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You may notice when you listen to this arrangement that it’s not your typical America the Beautiful style. Not only is it in a weird key, but it has some bizarre chord changes, and only a couple times in the piece does it carry the typical, traditional melody.

There’s a reason for that.

America is anything but typical. We tend to point to it’s roots as being from Europe. But that’s only a part of the story. There are also Native American roots (which go back much further than the European story), and even those roots can be traced back to the Middle East. There is also the massive, painful, and deeply spiritual African story. And it would be ridiculous to overlook the remarkable and ongoing Mexican story.

It doesn’t take much study to find that Asians, South Americans, and even Australians all have major parts of the creation of America. And yes, it’s true that in any one area, you’re going to find pockets of solid culture, but isn’t that part of what makes us unique? The bringing of our modern and ancient traditions into one massive area to share them with everyone? The story of America is the story of the world coming together to create something incredible.

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Chas Hathaway's secret to an rockin' life is to marry awesome, have a boat-load of kids, and eat lots of parmesan cheese covered popcorn. Oh, and live the gospel of Jesus Christ, completely and passionately.