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SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah veteran who uses music to deal with the post-traumatic stress disorder that plagues him will be featured in an album that includes other veterans and military members.
Operation Encore Music showcases veterans and military members’ musical talents, according to co-founder of Operation Encore Erik Brine.
“We seek out singer-songwriters from across the military and veteran communities to produce original music, providing opportunities for these talented musicians to share their stories,” Brine said. “Our mission is to help veterans promote their original music, raise awareness of veteran issues, encourage collaboration among veteran artists and to produce great independent music inspired by service.”
Andrew Wiscombe, a former Army sniper, is a singer-songwriter. His song “The River, The Lark, The Pine” will be featured on the second Operation Encore album.
“(The song is) about, you know after my post-traumatic stress, you kind of lose some self-confidence, and it’s difficult to kind of navigate the world,” Wiscombe said. “So I just wrote it about being OK being yourself. And … it applies to all people that just, you have to be OK being yourself, not be what the world thinks you should be or what you think, you think they want you to be but really what you want to be and being OK doing that and not worrying about what others think.”
The people in charge of the creation of the album are all military members or veterans, and all of the artists featured on the album are either currently serving in the military, military family members or veterans, Brine said.
Another Utahn, Doug Lane, is also involved with the project.
Wiscombe said he hopes the military veteran community and others can enjoy some of the stories the artists have to tell.
“There’s some just fantastic artists on it who have found a way to release some of the emotion they have through music, and whether that be military related stories or not, it’s just a great way to show that there’s a lot of people from the military community that do have this talent, and I hope that it kind of puts a different spin on how people see the military and veteran community, you know?” Wiscombe said. The second Operation Encore album will come out prior to Veteran’s Day. Those interested in purchasing the album can pre-order it now on www.operationencoremusic.com/music/. After it is released, music lovers can purchase it on the website, iTunes and Amazon, or they can stream it from the website, Apple Music, YouTube and Spotify, Brine said.
