12-Year-Old Writes Charity Song For Joplin

Eli Clarke's 'Good Song' to raise money for Joplin   10-Aug-11

It's great to hear when musicians get together to provide relief for those in need, but it's all the more special when it's a 12-year-old musician who is leading the charge. This report is thanks to PRWEB:

Eli Clarke, a 12-year old bassist and guitarist from Montclair, NJ, has written and performed an instrumental rock music track entitled “Good Song” in an effort to raise money for victims of the devastating tornado that ravaged Joplin, MO in May 2011.

“Good Song” is available as a download for 99 cents at GoodSongForJoplin.com, and will soon be available on iTunes and other online music stores. 100% of the revenue that’s generated by the online sales of “Good Song” will be donated to Music For Relief, a non-profit organization dedicated to disaster relief and mitigation that was created by the band Linkin Park. All proceeds will be earmarked specifically to benefit Music For Relief’s efforts in Joplin.

“Music for Relief is grateful for Eli’s support in raising funds for families impacted by the tornadoes in Joplin, MO,” says Whitney Showler, Chief Operating Officer for Music For Relief. “It’s inspiring to see young, talented artists using their music to help others.”

“Good Song” was produced, mixed, and engineered by John Ginty, a Grammy-winning musician who has toured and recorded with Warren Haynes, Sheryl Crow, Santana, Citizen Cope, Jewel, and The Allman Brothers.

“I began working with Eli in June ’10 when I was Music Director at School of Rock Montclair, and he was one of my first students,” says Ginty, who also played drums and keyboards on “Good Song”. “When he came to me with ‘Good Song’, I thought that his idea of using a crunched-up ukulele over a big fuzzy bass was cool and very unique. We recorded it in one day, with just a couple of takes. The track totally rocks, and this is the first of many ‘good songs’ to come from this talented guy.”

Clarke, who is an 8th grader at Mt. Hebron Middle School in Montclair, brought the influences of some of his favorite artists to “Good Song”, including the sound and feel of The Deftones, The Meters, Return To Forever, Mastodon, and Mars Volta – with a touch of Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd, and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

“I wanted to create a song that was powerful and energetic to reflect the strength of the people of Joplin,” says Clarke. “They’ve been through a horrible experience and they’ve lost a lot, but they’ll survive and revive – and ‘Good Song’ is a tribute to their tough spirit.”

Along with the performances of Eli and John Ginty, “Good Song” also features guitar work by Mark Dollar, who is Clarke’s guitar and bass teacher at School of Rock Montclair. Dollar has recorded and performed with Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera, Akon, and Justin Bieber.

Eli is grateful for the generous contributions of the following corporate sponsors that are helping to create awareness of “Good Song” and revenue for Joplin, MO via Music For Relief:

DOMAIN.com – Domain registration (GoodSongForJoplin.com, GoodSongForJoplin.org) and URL forwarding 

REVERBNATION.com – Digital distribution subscription to sell “Good Song” online 

PRWEB.com – Premium distribution subscription, to build awareness of “Good Song” among print, television, web, and radio media outlets

Rich Beech
@sonicamped