PRESS RELEASE: This Is My America

(reprinted with permission)

Award-Winning Songwriters, Performers Gather for Special Celebration of

This Is My America Project

(Nashville, TN - Jan, 13, 2009) An assortment of hit songwriters, performers and music industry executives packed Ocean Way Studios in Nashville Monday night to celebrate the official release of This Is My America.

A crowd of more than 300 attended the special reception, including many of the 56 songwriters and performers that contributed to the historic three-disc set. Members of the Nashville Symphony and the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who are also featured on the album, were on hand as well.

Executive Producer Douglas Hutton and several of the album's songwriters spoke about the momentous project.

"From the beginning, I told everyone involved with This Is My America that it isn't about the writers or singers involved, or the studios or musicians," said an exuberant Hutton. "It's simply about a place called America."

Songwriters Thomas Cain, J Fred Knobloch and Brian White, as well as country singer Billy Dean, also addressed the packed studio."This project is more than just another record," said White. "I feel like I'm a part of history in the making. It has brought me back to the men and women who went before us and paid a price for us here in the Land of the Free so that we can all say today, This is My America."

The evening concluded with an emotional listening of the album's signature closing track, "Wave On, Old Glory, Wave On," sung by Billy Dean and written by Wood Newton and Jim Weatherly.

This Is My America is now available for purchase at http://www.thisismyamerica.com/. The set includes three CDs (64 tracks), 24-page booklet, collector's box and a replica of the Declaration of Independence.

About 'This Is My America':This Is My America is a musical journey through America's history. It is much more than another contemporary collection of patriotic hits; it is an epic three-disc concept album that provides unique insight into the Story of America, as told through the original interpretations of the songwriters, narrators and performers. For more information, visit: http://www.thisismyamerica.com/.

(L to R): Performer Billy Dean, This Is My America Executive Producer Douglas Hutton and songwriter Rory Bourke.

(Bottom Row, L to R): Ron Wallace, Billy Dean, Thomas Cain, J Fred Knobloch, Karyn Williams, Wood Newton, Gene Miller, Jon Vezner, Tim Buppert, Matt King, Beth Nielsen Chapman(Top Row, L to R): Billy Burnette, Perry Danos, Brice Long, David Ford, Tim Ryan

(Photo credits: Bev Moser)