The Story
 ©2008 Belltown Records, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
The Road to Hope was paved brick-by-brick over the course of the eight years the Hilary Scott Band has played together. While Hilary has written many songs that have never been recorded and were considered for placement on this album, and while the band plays many popular covers that should one day show up on a sound recording, the songs on this album fit together particularly well, due to their sound, their feel, and their message. Songs written more than ten years ago found new life in these current arrangements, their voices unburied after years of silence; songs written only months before the recording process started flourished as the band reached an apex of cohesiveness and found their truest sound; covers ‘chose themselves’ for placement on the album, as signposts that fit seamlessly onto the metaphorical road, pointing Hilary, the band, and the listener, to an emotional true north. The Road to Hope was stubbornly traveled even while Hilary was going through a difficult time personally, and the title reflects the notion of hope and perseverance surviving in the face of defeat and sadness. While this message was borne out of Hilary’s personal struggles, as is true of the album on many levels, the message stretched beyond her and became poignant on a more global level. One such example of this universality is the way in which the song ‘Blessed’ was adopted as a theme song for both the devastation of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, and the incredible human will and strength shown by the survivors in the aftermath. The song was released on Road to Hope but also released as a single with the wonderful vocals of the Seattle-based Total Experience Gospel Choir added to beautiful affect. Proceeds from the single continue to go to hurricane relief efforts even today. |
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The album's title also came from the tiny town of Hope, Idaho, which was
near her grandparent's cabin on Lake Pend O'Reille and which has fascinated
Hilary since she would spend her summers there as a child. Hilary
invited natives of the area around Hope, Idaho, to enter a photo contest,
and the winning photo by Rick Miller is included in the CD artwork - which
also is graced by the incredible photography by Kevin Dingman.
Road to Hope was created with attention to the ideal of “album as artwork” which Hilary has strived for with all her albums, and which she feels is most closely achieved with the Road To Hope. Songs that might otherwise seem disconnected find a pertinence and relationship to each other that the band hoped would be felt in the uniformity of the album’s sound and in the story the songs tell. Furthermore, Road to Hope is the first of all of Hilary’s efforts in which album artwork, photographs, and design were treated as such an integral part of the story. Dingman’s fine photographic work accentuates and amplifies the emotional message of the songs. For a look inside the songs and the stories behind them, read on….Stories Behind The Songs...
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