BADDECK, N.S. — A chat with some health-care workers has led to Keith Mullins’ latest release, “Somebody Cares,” a song pretty much guaranteed to tug on your heart.
Co-written with Pictou County musician Dave Gunning and recorded at Gunning’s home studio, Baddeck-based Mullins released the catchy ditty on Monday, Oct. 28, a day dedicated to first responders.
It came from conversations Mullins had with a friend about the struggles of health-care workers and first responders and a story from a nurse who attended a patient’s funeral.
“She sent back this really beautiful story about one of her patients who was a child and had passed away,” said Mullins. “She was at the funeral and she literally couldn’t move in her spot. Her physical body just stopped working for a couple of minutes — I took that story to Dave Gunning and it was done in like an hour or two. The song just kind of wrote itself.”
Mullins says response to “Somebody Cares” has been good with one friend, an RCMP officer, telling him the song had brought tears to his eyes.
“When I get stories like that, I’m like, yeah, I did my job.”
Mullins and Gunning play all the instruments on the track which is available for free. A video is available at https://youtu.be/-mrEUxAwGQY.
“I’m putting it out there for free because I want to pay tribute and I want to thank health-care workers,” said Mullins.
Mullins expects to be performing the song a lot over the next few months as he begins a Canada-wide tour this week with sideman Kev Corbett. The tour starts at Talo in Glace Bay on Friday and continues at the Doryman Pub in Cheticamp, Saturday, Macbouch in St. Peter’s on Tuesday and Taigh Nan Og in Marion Bridge on Wednesday, before heading to dates in Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Ontario and Alberta.
