By Nathan Prewett
For The Tribune
TRUSSVILLE – Trussville United Methodist Church (TUMC) will be holding a concert benefiting Trussville Ecumenical Assistive Ministry (T.E.A.M). The concert, called “Storytellers,” will feature four local singer-songwriters from Trussville.
“Storytellers” is organized by Karen Marrolli, who is the director of music ministry at the church, and will be one of the featured singers.
“One of the things that I was thinking about doing was using music to help people in some way,” Marrolli said. “So, in some ways it’s been about ‘Hey, let’s create a dialogue about the things that are holding us back and being productive’ but then also using it to help people. It was an idea I was really excited about.”
The other singers will be Andrew Harbison, Peter Francks and Emmie Chambers.
The singers all have different styles of music they’ll be playing. The concert will have Harbison, director of modern worship at TUMC, playing Christian Contemporary. Francks, originally from the Netherlands, is inspired by Celtic music and ballads. Chambers, a student at UNA, is an Americana musician.
Each singer will appear and share several pieces of original music in an acoustic setting and will talk about how they came up with their songs. Marrolli, for example, said that she has written music about communication.
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“I wrote an EP called ‘Be the Change’ about the way we talk to each other and how it’s not always productive,” she said. “Sometimes it’s toxic. Everybody’s talking but nobody’s listening to anybody else.”
Marrolli was inspired by similar events like a concert at Moonlight on the Mountain where musicians come to the stage one by one to play and share stories about their music. Music and storytelling can be one and the same according to her.
“A song in and of itself is a story,” she said. “Some of them are more plainspoken than others. I was thinking of an [event] where they tell you why they wrote the song. A lot of times there might be a backstory there.”
Instead of paying a fee for the concert, attendants are encouraged to bring items to donate to T.E.A.M., which is dedicated to helping needy families in Trussville and the surrounding areas.
“Things that you might not think of that a family is struggling to get they will be supplied by T.E.A.M,” Marrolli said. “I thought how great it would be to do something where the admission is donations. A lot of times you’ll do something for a cause but to collect items for T.E.A.M and using it to help people is something I could get really excited about.”
People are encouraged to bring non-perishable foods, canned fruits, canned vegetables, as well as clothes, towels, toiletries and monetary donations.
The concert will be held on May 7 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Christian Life Center at TUMC.
TUMC is located at 120 N Chalkville Road in Trussville and can be reached at 205-655-3259.