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Hi Mike,

Thank you for not only starting this thread, but for taking so much of your time and effort with your critique and suggestions. Thank you also for your compliments. I can't address the musical issues with any real knowledge.I used to play everything brass and a tiny bit of bass guitar a lot of years ago. My playing and knowledge was adequate for a high school band. Then I went to Viet Nam and came back with cracked and scarred eardrums and couldn't hear what I was playing anymore. That dashed any of my hopes for music for a lot of years until I started songwriting. When we get to the level I want this song to be I am lost. I had a pro listen to a couple of my early demos and he said the music was nowhere near the level of the lyric and if I wanted to ever make it I would have to find a way to get better music. I found a musician and studio guy named Jim Heffernan. He played for Joe Diffie on the road and in the studio for 8 years and Tracy Byrd for 2 years. He had his own studio and worked for one of the top publishers in Nashville choosing songs to publish. He still has pro musicians coming to him for lessons on lead guitar, steel guitar, dobro and mandolin. I'm just telling you this so you will see I was serious about finding someone great to help with the music. If this one ever gets to the level where a publisher says "Needs better music" I will definitely find a way to get it. Right now I am still building a library of as many different style and content songs as I can. You know how much money this takes for someone who has to farm it all out to someone else. Right now I have over 200 writes and cowrites to music and about 120 at this level. when I finally get to the place where I can afford to really push them I will have to choose which I can push and which really need more work.
I definitely get what you mean about the bridge. This was a very tough place for me to get anywhere close to "Right". I had to find a way to work into "Mommy made it through the night, and this was the best I could come up with. I have revisited it a number of times and it still is. On the last chorus, I never went back to "Mommy needs a miracle". From the bridge on is all after she got her miracle. I made sure of that. You are right, if it did go back to her needing one, the bridge and the chorus wouldn't make any sense. I have also thought about having this done by a baritone with the little girl parts being sung by a little girl to avoid any confusion. Josh Turner is going to be at a very small nightclub in the beginning of Dec. and I am putting together a package to pitch this one to him. He not only does country but he is very religious and always includes at least one Christian country song on his CD's. I think he would be a perfect fit for this. Thank you again for all the time and thought you put into this. I really do appreciate it.