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♪ I took you back on the sailboat, honey. ♪
Tonight on MPB All Access Sound Check,
the angelic voice of songwriter
and native Mississippian, Teneia Sanders.
♪ Stand for love and ♪
♪ Stand for hope and ♪
♪ Stand for joy... ♪
♪♪
♪ Your words are drenched in sweat. ♪
♪ Your mouth touched my soul. ♪
♪ And I like it regretfully. ♪
♪ Love never looked so good and white. ♪
♪ So good and white. ♪
♪ You're shipwrecked with no land. ♪
♪ And if I'd agree you're frozen like a lake ♪
♪ in Canada on Christmas night. ♪
♪ And I bet I'll be your fool ♪
♪ and it ain't even April yet. ♪
♪ So I why should I fail you now? ♪
♪ You're sigh has already given me ♪
♪ the motive to breathe still and exhale to you. ♪
♪ Still we fight our eccentricities. ♪
♪ Fight access to the gods. ♪
♪ Fight. ♪
♪ It makes it easier. ♪
♪ Don't it make it easier? ♪
♪ Makes it easier to love you through words. ♪
♪ Ooooh. ♪
♪ Oh... ♪
♪ Your voice cackles like the wind in the South. ♪
♪ Beauty it remains in the fountain where you got it. ♪
♪ But to calculating the distance to your heart. ♪
♪ That land to the place in your eyes ♪
♪ I saw poetry and grace and history and destiny. ♪
♪ When you face me, I can see worlds for miles ♪
♪ For miles, for miles ♪
♪ And why should I love you now? ♪
♪ Your voice is already giving me motive ♪
♪ to write melodies and verses. ♪
♪ So we fight our eccentricities ♪
♪ Fight access to the gods ♪
♪ Fight. ♪
♪ It makes it easier. ♪
♪ Don't it make it easier? ♪
♪ Makes it easier to love you through words. ♪
♪♪
♪ Whoa oh... ♪
♪ Oh... ♪
♪ Whoa oh ♪
♪ Whoa whoa. ♪
♪ Your words, your words, your words.... ♪
♪ Words. ♪
♪ Words.... ♪
♪ Words. ♪
Hello, my name is Teneia Sanders.
I'm a folk soul recording artist
from Jackson, Mississippi.
I now live in Phoenix, Arizona.
I tour the United States probably twice a year.
This next song I wrote about kind of any time anybody has
had a really hard time and they hold on to the things
that have been holding them back in life.
It's mostly about the law of attraction and how we attract
what we put out and sometimes
we hold our scars really close to our hearts.
But life is supposed to be so much greater than that.
So this song is called "Hurricane."
♪♪
♪ Say you've got everything. ♪
♪ In a beaten up pocket. ♪
♪ Close to your heart. ♪
♪ Then there's a renegade. ♪
♪ That you stand on as you breathe. ♪
♪ I know where your secrets lie. ♪
♪ They're in the hollow of the sea. ♪
♪ You've got to dive a little deeper ♪
♪ for your wake up call. ♪
♪ And you'll see the answers will come up fast. ♪
♪ But I got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ I got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ And it won't be mine. ♪
♪ Won't be mine. ♪
♪ I got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ Got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ And it won't be mine. ♪
♪ Won't be mine, mine. ♪
♪♪
♪ Breathe breathe into me now. ♪
♪ You can feel it. ♪
♪ When the hurt starts to break apart. ♪
♪ I know what you're doing. ♪
♪ See it's a sad, sad day when the world ♪
♪ starts to break your heart. ♪
♪ You've got to stand up tall. ♪
♪ When you break, you fall right to the wind. ♪
♪ But you're screaming at me, darling. ♪
♪ I got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ I got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ And it won't be mine. ♪
♪ Won't be mine. ♪
♪ Got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ Got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ And it won't be mine. ♪
♪ Won't be mine. ♪
♪ Cause life's like rockets on a hurricane. ♪
♪ It's like ice cream on a summer day. ♪
♪ It's like dancing in a river bed. ♪
♪ It's the mind, you know the mind always wins. ♪
♪ You just breathe a little more each day. ♪
♪ It's your heartbreak going anywhere. ♪
♪ It's the heart.... ♪
♪ Keep on. ♪
♪ Ooh. ♪
♪♪
♪ Got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ Got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ And it won't be mine. ♪
♪ Won't be mine. ♪
♪ Got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ Got a little little secret to tell you. ♪
♪ And it won't be mine. ♪
♪ Won't be mine. ♪
♪ Cause life's like rockets on a hurricane. ♪
♪ It's like ice cream on a summer day. ♪
♪ It's like dancing in a riverbed. ♪
♪ It's the heart, you know the heart always wins. ♪
♪ It's a breathe a little more each day. ♪
♪ It's a heartbreak going anywhere. ♪
♪ It's the heart.... ♪
♪ Keep on. ♪
♪ Ooh. ♪
♪ Ooh ooh ooh. ♪
♪ Oooh ooh.... ♪
♪♪
♪ Say, hey, hey you've got everything ♪
♪ In the beaten up pocket close to your heart... ♪
When I was in high school, I was in an R&B group
and we would have these really cool rehearsals
with four-part harmonies.
We had some really good harmonies.
It was a time where I felt like
this is something that's really cool.
My music style is kind of a hodge podge
of everything that I love.
When I was younger, somebody told me,
"You can never make a record
with a bunch of different genres on a CD."
And because I'm stubborn and I'm a Scorpio and
I'm a little bit mischievous I said I'm going
to make a record with every genre that I love on it.
So that's kind of the thing that's happened.
I love so many different types of music.
When I write songs, I don't think about is this going
to be an R&B song, is this going to be a Country song,
I just go with the song.
The big thing for me is storytelling.
I want people to really connect to the song
in an aspect of really touching their hearts
and being in the song instead of being outside it
and going oh, that's a cool song.
I want them to be in it with me.
This is a song I wrote that I call my Country tune.
It's for all the lovers.
It's called "Loud Symphony."
♪♪
♪ Closer I get to you ♪
♪ Baby what a lovely view. ♪
♪ Some suggest beams from your eyes. ♪
♪ You give me just enough ♪
♪ To hold on to. ♪
♪ To love you through the rest of my life. ♪
♪ Maybe I'm crazy, but ♪
♪ Love makes you crazy. ♪
♪ I need your part of you. ♪
♪ If you knew where I stood. ♪
♪ The lover that I've got. ♪
♪ You would be singing your tune. ♪
♪ Sing over my, over my, ♪
♪ over my loud symphony, too. ♪
♪ Over my, over my, ♪
♪ over my loud symphony, too. ♪
♪ You don't have to turn down the music, baby, ♪
♪ 'Cause this song's for you. ♪
♪ Lover each day you are ♪
♪ Sunlight and rain you are. ♪
♪ A melody, a waltz and noon lahaw. ♪
♪ You fill me with love. ♪
♪ You bring rain in a desert. ♪
♪ Hope for all of our days. ♪
♪ Maybe I'm lazy but ♪
♪ Love makes you lazy. ♪
♪ I need your point of view. ♪
♪ If you knew where I stood ♪
♪ The lover that I've got ♪
♪ You'd be singing your tune. ♪
♪ Sing over my, over my, ♪
♪ over my loud symphony, too. ♪
♪ Sing over it, over my, over my, ♪
♪ over my loud symphony, too. ♪
♪ Whoa, whoa... ♪
♪ You don't have to turn down the music, baby, ♪
♪ 'Cause it's all for you. ♪
♪ For you... ♪
♪ Would you say we're lucky? ♪
♪ Or would you say we're blessed, ♪
♪ so blessed? ♪
♪ Would you say love is on our side ♪
♪ Even though we're in a big old mess? ♪
♪ Mess... ♪
♪ Mess... ♪
♪♪
Right now, I'm an independent recording artist
which means that I do everything myself.
There's no roadies or crew for me.
And as far as everything else,
I'm fortunate enough to have an indie label
out of Louisville, Kentucky, that put out my last record.
But right now, I'm very independent so I do everything.
Even though they put out the last record,
the bulk of the material
and the things day-to-day are for me to do.
So I answer all my own e-mails.
I'm lucky to have someone that works on my website,
but I was doing that for a while as well.
It's a very interesting thing because people think
that indie artists, when they get signed,
that they have all of this help.
Now, somebody else is doing it.
No, I do everything.
There's nothing I don't do.
I pick out of my own outfits.
I make sure that if I'm going to do a photo shoot,
everything that goes into it and work with photographers
that I hand-pick or they pick me
and want to work together, collaboration.
There is nobody behind the camera
doing everything for me.
I'm doing it all myself and it's a really fun job
because I'm learning how to balance it all.
This next song is a song I wrote
for the Belle of Louisville.
They have this big party and it's about steamboats
and all this fun stuff on the Ohio River.
And I wrote this song just for a side project,
a compilation album and I love it so much
that I'm releasing it as single.
It's called "Steamboat Honey."
♪♪
♪ I took you back on the riverboat, honey. ♪
♪ There's nothing left to do. ♪
♪ I took you back on the sailboat, honey. ♪
♪ Till my eyes were bruised. ♪
♪ Feels like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feels like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feels like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feels like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feels like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feels like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Yeah. ♪
♪ Uh. ♪
♪ Oh. ♪
♪ Poor little me and my Riverboat Queen. ♪
♪ I got to love her till my man came home. ♪
♪ And all of my things were planted in dreams ♪
♪ of water of the darkest blue. ♪
♪ But I feel like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feel like I'm drowning but I'm coming up. ♪
♪ But I feel like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feel like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Yeah. ♪
♪ Oh... ♪
♪ Let's go riding on a steamboat, honey. ♪
♪ Let's go riding on a steamboat, honey. ♪
♪ I've got a green light. ♪
♪ You've got a paddleboat. ♪
♪ Maybe we can be where the ship takes us to shore. ♪
♪ I've got a disco ball. ♪
♪ You're my Riverboat Queen. ♪
♪ Maybe we can be where the ship takes us out to dream ♪
♪ I... ♪
♪ Feel like I'm drowning but I'm coming up. ♪
♪ But I feel like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feel like I'm drowning but I'm coming up. ♪
♪ But I feel like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Yeah, feel like I'm coming up. ♪
♪ But I feel like I'm drowning. ♪
♪ Feel like I'm... ♪
♪ drowning.... ♪
♪ Let's get married on a steamboat, honey. ♪
♪ Let's get married on a steamboat, honey. ♪
♪ Let's get married on a steamboat, honey. ♪
♪ Let's get married on a steamboat, honey. ♪
So this next song of mine...
♪♪
is called "Stand" and it's about these kids that
had a segregated prom up until 2007.
There's a documentary called "Prom Night in Mississippi"
and Morgan Freeman steps in
and pays for the kids to have their prom together.
And there's this whole scene of the parents and the kids
and everybody trying to get along and everybody saying,
"This is the way it's been forever,
so why change it?"
And so I wrote this song and it was featured
on the documentary "Prom Night in Mississippi"
as well as the documentary "The Last White Night."
I'm going to play it for you guys today.
Hopefully it'll give you some hope.
♪♪
♪ Heard we lost our way again. ♪
♪ Digging up our skeletons. ♪
♪ We'll never get too far till we accept forgiveness. ♪
♪ So many letters and so many words. ♪
♪ So many hearts are bruised by the words ♪
♪ that we have taught our children to live by. ♪
♪ We call people by the color of their skin. ♪
♪ We're dimming dear life with the negativity stands. ♪
♪ No bright colors. ♪
♪ No happiness implied. ♪
♪ We've all fall for freedom in some ways. ♪
♪ Some land somewhere. ♪
♪ With God holding our hands ♪
♪ Holding our, our hands. ♪
♪ Holding our... hands. ♪
♪ So won't you just stand for love. ♪
♪ And stand for hope. ♪
♪ And stand for joy. ♪
♪ And stand for beauty in our. ♪
♪ Stand for love. ♪
♪ And stand for hope. ♪
♪ And stand for joy in our Mississippi. ♪
♪ Ooh... ♪
♪ Think we suffered enough from ignorance. ♪
♪ No education or knowledge that stands. ♪
♪ I think when we all die, ♪
♪ God will just look us in our eye. ♪
♪ Not at all at the color of our skin. ♪
♪ Not at the houses we live in. ♪
♪ But for the good we have done. ♪
♪ There's hope here. ♪
♪ At least we can try to teach our homeland to grow. ♪
♪ To expand and to rise and to open our eyes. ♪
♪ Open our... ♪
♪ eyes... ♪
♪ Won't you just stand for love. ♪
♪ And stand for hope. ♪
♪ And stand for joy. ♪
♪ And stand for beauty in our. ♪
♪ Stand for love. ♪
♪ And stand for hope. ♪
♪ And stand for joy in our Mississippi... ♪
♪ Ooh... ♪
♪ Ooh... ♪
♪ Ooh... ♪
♪ Oh, oh... ♪