This song is dedicated to the memory of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. Thanks to Amanda Kay Creighton for gorgeous backup vocals. Like so many others, I was inspired by the courage of the people of Minneapolis, who stood with their immigrant neighbors in the face of cruel and inhumane ICE raids. I was shocked by the shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti. As I was wrestling with this, I read a news report that the killing of Alex Pretti had begun to influence public opinion to the point that it was forcing a change in policy. A wave of inspiration came over me, along with the first words of this song: "Well, courage is contagious, it moves us somewhere deep inside." The next line of the song came to me as I was wondering if there might be an iconic bridge in Minneapolis across the Mississippi River, similar to the Walnut Street pedestrian bridge in Chattanooga. I immediately discovered that the Stone Arch Bridge is a beloved pedestrian bridge in Minneapolis, and the only stone bridge across the Mississippi. I wrote the following line in the song, and could almost feel the bridge pulling me to visit. "On the stone arch bridge we'll travel, across the great divide." I completed the song, and brought it to Pedro to record at his studio. As we were preparing, Pedro helped me make a couple of lyrical tweaks. He felt that the line, "she was barely blocking traffic when the masked agent opened fire" did not accurately describe what Renée Good was doing that day. As we talked about this and did some research, we revised it to, "she was bravely blocking traffic." For me, this one word change made it more accurate, it captured her courage, and it gave Pedro goosebumps. We revised another line to, "In this time of ICE and teardrops." By the time we finished, we were both so caught up in the emotion that Pedro said, "Why don't we go to Minneapolis and record a music video there?" and I respopnded, "Let's do it!" We flew to Minneapolis the following Friday, and Pedro filmed as I played the song at the memorials to Renée Good and Alex Pretti. We got to talk to a lot of people while we were there and hear how they were affected by the massive presence of federal ICE agents. The waitress who served us breakfast at a cafe on the street where Alex Pretti was killed said they had to close for a week. One day she was overcome by tear gas, and she was assisted by the demonatrators who provided her with first aid. A Salvadoran man named Roberto described how the immigrant community stayed inside during the ICE presence, terrified to leave their homes. A couple of college students we met on the Stone Arch Bridge gave us permission to include them in our video, and they told us about their friends who delivered food to immigrant families who were afraid to go out and shop. A Somali UBER driver described how there was a breakdown of trust between police and the community after the murder of George Floyd, and how many businesses closed then are still shuttered. Special thanks to the amazing Pedro Abriles for always going above and beyond, for trying Ethiopian food for the first time, and for eating with his fingers. This is the first song of my upcoming album, Angels, which will be release on my birthday in May. Snow Angel Choir Intro: G—Em -- C – D – G – Em – C – D -- G G C Some say that they were angels G D standing by their neighbors’ side G. (F#) Em on the streets of Minneapolis C D G they put their bodies on the line Well, Renee she was a writer she was raising her young child she was bravely blocking traffic when the masked agent opened fire D G C. D Open up your window, open your doors wide G (F#?) Em on the streets of Minneapolis C D G she put her body on the line G—Em -- C – D – G – Em – C – D -- G Now courage is contagious it moves us somewhere deep inside on the Stone Arch Bridge we’ll travel across the great divide Well, Alex was a healer he served our veterans of war and he tried to shield a woman pushed down on the killing floor Open up your window, swing your doors wide on the streets of Minneapolis he put his body on the line G—Em -- C – D – G – Em – C – D -- G In this time of ICE and teardrops come warm your bones by this fire cause we’re here to light a candle and sing with the snow angel choir (pause) I remember in my childhood in the fresh fallen snow, we would lie and we turned ourselves to angels lifted our wings and we could fly Open up your window, swing your doors wide cause we’re here to light a candle and sing with the snow angel choir cause we’re here to light a candle and sing with the snow a