Album Notes

A Song of Hope for Breast Cancer Survivors and Their Loved Ones

Boston, Massachusetts – September 27, 2011 – Boston based recording artists Zen Ten have written a song of hope inspired by friends and family battling breast cancer. “Keepin’ On” is an inspirational and moving song featuring special performances by Donna Salviati (vocals) along with Nashville’s Tim Crouch (violin, mandolin and acoustic guitar) and Warsaw, Poland’s Amadeus Kuba Majercyzk (drums).

The group has teamed up with The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Proceeds from downloads will be donated to the charity during October which is breast cancer awareness month.

“It started when my children’s teacher was diagnosed with breast cancer and elected to undergo radical surgery.” said the band’s front man Brian Downes. “My wife and I were so impressed with how strong and determined she remained throughout her treatment and recovery. As we continued to share her story, we discovered that we had many friends and family members who were quietly facing the same battle. I penned some lyrics inspired by these folks and sat down with Richard (Cowdrey) who worked out the framework for the song.” added Downes.

“Richard contacted Kuba (Majercyzk), who he has worked with on a number of occasions, to provide the drum tracks.” Interestingly, Majercyzk lives in Warsaw, Poland and the musicians communicate electronically. “We have never met Kuba in person”, offered Downes. “He gets the call from Richard explaining what we need, Richard sends him the digital audio files and he records the drums in his studio and emails the tracks back to us… crazy!”, laughs Downes.

“At first we were headed in a more traditional direction with the song. It started out as more of a Bon Jovi-like ballad, however, with the introduction of Nashville studio musician Tim Crouch the song took on a different personality, explained guitarist and producer Richard Cowdrey. “We wanted to capture the emotion of the lyric sonically and Tim’s playing did just that. The addition of violin and mandolin gave the song a depth and character that our traditional four piece arrangement wasn’t able to get to. Here too, Richard sent the digital file to Tim who recorded his parts in Nashville and emailed them in.
Lastly, the group wanted to add a female voice to the track to balance the lyric and melody. Bassist Tom Elliot suggested Donna (Salviati). A seasoned pro with a powerful and elegant voice, Salviati was the perfect choice for the part.

The song was mixed at Zen Ten Studios in Lowell, Massachusetts and mastered at Abbey Road Studios in London, England.
Zen Ten has set October 1st as the release date on iTunes and CDBaby. The group plans a major promotion via Facebook during the coming month. Proceeds from downloads will benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.