Album Notes

- "Beautiful. I've watched and listened to many of the Obama songs and this is one of the best. Was moved to tears. Thanks to all who participated in this moving musical message."

- "This is an extraordinary and beautiful manifestation of your prayer for our country and specific intention to make both an immediate and lasting difference for all of us."

- "Thank you so much for all the beautiful inspiration in Choose To Unite. The video and song are expressions of Spirit, carrying the wave of this great change for the 'Goodness of All Life, for All People' — which is the Obama message. The Choose To Unite song is not only a campaign song, but one of universal support for the birth of our new world."

“Choose to Unite” is a song and music video inspired by and made for Barack Obama, our country and the world. Visit the Choose To Unite website to read the lyrics and the blog, to see a high quality version of the video or to get to YouTube. A spirited television interview (on the In The Press page) with Susan Slotter and Grant Taylor on the making of the video includes the beautiful Madi Sato speaking about her experience in the creation of the song. As Susan acknowledges in the interview, the song and project would never have come about without the brilliance and gifts of Eric George, who translated and crafted the lyrics into the final song in a way that is attuned with Barack Obama’s energy and purpose.

Photographic artist Susan Slotter attended Obama’s rally in Santa Fe, New Mexico on February 1st, 2008. For the first time in her life, she felt committed to contribute to a political campaign and do anything she could to help get this bright light elected as our next President.

A few weeks later, on a snowshoe, a rhythm for an Obama chant spontaneously came to her; over the next few days, rhyming sentences flowed out which she pieced together and realized formed the lyrics to a song. The initial working title of the song was “Restoring Dignity” – restoring dignity to the campaign and the election, to our people, our country and place in the world.

Thus “anything she could do” turned out to be becoming a community organizer and advocate, and writing and producing a song and a music video – a five month marathon as she actively found and enrolled along the way a community of “souls on fire” for Barack Obama to contribute to the project on a pro bono basis.

As Tone Forrest, one of the key catalysts in the project wrote about it:

- "Congratulations to all involved in this project, especially visionary artist Susan Slotter...in keeping with the spirit of the Obama campaign, she took on a seemingly impossible task and, armed only with vision, passion and dogged determination, created a thing of beauty...it's the real rainbow coalition in action!"

The lynchpin in the project was guitarist and singer/songwriter Eric George who had recently moved to Santa Fe from Nashville. He jumped in and shaped the song into a rhythm and blues genre that brilliantly translated the qualities Susan was looking for – positive, uplifting, catchy/memorable and automatically getting peoples’ bodies moving to the rhythms.

Enough people who heard the demos and reported that they couldn’t get the song out of their heads affirmed that the song was on the right track. Just as Eric and Susan thought they had a final demo, Madi Sato appeared on the scene to record female vocals, adding flourishes of light to the final piece.

Grant Taylor, professional Santa Fe filmmaker, jumped in to collaborate with Susan on nine shoots and editing the resulting 15+ hours of video into the 3.24 minute music video, with arranger/performer Eric George adding comments and feedback to integrate the imagery and music.

“Choose To Unite” was completed and posted on YouTube in late August, right around the convention, and has been inspiring viewers and listeners around the world to keep faith and hope in the opportunity and change that Barack Obama represents.

- "Love the video and the energy. Makes me want to .... UNITE!"