and of course @mariahmcmanus, along with the talent and support of the many other folks making this whole thing possible.

Kathryn will be joining the fun by way of her beautiful choreography. She will perform a solo live to the tune. How exciting.

XCollaboShow is the show that we have been asked to be a part of. The show is the latest adventure of Beats and Feet, an artistic performance community in Los Angeles.

The “X” show is intended to “afford passion with the currency of collaboration.” Artistic expression will become collaborative effort. All of this to benefit the rebuilding of an orphanage in Haiti. Wow.

For more info about the show, check out http://www.xcollaboshow.com

I will provide a post-performance post in the coming days. We should have some video footage as well.

It is an honor and blessing to be placed in the same category with such high caliber artists and all around fantastic people. I hope that our efforts can give some relief to the unfortunate situation in Haiti.

I can’t wait to see what comes of all of this, and what it means for h2otogether. It’s another step toward where this thing is going, and means progress.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support as this project inches along. I have really let it go so I can LET IT GROW and GROW IT SLOW. Like caring for a garden, we must have patience and only provide this project with the means to grow on its own, because it will be stronger and more efficient that way.

Something is definately up. It’s no coincidence that months ago I was planning a trip to L.A. this week for spring break, and happened to get a call from Arlene with Beats and Feet for this opportunity. There are many other developments happening here and there. It’s just a matter of waiting for the pieces to fall into place!

‘A Melody: Way You Pick Me Up ‘ Blog series is lengthy…

So for those of you like me, who need a reason for anything that requires a length of your time…

May I make a suggestion  before you read…

Go to iTunes and search ‘Way You Pick Me Up’ in the iTunes store.

Listen to it. You know, the free clip first. Make sure you know what your getting into.

If you like it, and have 99c to spare, I certainly wont stop you from going all in. (hehe)

‘A Melody: Way You Pick Me Up Posts’ tell the unique story of the creation of the song, and good cause the song sales supports.

Also, for those of you like me, who probably want to know what the cause is, READ THIS:

http://h2otogether.com/whywater/killing-2-bads-with-1-bottle/

Those of you not like me, more power to you.

Thanks Father. Thanks for the ‘way YOU pick me up.‘

My name is Kameron Waters. I try to play music. I like helping people. I love the Lord. I realize these characteristics are nothing new. But I feel God has put a unique spin on these desires in my life thus far and I want to share a story about how He helped me make some music, so I can help some people. This story has many different elements, so it will jump around a bit. If there is any confusion, just comment and I will clear it up.

The Melody… The mission will follow in a later post

The power of the spoken word…

Now to jump to a side story. I was visiting my girlfriend Kathryn McCormick in Los Angeles in April earlier this year, and we got tickets to Catalyst West, a Christian leadership conference, as Kathryn was performing dance numbers throughout Erwin McManus’s message. She is an attendee and dancer at Mosaic, the church led by McManus.

At the end of Erwin’s message, his daughter Mariah McManus sang a song, fitting Erwin’s plea of dreaming big and living “Wide Awake.” Onstage with her was @viennemusic, accompanying her with backup vocals and keys. Kathryn had been telling me how incredible Mariah’s voice was, but I was not prepared for the experience of hearing her live that day. Hair stood up on my neck. I immediately looked to Kathryn and said

“one day, I will play music with that girl, I have to”

To Be Continued…

Have you ever Spoken out on something you desire in hopes that it would manifest? How did it turn out?

One night, In late August of 2009, after the move from Nashville back to Atlanta for music school at GA State University, I was goofing around on my acoustic guitar,  weaving in and out of my favorite tunes, when I stumbled into the chords of the song my roommate had helped me with. A thought occurred…

I could re-write the lyrics, and then the song would be uniquely my own creation.

What would I write about? I had a thought that had been pressing on my heart…

Sometimes it seems as if the world around me works in my favor. Not that I don’t have those moments where I feel as worthless as used toilet tissue; everyone goes through that. But I am constantly re-discovering that 

if we seek God on a relational level, on a daily schedule, giving Him all glory, he would lift us up for his divine purpose, so that we may fall more deeply in love with Him and share that love with those who are in need.

I now realize this is commonplace for people of faith, but going into writing a song about it, I thought that maybe if it took me this long to grasp such a concept,

there must be many others in the dark on this.

This thought became my muse in that moment, and as I strummed the chords and hummed the melody, a lyric settled on my conscience like it fell from the sky.

Lift me High Above

Cause I’m Falling in Love

With the Way You Pick Me Up

I still swear by the confession that I have absolutely no recollection of any cognitive process leading to consummation of those lyrics. They married so perfectly with the rise and fall of the melody, which lined the chorus progression of the song, that it was almost scary.

The mental debate over ideas fitting in and words sitting right, typical to the average writing session, was absent. I was not the pioneer I usually am, searching my soul (and my mental rhyming dictionary) for hours trying to discover a “hook.” I to this day consider myself very inexperienced when it comes to song-writing, so there is no doubt this was a blessing.

The words had found me.

The lyrics sung a smile on my own face. I repeatedly rehearsed them along with the guitar, until I decided I needed to feed off the moment while I could. I began to write the first verse. Though it took some twiddling with, the verse came easy, and must have come from the same air space as the chorus beamed in from.

I wanted to tell of the struggles and dynamics to the journey one embarks on when trying to gain ground in God’s direction. It went down smooth.

Once I completed that,

I did the human thing and just kinda sat on it awhile,

kind of second guessing whether it was really that special or not. God took note that I was sitting.

He didn’t let me get too comfortable…

To be continued…

Do you ever sit on something, because you second guess the potential it has?

I was headed out to Los Angeles to spend Labor Day weekend of 2009 with Kathryn, before she headed into her run on So You Think You Can Dance. It just so happened that my 21st birthday was going to land on the Monday holiday.

Terra Nova…

That weekend, Mosaic was was holding an artisan’s retreat in the San Bernardino Mountains called Terra Nova. Kathryn worked out a discounted ticket price for us. It’s funny; we almost didn’t go. It was our last time together for a few months, and we were being selfish with our time. We were thinking…

Who wants to spend their 21st birthday on Labor Day weekend in California, with a best buddy you hardly get to see, at a ‘church camp?’

We went. What we found was a cesspool of creative minds spilling out all over the mountainsides. I could write for days about this place and how far from ‘church camp’ it was.

We chose our emphasis for the weekend. Kathryn would dance and I would make music. Amongst other activities, we each had set times when joined with others of the same emphasis. In the music, we had a two hour session on Saturday and Sunday to write a song. What we came up with would be performed Monday morning before departure.

Words Come Alive…

There I stood, with the other musicians, as the person in charge split instrumentalist from vocalists and then randomly paired them back up to create mini bands for the writing sessions. Erwin’s daughter Mariah just so happened to be present and waiting along with @viennemusic for more parters to join their group.

I found myself in that group.

It didn’t quite hit me at first, but I soon realized

I had spoken, and it had become…

Rob, Tucker, and Jordan joined the crew and we headed off into the night to write a song. Initially, my input for the session was a few cheap drum sounds from keyboard we hauled outside. I had the intentions of being the drummer for the group.

@viennemusic, Tucker, and Rob came up with a chord progression. We began to brainstorm off of a melody. We got to a stopping point, and said we’d finish in the next session.

The next session came and no one but Mariah and I showed up. She talked of how @viennemusic and Tucker had to go to town for a gig and would be back till late that night. Neither of us knew where Rob and Jordan were. Neither of us knew what the guitar chords were from the previous night. We had two hours and no song. Then she said it…

‘I guess you and I can just write a song together’

I immediately thought of ‘Way you Pick Me Up,’ but I knew if told her I would have to show her, via singing. I was out of my comfort zone. Erwin had been warning us of this moment, and how the retreat was designed for these moments, where we must choose to chart our way out of boundaries we’ve set, and find our true potential.

We headed to grab a guitar. I broke a sweat. I let ‘er rip.

To be Continued…

When was the last time you left your comfort zone? Did it sting a little?

Mariah dug it.

When I explained the meaning of the song, I used our situation at hand as example, telling Mariah how I often feel “picked up” from my faults and “lifted up” for divine purpose by God. Just as God had placed me with her to write a song, after I had spoken out on it at catalyst. Then I was floored when she said…

You know, the song I sang at Catalyst, I wrote at Terra Nova last year…

We immediately got to work. Rob and Jordan found us and joined the creative process. 

Between Jordan’s pre-chorus idea, Rob’s help with details, and Mariah’s unique vocal touch, all the song needed was a second verse. I got to work on that.

Later that night, @viennemusic and tucker returned. They dug it too. We rehearsed.

On that Monday morning, my 21st birthday, Labor day 2009, We performed the ‘Way You Pick Me Up.” 

You can view that performance here:‘Way You Pick Me Up’ Terra Nova 2009       

We exchanged numbers and spoke of taking the song to the studio at some point.

Once the retreat was over I celebrated my birthday with Kathryn and friends before heading to the east coast.

—————————————————————————————–

Once Kathryn was on So You Think, I began to plan my next trip out to L.A. I thought about the chance that maybe I could track the song while I was there. I contacted @viennemusic. He directed me to @chrisfranzmusic, a producer of his, who was actually at Terra Nova, and was interested in producing the song. 

After a series of phone conversations with @chrisfrazmusic, I was headed to L.A. for Halloween weekend.

To Be Continued…

Have you ever jumped into something you feel you know nothing about or have any experience with? What happened?

I left ATL at 6 am EST on the 30th.

My schedule was as follows:

• Land at LAX and hang with good friends
• Borrow drums from good friend Garret and cymbals from good friend Tim
• Meet @chrisfranzmusic for preproduction
• Track drums at Awaken Studio

I didn’t end up in bed until 6 am PST on the 31st. wow.

I picked up my mom from LAX at noon on Saturday and got back to work on the song. @chrisfranzmusic and I meshed so well. God stepped in. And between attending the filming of So You Think and a wild night on sunset Halloween night, we somehow got the instrumentation down.

Mariah came in on Sunday and breathed a new color into the track with her voice that is just so beautifully other. 

@chrisfranzmusic and I put on the finishing touches and somehow, four days into it, we had what would come to be the finished product after mixing and mastering.

It all felt so good. I was exhausted. I felt most alive.

Then, I had this song that I couldn’t seem to do much with at first except play it for friends. There was a lot of waiting around. I grew discouraged.

Then I realized I could use this link this Melody in support of my Mission…

Which has a something to do with this ———–>

To Be Continued… 

Have you ever poured yourself into a project and it go better than you expected? Have you ever been  in limbo, waiting for it to get off the ground? 

What was it like when you finally had your breakthrough?

‘Way You Pick Me Up’ is on iTunes!

Just go to the iTunes store and search ‘Way You Pick Me Up.’

Here are the lyrics:

Verse 1

A road bent backwards in front of you, willing to take you where it wants to

Sometimes it folds up from underneath, and stretches farther than the eye can see.

Would You hold my hand

Chorus

Lift me high above

Cause falling in love

With the Way You Pick Me Up

Verse 2

Running in circles to make it through, each round-a-bout brings me back to You

Hearing the whispers that Scream inside, my heart once told me that my soul’s alive.

Oh and my soul’s alive

———————————————————————-

Now on to the Meat/veggypatty and Potatoes…

So, I have this idea that I’d love to take music and use it to fund this creative water missions project called,

h2otogether.

First, I’m I am going to use proceeds from the sales of ‘Way You Pick Me Up’ to fund a project that I’m very excited about.

The Plan is to Kill 2 Bads with 1 Bottle…

Read this post: http://h2otogether.com/whywater/killing-2-bads-with-1-bottle/

If you’re wondering how this whole water thing came in the picture then check this post out: http://h2otogether.com/whywater/

In November of ’09, the divine struck me again as a prayer was answered for tickets to Catalyst in Atlanta. I got free VIp pass the day of the conference, from a distant cousin whom I had never met, which ultimately allow me to gain insight and inspiration through some noteworthy bloggers, which led me to go through with this blog.

Phew.

Not to mention I caught a ride after Catalyst with an old friend, whom I shared my ideas with, who’s name is Wesley, who has since designed all the images you see associated with this blog. PHEW.

So what’s next?

That’s a really good question. I have found that I ask that a lot myself.

Now I just prepare for rain.

For Christmas, my pops and lovely step-mom gave me the book Forces For Good, ‘The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits’ by Crutchfield and Grant.

I plan to study up and see where God takes this thing.

So what can you do?

Please, direct everyone you can to this blog. I guess you could always suggest or play the song as a way to break the ice. Just make sure every knows they can find the true purpose and meaning for the song here on this blog.

Make sure you read the “Kill 2 Bads with 1 Bottle” post. It is vital that you and everyone you tell is aware that the song is all about funding the design and munufacturing of the bottle.

Hopefully people will like the Melody and the Mission, enough to invest 99cents.

I like to think its not a bad deal anyway. Pay 99 cents. Get a decent tune. Support a cause. Hopefully in the near future all you guys will have a bottle to hold on to.

Are you down with this thing?

Please post any cool stories you may have from sharing this with friends!