Music For Tammy Original Music For Tammy911.com The original music, or "Music For Tammy"as it had been known, started In February 2008 when Don Michalsky wrote song lyrics detailing his feelings about Tammy's death and his experiences before and after. Those words were passed on to two local musicians to write music and incorporate his thoughts into complete songs. The first two tracks below were the first written and recorded to support Don's effort. As our library has been expanding, in addition to the first two, we thought you'd enjoy hearing all the more noteworthy recordings that have been submitted to us. Some of the recordings may not be the best quality but the quantity of effort put into each warranted its presence here. All recordings may be downloaded - for FREE!. NOTICE TO SONG WRITERS / MUSICIANS: check out the Song Challenge link on the left hand menu!

Releases

"Do What's Right (Tammy's Song)" - Marilyn Christensen

"What Went Wrong?" - Gordon Michael Clark

"Don't Let It Happen To You" - Gordon Michael Clark

Demos

"One Last Request" - Michelle St. Jean

"Anything" - Jayme Knyx

"On The Line" - Jim Marshall

"The Rainbow" - Sandra Huseby

"In Your Hands" - Michelle St Jean

 "Do What's Right (Tammy's Song)"
Performed by Marilyn Christensen

The first song was written and performed by Marilyn Christensen, a Cranbrook singer/songwriter releasing her first original recording with this song.  Marilyn's voice and guitar are also heard in a touching slideshow of pictures of Tammy, viewable through the link below.  This homegrown version reflects the essence of Don's lyrics; his love for his daughter,the ethics he passed on to her and her nightly request to "Please, keep up the fight".

Listen to "Do What's Right (Tammy's Song)" (Time 4:42)

Download MP3

 "What Went Wrong?"
Performed by Gordon Michael Clark

The second song was co-written and performed by Gordon Michael Clark, a singer/songwriter also of Cranbrook. An emotionally powerful rock ballad, this recording is a tribute to Don's efforts to inspire changes to the 911 service.  This is also reflective of Don's hurt and anger with the system and it's failure to function adequately when Tammy desperately needed it.

The song entitled "What Went Wrong?" debuted on The Drive 102.9 FM in Cranbrook and Kimberley, 99.1 FM in Fernie and Sparwood (www.thedrivefm.ca) on March 12th, 2008.  When we played the song for the station manager for the first time, CTV's W-FIVE team was present, taping a portion for the episode that aired the following month.  The tears were real - and caught on tape.  The link to the episode is on the News & Media page.

Listen to "What Went Wrong?" (Time 5:52)

Download MP3

 "Don't Let It Happen To You"
Performed by Gordon Michael Clark

This song was written by Gord to commemorate the 1st anniversary of Tammy's death. Written shorly after the song contest in 2008, this was the only song from that time period that actually came close to using the title, "Don't let this happen to you" which Don had requested. This song speaks of the time of Tammy's death, the following year, and prospects for the coming year. This also comes with the ominus warning: Don't let it happen to you!

Listen to "Don't Let It Happen To You" (Time 4:20)

Download MP3

 "One Last Request"
Performed by Michelle St. Jean

With 54% of the total on-line votes, Michelle won our song contest in 2008 with this composition.  A single mom living in Cranbrook, Michelle teaches guitar to enthusiastic youngsters and writes and records her own music in her spare time.  Of course, she uses the new guitar that was rewarded to her to write those songs.  Although we knew Michelle from her voice-over at the end of Gord and Don's song, it was anticipated that she would be entering the contest, but to our delight she won it as well.

Listen to "One Last Request" (Time 3:09)

Download MP3

 "Anything"
Performed by Jayme Knyx

Jayme sent us this recording from Sunset Prairie, BC (up by Dawson Creek).  Sporting a contemporary country rock style, this song includes portions of the lyrics that were posted on this site as an example of a format to follow.  With 36% of the total votes, Jayme was runner-up in the song contest.  He came all the way down to Cranbrook for the party in August 2008 to sing his song for the 100 or so enthusiastic folks in attendance.  Not one to let a good audience go to waste, he joyfully played and sang for hours throughout the day and into the evening, performing not only his songs, but also those of many popular country artists.  We're betting he gained some serious fans during his visit, which will come in handy when he releases his first CD which we are looking very forward to hearing.

Listen to "Anything" (Time 4:23)

Download MP3

 "On The Line"
Performed by Jim Marshall

A native of Kimberley, Jim said he submitted this song void of any illusions of winning the song contest.  But to his surprise, he was in the top three that were voted on during the finals.  Considering he went on a holiday shortly before the festivites, believing he wouldn't be a finalist and wouldn't need to be there, this song was used as the up-beat opener for the August 23rd, 2008, "party" video.  We are planning to have Jim re-record this song in the near future.

Listen to "On The Line" (Time 2:44)

Download MP3

 "The Rainbow"
Performed by Sandra Huseby

Originally submitted for the song contest, after this was first played for Betty and Don there were plenty of tears to go around.  Although this recording was sent to us on cassette tape and definitely not a professional production, it touched our hearts and we thought it should be included here.  Sandra told us she didn't feel confident singing the song by herself so she asked her neice to sing it, and she occasionally sang along.  Unfortunately, the recording itself kept it from being included in the list of possible finalists.  We cleaned it up as best we could for your listening pleasure.

Listen to "The Rainbow" (Time 3:06)

Download MP3

 "In Your Hands"
Performed by Michelle St Jean

Michelle actually submitted three songs for our contest.  We believed it was fair to only allow one into the finals, but thought this song deserved another listen now that the contest is over.  Although a very rough demo and containing a few "ooops", we can overlook its flaws to hear another example of a young songwriter with a bright future.

Listen to "In Your Hands" (Time 4:34)

Download MP3