EverAshley Music: Press/News Articles

Award Winning Songwriter Performs in Mt. Vernon for Bereaved Parents.

MT. VERNON, Illinois (October 1, 2007) — Alan Pedersen knew he was supposed to be in Mt. Vernon this weekend. He realized this right away upon reading the exit sign to our town off the interstate exchange.

The sign read...Mt. Vernon/Ashley.

“It’s like my angel Ashley’s right next door,” Pedersen said.

Pedersen performed a concert Saturday sponsored by the Mt. Vernon Chapter of Bereaved Parents of the USA at the Schweinfurth Home, located on the grounds of Cedarhurst Center for the Performing Arts. His music is dedicated to the life of his 18-year-old and only daughter Ashley, who died in an August 2001 car accident.

Pedersen has traveled all over the United States speaking and playing songs from his first two CDs: 2003’s “Ashley’s Songbook” and “A Little Farther Down the Road.” With the soft acoustic sounds of songs like “Angels are Forever,” “I Remember You” and “I Chase Butterflies,” the bereaved parent wishes to relay a message of hope to others who know what it is like to lose someone they love.

Pedersen was a radio broadcast journalist for Westwood One Communications in Englewood, Colo., when Ashley died.

Although his profession called upon him to interview many parents who had lost, including those whose children died during the Columbine shootings in 1999, he said he did not fully know what grief was until it was his own.

“We all grieve so differently,” Pedersen said.

“But the great thing about groups like this is we can learn from each other. There is always somebody who is worse off than you are, and someone who is a little farther down the road. And we can learn from both.”

What started as a part-time hobby circulating different churches has now become a full-time gig

Today, Pedersen ends a 19-city tour with a concert for The Compassionate Friends in Salina, Kansas.

MIAMI HERALD by RASHIDA BARTLEY - March 1, 2007
People deal with the loss of a loved one in different ways. Cindy Baum of West Kendall learned to cope with the loss of her adult son by helping restart the Miami chapter of Compassionate Friends.

Evan Baum was 30 when he died in 2001 of heart failure. About a year and half later, Cindy Baum was speaking with three other bereaved mothers and they decided to restart the Miami chapter.

''There had been a chapter before, but it folded and I don't know why,'' Baum said. ``The four of us decided we would help start a new chapter for the community. We who have lost our children are here to help bereaved families deal with the out of sequence death of a child.''

The Compassionate Friends is national nonprofit, self-help organization. The group helps adults dealing with the loss of a child, grandchild, step-child or sibling. Members are volunteer bereaved parents and siblings. The group meets the second Thursday of each month from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Temple Beth Am, 5950 N. Kendall Dr.

Baum said that on average, 20 people attend the meetings, but they have had as many as 35 people. Baum's husband, Jay, also attends meetings.

''It helped me understand my grief -- you never get over it; you get through it,'' he said. ``It helped me to understand Cindy's grief because men and women grieve differently. It helped me to realize that I could play a part in helping someone else.''

On Sunday, the Compassionate Friends chapter will host songwriter Alan Pedersen in concert at Bet Shira Congregation, 7500 SW 120th St.

Baum first heard Pedersen perform in 2006 at Compassionate Friends' national conference in Dearborn, Mich.

''Alan is a bereaved parent himself, so he understands the grief journey that all of us are on,'' Baum said. ``His music is uplifting and upbeat at times; it gets to the sentiment of all types of loss, not only the loss of children, but it could be a spouse or the end of a marriage or the loss of a job.''

Pedersen lost his 18-year-old daughter in August 2001. Ashley Pedersen, who just graduated from high school, was killed in a car accident while taking a trip with a friend.

''I have been a writer my entire adult life in one degree or another,'' Pedersen, who lives in Englewood, Colo., said in a phone interview. ``Ashley and I had a really strong connection based on writing. She always believed I would have big hit songs out there. She was my biggest fan.''

After going through a period of tremendous grief, Pedersen decided the best way to honor Ashley's life was to help others by writing songs about the loss of a child.

''I [came] to realize that the loss of a child is the most acute form of grief,'' he said.

Pedersen put out his first album himself in 2003.

''It wasn't my intention to start traveling and playing concerts all over,'' he said. ``I just thought if I met someone who had lost a child, I would share this music with them. ``It has now blossomed into something phenomenal.''

Pedersen does about 80 shows a year at churches, school and conferences. This will be his first one in Miami.

''When a family goes through tragic loss, they don't want to hear real dark music,'' Pedersen said. ``They want to hear a message of hope to express how much someone loves their child, spouse or loved one.''

One of Pedersen's most requested songs is called Tonight I Hold This Candle, which is a celebration and memory of a loved one's life.

''When we as bereaved parents do things to honor our children, then they are never really gone,'' he said.

June 30, 2005 (Pekin, IL) -- The pain of losing a child is incomprehensible for most, and all too real for some. The Pekin, Illinois chapter of The Compassionate Friends offers support and understanding without judgment to bereaved parents in countless ways to help them survive their grief. Wednesday night it was through musc. Nationally known songwriter Alan Pedersen was able to relate, through his songs his personal story, to the pain felt by grieving family members gathered at Pekin's Miller Center. Alan's daughter Ashley, died in an automobile accident in August 2001. Ashley was only 18, and had ventured with a friend on a road trip from their Denver home to Hollywood, California. "They never made it out of Colorado," said Pedersen.
Wednesday night's group got to know Ashley through his stories, as he painted the portrait of a young girl who loved the fall, watched football with her dad and wanted to be a journalist. In return Pedersen invited those in attendance to tell him about their children. He shared candidly with the group how his daughter's tremendous spirit eventually inspired him to overcome the depths of his grief and begin honoring her life by helping others cope with their loss. "I was convinced I would never write music and would never perform again," he said. Eventually, though, music served a therapeutic role, for himself and now for others. Pedersen says his message is simple: "Grief and loss offer the opportunity for ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things," and "healing begins when we once again give of ourselves by helping others. The moment I began sharing my music with others who have suffered a loss, miracles started happening," Pedersen said.
"There is nothing I can say to make your pain any less," he said. If you can find just enough hope to get through this moment, it has a funny way of getting you through the next."
Calling himself "a poet who plays five chords on the guitar," Pedersen has been performing for more than 25 years. In July of 2003, Pedersen released a CD entitled "Ashley's Songbook" that traces his struggle to overcome her loss. In 2005 he plans to release a second CD, "A Little Farther Down The Road," and a book entitled "Growing Through Grief.
Currently, Pederson has undertaken a national tour he calls "Angels are Forever," playing his music for grief organizations including Compassionate Friends chapters across the country. "We hope to play and speak in all 50 states within the next two years," he said. His 6,000-mile trip in June and July had him performing in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, New Hampshire, Indiana, and Pekin, before heading to Chicago, then on to Wisconsin and Rochester, Minnesota.
"This is the group that has helped me the most. Wherever you go there is somebody who lost a child."
After his performance, Vicki Snider of East Peoria waited in line for an autographed CD. She took time to sign a guest book Pedersen has displayed throughout his tour. In it he carries the names of the lost children honored by families who have attended his concerts throughout the country.
Through tears, Snider said the night's program affected her deeply. "(Pedersen) just says what everyone else feels so beautifully, we all feel the same."
Marcella Harms who helped coordinate the concert on behalf of the Compassionate Friends said "we are so honored that Alan would take the time to come to Pekin and speak and play for our group. If we help one person by putting on an event like this, it is worth all the effort." For more information about Alan Pedersen visit his website: www.everashleymusic.com

Compassionate Friends group commemorates lost children
By: Melissa Santos
8/17/2006


August, 22, 2006 (Seattle, WA) -- Compassionate Friends of Seattle is sponsoring a free concert called Songs from the Heart of a Bereaved Father at the church. The concert will showcase the music of Alan Pedersen, a Colorado songwriter whose daughter, Ashley, was killed in a car crash in 2002. The concert is the chapter's largest fundraiser to date.

For Pedersen, writing songs about his daughter was his way of honoring her memory.

"Parents, when they go through grief, at some point come to the place where if they want to heal and move forward, they have to honor their child," Pedersen said.

Since he and Ashley both loved music, writing songs was Pedersen's natural way of memorializing her, he said.

"There's not a lot of men out there that will tell their story," Pedersen said. "Doing it through music has been wonderful healing for myself."

Pedersen performs regularly at Compassionate Friends chapters across the country. He said he credits The Compassionate Friends with helping him move forward with his life.

"They were the first thing I got involved with in terms of grief support," Pedersen said. "It's just my way of giving back to an organization that has given so much to me."

To find out more about The Compassionate Friends in Seattle, call 782-9101.

June 18, 2005 Hastings, NE) -- Singer-songwriter Alan Pedersen will share memories of his daughter and his struggle to deal with her tragic death in a free concert at 7:30 p.m Tuesday at First ST. Paul's Lutheran Church, 501 N. Burlington Ave. in Hastings. The event is hosted by Compassionate Friends of the Hastings Area Chapter. Pedersen whose numerous career hats have included actor, stand-up comedian, keynote speaker and radio reporter, found himself emotionally derailed after Ashley, his only daughter -and No. 1 fan-was killed in an automobile accident at the age of 18 in August 2001.
After struggling for months for answers, he finally found hope through a spiritually-based grief recovery program in Denver, Colorado. As part of his therapy, he began writing songs about his daughter in hopes of helping others cope with the loss of loved ones. The result was "Ashley's Songbook," a CD released in 2003. Since then, he has toured the country performing songs that promote healing through remembrance. "It's kind of an amazing thing," he said of his newfound vocation. "I didn't write these songs thinking, 'Wow, I'm going to have a successful CD now and be out playing shows.' I wrote them as my own therapy."
At first, he was too emotional to perform his own work. But as he began to see the need for such music among the grieving, his determination to help others transformed the deeply personal lyrics into gifts of remembrance for his daughter Ashley. "I'm able to do this because I know that it is important to my healing process that I do it," he said. "It's not that I don't get emotional performing these songs, but it's important for me to show parents that they can resume a quality of life. And Ashley would be proud of me for doing this."
For Juliene Bryan of rural Glenvil, who heads the area Compassionate Friends chapter, Pedersen's June performance is timely. "People just don't realize the ongoing loss that you feel," Bryan said. "For all of us who have lost a child, we have that bond of having the same loss. We understand each other's on-going grief and that's very healing.
"When someone as talented as Alan comes along with songs and poems, it expresses what you're feeling in your heart that you can't express. When somebody is able to put your feelings into words, you can say, 'Yes, that's what I'm feeling.' It helps to hear (those) feelings put into words."
For more information on the concert or Compassionate Friends, call Bryan at (402) 726-2207 to find out more about Alan Pedersen www.everashleymusic.com