Mike Musick - ‘Honest’
While a lot of artists write and perform songs that preach about making positive changes on a global level, singer-songwriter Mike Musick 's anthemic debut single ‘America’ from his new solo album ‘Honest,’ has been a powerful launching pad for his overall mission to help alleviate the growing global water crisis.

While a lot of artists write and perform songs that preach about making positive changes on a global level, singer-songwriter Mike Musick's anthemic debut single “America” has been a powerful launching pad for his overall mission to help alleviate the growing global water crisis. Having hit #9 earlier this year on the FMQB AC40 Charts, the emotionally compelling musical wake-up call “ America ” will also be featured in the soon to be released documentary “The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?” which will air on PBS stations across the west in September. The song will be featured during the final sequence of the film, which offers a definitive look at how the United States water crisis affects the Southwest states and its escalating economic toll on the region.

Jim Thebaut, writer, director and producer of "The American Southwest: Are We Running Dry?," chose to use “ America ” because “Mike's song is a call to action for individuals to act locally and think globally in order to confront and solve the evolving water crisis. The song speaks volumes for individuals to pay attention and to take responsibility in order to create a healthy and safe world for all of us to live in.” In collaboration with the documentary, Mike Musick's charity Thirst Aid Live will be donating 37 cents from the sale of each “ America ” download to address the global water crisis through installing water purification systems across the developing world. Thirst Aid Live is a group of events that include the participation of celebrity entertainers, musicians and athletes that have joined highly visible creditable foundations to bring about awareness and raise funds for the world's water crisis.

“America”, which was produced by the Grammy Award winning Monroe Jones ( Third Day , Chris Rice ), is the first single off Musick's third album Honest, which is set for release in September. The probable follow-up single is the infectious, mid-tempo “Scream,” about a guy wondering who he's going to turn to as his difficult relationship with a woman falls apart. Other key tracks include the Coldplay influenced, Euro-dance flavored “Everybody's Hero” (which asks the people pleasers of the world to accomplish more through focusing on specific endeavors) and the high spirited opening anthem “Angels On The Radio.”

“‘America' is all about rethinking our priorities and becoming more vigilant in light of what happened on that day in 2001,” Says Musick. “I remember I was out fishing and when I came back to the car, I heard the news on the radio. I was living Chicago at the time and wound up going on air at a local radio station to talk about what happened. My wife and I had just had a baby and we wondered what's going on in the world, and did we do the right thing in bringing a child into it. We're all a little more vulnerable now, but the more aware we are about contributing to making this a better world, the better off we'll all be.”

Mike Musick recently appeared in another PBS series called Legends and Lyrics. As one of the show's featured up and coming artists, he performed live on the same bill with renowned Americana / country greats Charlie Daniels, Phil Vassar and Jimmy Webb. The performance, which was taped on June 12 in Nashville, will be aired around the holidays on PBS stations across the country.

Musick specifically wants to direct people's attention and compassion to the ongoing global water crisis, which, despite typical media reports that make it seem like an African issue, is unfolding everywhere, from South America to India. The truth that prompted him to co-found Thirst Aid Live is the fact that a child dies every eight seconds from drinking dirty unsafe water—and for only $3000, we can give a thousand people in the world clean drinking water for the rest of their lives (that's $3 per person!).

Thirst Aid Live, which is set up to funnel the money it raises to organizations like Matt Damon's H2OAfrica, the African Well Fund and Thirst Relief, will receive 1,000,000 waters in biodegradable pouches to brand/distribute for awareness from a Las Vegas based company. The branding will feature Thirst Aid Live's parent company Vessel H20. Currently, Thirst Aid Live is actively coordinating live concert tours in the U.S. and Europe featuring mainstream pop, rock and R&B artists to raise funds for and increase awareness of the crisis. The vision of these events is to educate people about the clean water shortages and empower them to become part of the collective solution.

“I think every artist enjoys writing music as part of building his or her career,” says Musick, who launched his career in the late 90s as the frontman for the Chicago based rock band Liquid Fire, which had a huge presence on the college circuit. “But then the question for me became, how can I make a difference in the world beyond my art? I think water is the foundation of life. You can't live, grow food or do anything without it. So many of the world's health crises like malaria are tied to water borne illnesses, and if we solve the water problems, some of these tragedies will be averted as well.”

Musick has released a handful of projects that received acclaim in the past, starting with Liquid Fire's House of Stones (2000) and continuing through his solo debut This Town (2002) (produced by Mitch Dane, whose credits include Jars of Clay) and Love Rain Down (2006). His single “Funk#5” reached #2 on Indie Rock Radio, while “This Town” reached #3 on that survey and was a finalist in the International Songwriting Competition and was released on a radio compilation entitled Still Small Voice. In addition, “Got Your Back” from This Town was a big college radio hit throughout the Midwest and was included on a 2004 Major League Baseball compilation CD that was distributed to players through UPI's Think About It campaign; the compilation also featured Jeff Foxworthy.

“I think the main difference in the songs I am writing now is that there's just a natural maturity of my sound,” says Musick. “I just think the older you get, the more strong and confident your music becomes. I've always been a rocker at heart and everything has always had a rock edge to it, but I think the songs that will be on the new album are the most pop-rock oriented of any I have ever written. I'm also writing about personal issues and things that matter to me more than ever before. I'm really thankful for all the positive feedback I'm getting on the music, and the overwhelming response to ‘America.' It's exciting to see what kind of difference we are going to make, not only in my lifetime but for future generations.”