Dear IFS Friends,

Wednesday March 2nd I attended Bruce Rouse's funeral service in
Austin Texas. There were hundreds of people in the room.

Allen Shamblin flew in from Nashville to pay his respects.
He wrote and read this eulogy.

"I could be biased, but in my opinion there are few professions that
depend more on faith than songwriting.

Often before a songwriter sits down to write a song he or she must
first confront and slay the dragons of doubt, fear, loneliness, and
depression to name a few. And all of this while battling the voices
which taunt and whisper
"go get a real job,"
"no body cares,"
"hey buddy, you're wasting your time."

It is for this reason I believe Providence looks down with merciful
eyes and honors the songwriters' faith by placing believers and
encouragers in our lives.

Bruce Rouse was a believer and encourager. He opened up his home and
his heart to countless songwriters, providing a loving environment
where stories could be told, songs could be sung and lives could be
touched, inspired and ultimately changed. His contribution to the
songwriting community, his family, his friends and the world will not
be forgotten.

+ Allen Shamblin on
Wednesday March 2nd 2005 at
Bruce Rouse's service in
Austin Texas.

Then Allen performed "He Walked on Water"

Next Ray Wylie Hubbard performed a song.

Kate Campbell who also flew in from Nashville performed
one of Bruce's favorite songs.
"Bury Me in Blue Grass"

By the way "Bury Me in Bluegrass" is the
IFS FEATURED SONG

you can hear it at:
http://www.katecampbell.com/leveelisten.html

you can read the lyrics at:
http://www.katecampbell.com/leveelyrics.html

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We originally shared this story in IFS back on
Sun Aug 3, 2003, it's worth sharing again.

When Allen Shamblin performs he often tells this wonderful story

"Fixin to Give Up on a Dream Muh"

told by Allen Shamblin written by Ande Rasmussen

I tell this story just about everytime I play just in case there's
somebody
out there who is maybe where I was.

I moved to Nashville in 1987 to pursue my dream as a songwriter. I
quickly
ran out of money and started parking cars and loading boxes. I
eventually
started working for a publishing company  who paid me enough to quit
parking
cars.
 
After about six months of working real hard, they called me into the
office,
it felt like going to the principals office. In a nice way they said
and I'm
paraphrasing but this is what i heard

"Allen we're not too happy with what you've been writing. Why don't
you go
back to down to Texas, spend a week and reconnect with you your
roots."

And I said "OK"

Then they said, "Come back to Nashville and write by yourself."

I'd been cowriting for a good while, which means sitting in a room
with
somebody else, writing songs and I hadn't written a song by myself in
almost two

years and didn't know at that point if I actually could anymore. 

I went back to Austin, spent a week, I was feeling pretty low and
dejected
thinking that this wasn't going to work out. I came back to Nashville
on a
Sunday.  I got up Monday morning. At the time I lived in a little
efficiency
apartment. I walked over to the TV and turned it on. Then I wheeled
around to
the kitchen.  Now this was not planned, I just hit the button.  There
was an early

morning televangelist and he said

"There's somebody out there fixin to give up on a dream muh."
(he really stretched out the word dream and made it dream muh)

I turned around and he was pointing right at me

I said "yeah"

He said "Don't give up the race always gets toughest just before you
cross
the finish line"

I said "all right"

Literally 45 minutes later I'm driving into Nashville sitting in my
car at
the intersection of Harding Road and Trausdale, these lines started
coming to me

and I didn't have a clue as to what I was writing about.  When I got
into my
little office the words

"I thought he walked on water"

Just kind of fell out. I got chills from the back of my heels to the
top of
my head. and I remembered my great grandfather.  My mother used to go
to pick him up
and bring him over to spend some time with me.  Any way the song
poured out.

I went and played it for my publisher and she said
"Yeah that's what we've been looking for"

I did a little work tape, sang it into a little thing, just me and my
guitar.  She ran it across the street and Randy Travis recorded it. 
About 5 months later it was a number one song.
It changed my life.

A few of Allen's songs are
"He Walked on Water" by Randy Travis
"Life's is a Dance" with Steve Seskin recorded by John Michael
Montgomery
"I Can't Make You Love Me" with Mike Reid recorded by Bonnie Raitt
"Don't Laugh at Me" with Steve Seskin recorded by Mark Wills and
Peter Paul
and Mary and many many more

~ ~ ~

here's a schedule of where he's gonna be
http://www.allenshamblin.com/tour.html

and if you'd like to order his wonderful CD here's how you can
http://www.allenshamblin.com/store.html

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Dear IFS readers, I encourage you to be a believer and an encourager
to those who have chosen this difficult path. Don't forget to believe
in and encourage yourself.

Soon IFS is going to announce a very exciting opportunity.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today is the Fourth of March, and I share this each year.

March Fourth!
Written by Ande Rasmussen

We all love Christmas.
Halloween is scary sweet.
I'm thankful for Thanksgiving,
Boy how we eat.
Then there's our birthday,
which is really fun.
New Years Eve is festive
but we're a little tired come January One.

Easter is delightful!
Fourth of July fireworks are great!
Then there's St. Patrick's, Presidents, Valentines, Veterans, Labor,
Columbus, Flag, Fathers, Mothers, Martin Luther King, ...
How do we keep track of all these darn dates?

When I look at my one year calendar
March Fourth is my favorite day.
Nothing special happened in history.
It's just what that day has to say!

When you have problems,
March Forth!
When things don't work out,
March Forth!
When bad things happen,
March Forth!
When you lose,
March Forth!

When anything can happen
March Forth says it all.
If something does happen,
Get up, brush off, and March Forth,
Because we're all bound to fall.

Write on!
Ande Rasmussen
Editor and Publisher of I F S
Inspirations For Songwriters

Contact info is:

Ande Rasmussen
835 Martindale Falls
Martindale, TX 78655
AndeRasmussen@...

You can read my Bio at:
http://www.AndeRasmussen.com/

You can hear a few of my tunes at:
http://songramp.com/ande

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COPYRIGHT INFORMATION
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"Inspirations for Songwriters"
(c) 2005 Anders Rasmussen

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