Hearts of Steele, an Ogden-by-way-of-Nashville band, is having a concert on Saturday to honor those with real-deal hearts of steel -- the men and women, both living and lost, who serve the country as firefighters and soldiers.
Ray and Jennifer Brasseur, a husband and wife singing/songwriting team, go by the name Hearts of Steele when playing with their band, The Steele Workers. Saturday's show will feature their music, as well as guest dancers and musicians, to honor the troops and others who serve.
Jennifer Brasseur is an Ogden native who made a regional name as a Christian artist before meeting her now-husband while networking her music online. She relocated to Nashville to work with him and a band of pros.
The two fell in love and were working to carve out a place in Nashville, Tenn., when Jennifer's parents took ill, and she had to return to Ogden. Ray soon followed, but was naturally concerned about the course their career would take so far removed from a music industry center.
"But I said. 'Don't worry, Ray, we'll find a way to make music there, too,' " said Jennifer. "We just started playing around here -- anyplace we could. Weddings, rodeos, fairs, fireworks events.
"Then we got to wondering about the community night they used to have at the (Peery's) Egyptian Theater. We approached (Egyptian manager) Sarah Bartlo, but she told us they weren't doing that anymore. So we gave her our CD anyway, and after she heard it, she got really excited and wanted us to do a concert there."
Variety show
The concert will feature original music from Hearts of Steele. Some are songs they worked up in the past, and others they wrote specifically for the event.
"My husband wrote a song specifically for the Hill Air Force Base folks and the firefighters called 'What I'm Living For,' " said Jennifer. "We will be doing a slide show of them, trying to show a little of who they are as people. I am also doing a song called 'Remember Me,' about people who have passed on. It is a tearjerker. But we just want to celebrate those that are here as well as those in a better place ... . All of these people are heroes.
"I also thought that it would be really neat to do a song or two that discusses peace -- peace within, mainly. I am an enlightener, because we spend so much time fighting with each other and with our own selves, so I wrote a couple of songs about that."
Jennifer Brasseur said the music will run the gamut from Caribbean-flavored tunes to ballads to country songs, and a few spiritual songs. On a few, dancers will be involved as well.
"I found a couple of dancers from Hill Air Force Base (Sandy Hunter and Chris Mather) who are actually engaged to be married, and they are going to do a duet where they fall in love onstage while my husband and I sing. So they are sharing their love with each other with everyone through their dance."
Hearts of Steele will also feature drummer Howard Clough on some Egyptian numbers, accompanied by belly dancers.
"He approached us to perform with us, and we thought that would be fun -- sort of a Shakira moment, with the dancers doing the ching-chang thing," she said.
For those who serve
Jennifer Brasseur said it was pure coincidence that the show was scheduled on Sept. 11, the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001.
"We didn't necessarily choose that date, but it has worked out well for this show to remember it," she said. "We were heard a little while ago by someone from Hill Air Force Base, and they apparently loved it. And when their public relations people heard we were doing it on Sept. 11, they were excited about it."
She hopes that people will come out in droves -- not just to see what the band is doing, but to show support for those who serve.
"I promise it will be really entertaining -- make you want to dance, make you want to sing, make you want to cry," she said. "Most of all, make you see people really caring about each other. It is coming together so nicely that I think it must have started, and been on this date, for a higher reason."
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