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Singled Out: District 97 (American Idol's Leslie Hunt)

07/17/2012
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Today District 97 singer Leslie Hunt tells us about the song "Open Your Eye" from their brand new album "Trouble With Machines". You may remember Leslie as a top 20 finalist on season 6 of American Idol. But don't let the Idol thing fool you; she is a rocker at heart. Here is the story:

I wrote Open Your Eyes with every intention of helping my sister see how screwed up her relationship was with her boyfriend at the time. They would regularly fight and get physically violent with one another, and I would often write songs as a sneaky way to offer her a new perspective. Music spoke to her more than my lectures ever did, so that was often the method that I chose to get through to her. She ended up passing away at twenty two years old, so while my music was not able to save her, I feel in my heart that whatever wisdom I was able to impart onto her was made possible through this song.

The song itself has many little sections, all of which were written at different times. As a writer, I often stock pile melodies and fragments that come to my head, and if I notice a trend in tempo and key, I take it as a sign that they are all part of the same song, finding it's way out of me. I originally wrote that song to be performed in my solo project, and it appears on my solo album Your Hair Is On Fire. Jonathan (drummer/primary composer of District 97) thought it would be fun to make a new arrangement for the band, and now it's hard for me to hear it any other way!

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen for yourself with a full album stream right here!

District 97 CDs, DVDs and MP3s

District 97 T-shirts and Posters

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