LDS Podcast "Latter-Day Lights" - Inspirational LDS Stories

Jesus Christ: Easter Glory - Easter Music for the Soul by Nathan R. Bradford - Latter-Day Lights

• Scott Brandley and Alisha Coakley

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In this episode leading up to Easter, Nathan R. Bradford tells the story of how he was inspired to compose the touching album "Jesus Christ: Easter Glory" and how it can bring us all closer to the Savior leading up to His death and glorious resurrection.

To LISTEN to Jesus Christ: Easter Glory, go to: https://linktr.ee/nathanrbradfordmusic

*** Please SHARE Nathan's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***

To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/1mSyLSQu91U

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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.

Scott Brandley:

Hi everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.

Alisha Coakley:

And I'm Alisha Coakley. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth and inspire others.

Scott Brandley:

On today's episode, we're going to hear how one talented composer is using his gift to bless others, while sharing his testimony about the Savior through music. Welcome to Latter-day Lights. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Latter-day Lights. We're so glad you're here with us today. We're really excited to introduce our guest, nathan Bradford. Nathan, how are you doing today?

Nathan Bradford:

I am doing so good and I'm so thrilled to be part of this show and I love the work that you both do and it's a privilege to be on it.

Alisha Coakley:

Aw, thank you.

Alisha Coakley:

Well, we're so excited to have you and we actually have one of our former guests, daniel Adams, who his episode was so cool, it like definitely took us to the fringe. Daniel is the one that referred you and everything just kind of worked out where you were able to hop on really quickly and share your story with me. And so I'm excited because it does involve music. Music is like my favorite thing ever. I annoy my family so bad because I'm always singing random songs. I have songs about my fat cats. I have songs about my children being smelly. I have songs about everything and they're usually like based off of a melody from like Disney music, you know, songs that we grew up with and stuff, and so I know we're going to kind of talk about some of those things today and I'm just I'm really really excited. So thank you for being on.

Nathan Bradford:

You're welcome, and I wanted to add that I saw Kyson Kidd was also part of your show. Yes, and he was also referred by Daniel and I got to talk with him and it was wonderful.

Alisha Coakley:

So oh, that's good. Yeah, we love Kyson. He's good, he's good people. But that's the best thing about doing this show is I feel like I have just met so many amazing people that I get to be friends with now and I get to like, like, use as my little resources and I'm like, oh, you're a good person, I'm going to plop you in my life. I'm going to make my husband, my husband's coaching with one of our guests, my son's coaching with one of my guests, I'm coaching with one of our other guests and, like all three different people, it's, it's, it's awesome. So I'm excited. Who knows, maybe you know what, maybe, maybe, nathan, maybe when I get my book finished and movie producers are like Alisha, we're going to, we're going to buy your book and we're going to make it into a film. You could be the composer for my, my book slash movie.

Scott Brandley:

There you go. I would love that.

Alisha Coakley:

That would be so cool.

Nathan Bradford:

Speaking out there. So it comes to fruition, exactly.

Alisha Coakley:

Exactly. Well, enough about me. What about you, Nathan? Why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Nathan Bradford:

I am the oldest of three children. I grew up in Perry my whole life and I have a son that's turning two this summer. His name is Jameson, and I have a wife named Juliana, and she and I actually are both involved in music all the time. So it's really fun and we get to collaborate and do things like that, and I work at a restaurant called Maddox Ranch House.

Alisha Coakley:

Oh, that's my favorite place. We know, maddox, yeah, yeah. Well, why don't you go ahead and you know, tell us where does your story begin.

Nathan Bradford:

It begins when I was about five years old, my parents introduced me to music and back in the day I grew up 1990 was when I was actually born and I remember that's when they had the video cameras where you could look through it and have the cassette tapes and my mom would pull out those tapes and she would have us watch. You could slide them into a VHS, actually, and stick them in your old fashioned TV so she would have us watch different clips of what she filmed with my dad, and one of them was she taught me the primary music from the church and she taught me the hymns and different things, and I remember she would have me sing like a scale going up and then back down and things like that. And she introduced me to a program called Kinder Music where they let children experiment, rhythm, experiment with you, know notes and sounds and all sorts of things and cultures of music. And so I did all of that and then immediately I got put into piano lessons, really young at age five, and I continued that till I was about 14 years old and all my siblings were in piano as well, and I think it's because my parents noticed, or they saw, that I had a deep desire for music and I was more of a, you know, sensitive person with tones, feelings, emotions, colors, things like that, and so they got me involved with all those things and then I made the decision on my own to continue it.

Nathan Bradford:

And when I was about 12 years old, I remember I had a cousin that was living with us. When I was around, yeah, like 10 or 11 years old, she played the violin and she was going to sixth grade and I was in fifth grade and I remember thinking how cool is that you get to use a school instrument and you get to bring it home every weekend or every day and practice and things like that. And I thought I want to do something like that. And I remember going into the empty orchestra room and touring the school for the first time and it's almost like I had a knowing inside of my heart, like a whisper in my heart or something just came to me and I looked at the rack and on the rack was a bunch of cellos and I walked into the room and I just knew I'm going to play the cello, that's the instrument for me. And looking back, I don't know how that came so clear to me but it just was. And so my parents let me mow the lawn and all sorts of things and I actually helped pay for through mowing the lawn and things like that my own cello and I still have that cello today and I bought it from my favorite orchestra teacher, grover Wilhelmsen.

Nathan Bradford:

And so I did orchestra all the way through high school and then I started participating in the you know, the region and state competitions and I was able to get superior ratings and almost every year I think I only had like one one minus, maybe for the rest of them or one. And then I started using. I took lessons from a wonderful person named Ivy Andreus and formerly known as Ivy Buck, and I met with her in a chamber orchestra that's how I came across her and she took me in and let me have lessons from her and I studied with her until college and she actually went with me to help me audition for college scholarships and she went to Weber State and different schools like that and she attended Weber State and studied cello to there and so it was really wonderful to be able to do all that. And then I went to Weber State and I got a scholarship there for about three years and I got on a mission to Utica, new York, in the middle of attending Weber State. So I had like a little intermission of that and then came back and I think it was called a deferral in the program or something and so when I came back then I was still gung-ho about studying.

Nathan Bradford:

But I remember being so amazed I studied with a man named Victor Uzer who was just very, very skilled like he. I felt like when I went to my private lessons it was almost like he was the god of cello, like he was like the most, like renowned, traveling, like musician and was. It just felt so. He was so loving but it felt intimidating, like he could. He could close his eyes and he knows if your bow is going down or up and he knows like what you're doing and he can tell if you're practicing or not. Yeah, he was from Serbia, so it was really a privilege and an honor to be able to study with him.

Nathan Bradford:

And kind of going sequentially up the line throughout my childhood is I grew up with my parents introducing us to the most fantastic music I could ever want, and it started with the sound of music. I remember singing. I have confidence in sunshine at age four or five and and the king and I was a film. Getting to know you was one of my favorites in that film and the Wizard of Oz, of course, in Snow White was a huge staple for my childhood. Wizard of Oz I loved the witch, margaret Hamilton.

Nathan Bradford:

She was my favorite character and I remember my mom got a video clip of me at the table interacting with the transformation scene in Snow White when the witch is turning or the Queen is turning into the witch, and I had the score in my head and I was singing all the notes like like all the drama you know, and and like look my hands and like how they're transforming and all this stuff, and I think that was an important thing to recognize because that showed that I had a really deep love and interest for film, paired with music and the soundtracks that go along with the movies, and so I grew up watching all the Disney movies and my grandma took me to go see. My most favorite of all was the hunchback of Notre Dame, but that one I remember the opening thing just was striking. It was just stirring to the soul. The bells of Notre Dame opening number was just fantastic and just the characters, the tones, everything that was involved with that just really like to this day I still watch it like it's for the first time, with so much mesmerization and like awe. And when I look back I'm thinking these films that really touched my heart are ones that were actually spiritual movies, and the other ones that really influenced me were Pocahontas I loved Prince of Egypt, hercules, and I loved Fox's Anastasia and different ones like that just really really opened up my heart the most and brought me into this big world of music, and so I felt so connected to these films that I started looking when I got older into the composers, their names and how they came about and all these things. And it turns out Alan Menken was the composer of all the movies, from Little Mermaid all the way to Tangled minus like a couple. But Alan Menken is such a great person.

Nathan Bradford:

I got to see him perform at Tuahcan with my dad. Me and my dad sat in the audience and watched him perform and I was kind of like so emotional. It's hard to hold back the tears because you can't help but know that God was involved with these songs. When you hear part of your world and colors of the wind and go the distance and God, help the outcasts, all these songs, like you just know, there's something bigger happening and I wanted to be able to do that with the music that I create is I want to create something and someone else, I want to bring them at a higher place than where I found them, and so later in it's kind of interesting how all the music connects. Later in life, I later went to Utah State and I started studying music therapy and it's funny because we talked about Daniel. He actually was a music therapist as well and we know the same people in the whole class and the program, so we started the same exact routine. Yeah, it was such a blessing to work with.

Scott Brandley:

So what is music therapy, Nathan?

Nathan Bradford:

Yeah, it's actually when you start going into the program and learning more about it. It's a very, very fine line, kind of tricky definition. They have like a bunch of examples that you get to kind of put together your own definition of what you share with others. But it had some examples of what it's not and one of those is just turning on a song in the car and feeling goosebumps oh okay, so or feeling better. It definitely has to have a client and a patient relationship oh okay, sorry and the client relationship and it has to have all these elements involved with Like intention Right, okay, okay, gotcha.

Scott Brandley:

Well, music can definitely impact your life and your mood and events. Where does your story go from that point?

Nathan Bradford:

So I was actually aware that my strengths my professors would say all the time when we would do homework assignments, we would write hello songs, goodbye songs and lullabies for people and things like that, and they said that my performance, my composition skills and things like that were my strengths. But the therapeutics side was the lack, and so I had a really hard time with getting my therapeutic skills up high because I wasn't very skilled in autism and all these disorders. I had to research and how to go about the mental version of everything and how you go about leading practicum and different things like that were a big challenge because I could go in and take my exams and pass them and it wasn't as hard for me as doing an actual like therapy session and doing all the documentation correctly and thinking about the whole work therapeutically, and so the therapy is what made it hard for me to pass things. So my professor kindly pulled me aside and she said is this really for you? I feel like what's for you is composition.

Nathan Bradford:

She said I think you should go after your dreams and follow your heart, and maybe this isn't the path for you and she was one of the most kindest, wonderful people, but she just clearly said instead of retrying this over and over and forcing it to be yours, maybe you should find out what's really meant for you in life. And so I'm glad that she took me aside and gave me that talk. And so now I'm working a side job while doing what I love, and that's what I'm here to talk about today. She doesn't know that I've done this album, but I could probably one day share it with her and say thank you for your advice. This is what I've done with my time taking your advice, but I wanted to quickly share in morphing this all together to get a clear picture. Is I also? It started in 2014 is when I got really, really into this series called Touched by an Angel.

Alisha Coakley:

Oh yeah, it's kind of hard to see.

Nathan Bradford:

I remember that one and there's Roma Downey and John Dye and Valerie, bertinelli and Delores, so the only person that is alive besides Valerie is Roma Downey and she's been doing the most good with her work on earth.

Nathan Bradford:

And I remember I was doing summer cells and I went to. It was for direct TV and they drop you off at 10 o'clock and they pick you up at like nine o'clock or 10 at night, so you're just free to roam the streets in New York and Kansas and Missouri and different places. And so I remember just needing to go into a gas station and get a drink and I went into Target to just, you know, fill the board them up to get some shade from the sun, different things and I walked into the electronic section because that was always my first go to ever since I was nine or 10 years old, and it turns out that they had this series and there she is, right there, and I looked on into the details of the work and it turns out that she produced it with her husband, mark Burnett, and they were later able to turn it into an amazing film called Son of God and guess who the composer is Is such a big deal as Hans Zimmer, who did you know the Dark Knight Pirates of the Caribbean Manor?

Nathan Bradford:

Still so in Lion King, prince of Egypt. So Hans Zimmer scored all of that and it was so cool and I feel like that soundtrack inspired me with all the stuff that I've been able to do, and later I started watching Passion of the Christ and I started listening to that soundtrack. Mel Gibson's work and John Devney is another composer I really like who did such a great job on that soundtrack, and I hear that there's going to be a sequel coming out pretty soon. Jim Caviezel confirmed that he's going to be playing the role of Jesus again, and so I've noticed that these things have just shown up in my life at the right time and for the right reasons and it's caused me to want to do this work and so kind of getting into the main part of this discussion. Now that's my history and now it's more. Of what we're talking about now is. I went to Seagul book and I found this awesome breakdown. It's really thin.

Nathan Bradford:

It's like I don't know 20 pages or something, but it goes through every day of the week for what the Savior experienced. And so that's how I started the outline for Jesus Christ, easter Glory. And I thought wouldn't it be cool to have um title tracks that looked like soundtrack titles, like when you go on iTunes and you look at any movie and you try to make it look like it belongs to a movie. And Then I thought wouldn't it be cool to put days of a week at the beginning of the track so people know what's happening on what day. So I use this resource to help me organize that track list. So Monday, tuesday, thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, and and it was really exciting. So I I use a platform called tune core that distributes music on iTunes, spotify and all sorts of places. D's are Pandora, and so I put that track list there and I kind of left it there for a long time Thinking when am I gonna have time to work on this soundtrack, when I'm like when am I gonna have time to do all this?

Nathan Bradford:

And I started doing other music, started composing material that was the opposite of that Christian genre, and Then I got burned out doing that and I had this moment where I wanted to come back and Revisit this again and I said I'm I'm so ready to work on this material and I just wanted to share because it's kind of personal and sacred. But my wife and I went to the temple and it was after I was experiencing a lot of darkness in my life because of my own choice to want to experience darkness, because I Was listening to darker music and kind of more into the horror movies and the villains and all those kind of things. And then I had this moment where it wasn't feeling authentic. It wasn't feeling like me. I need to have a turning point. And this idea was of Easter. This Easter album was sitting there for like three years and or more, and so, going to the temple, I got this extra feeling of love when I was there that I knew that God was Putting his hand on my heart and letting me know that it was just a gentle reminder that he's there for me. It wasn't like a reprimand or anything. It was just feeling his presence very strongly and it was such a moving experience that it only makes you want to go out and do good when you feel that you want to Share it with other people.

Nathan Bradford:

So what I did is I took it so seriously, I changed my whole like approach to music and everything and I decided to get started on this album Jesus Christ, easter Glory and I wanted to bring that breath of fresh air to people and Bring that light and hope. So I started working on the album and I got one track finished and I showed it to my wife and she was really happy with it and Then it just kind of snowballed and then you just trial and error Until you whip out all of them. But I was a little scared and reluctant to work on the crucifixion and get some, get some any and the tomb and things like that, because those were really big Scores and I didn't want to just do a regular job, I wanted to make it Really important and big. So I kind of pushed those to the very back and didn't work on them and I did the easier tracks first and then it was about December when I was facing those tracks and then it was almost like inspiration to started coming the further I was going down the project and then when I got my most favorite scores actually are the, the, the happier resurrected versions, like Mary at the tomb was a very emotional for me because I was Feeling like there was divine intervention, like there was something bigger than myself at play with that score, and I remember tears were going down my cheeks like I can't believe this is all coming together the way better than I ever imagined, and I loved the scene with Peter diving into the water and being there on the shore with the Savior and he Asks him if he loves him three times, and I just remember that score really touched my heart as well, and those are probably my two most profound spiritual experiences on the album.

Nathan Bradford:

It's those two scores. And and Also, at the same time, something profound that hit me is I am 33 years old while working on this project and Jesus was 33 when he was experiencing all these things, and so the parallel was profound for me.

Alisha Coakley:

Right, wow, that is really neat and that was one of. I had mentioned a few of the tracks when you sent me the playlist and stuff like that. That was one of the ones too when you mentioned, you know, mary at the Tomb. What was the name of that track? It was um.

Nathan Bradford:

Why Running Together, Slash? Why Are you Weeping? Yes, yes exactly.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, that one I could see how that was. That was pretty powerful. But yeah, it was really, really powerful. And I thought to myself like this would be so cool to listen to as I was reading through the whole, the whole Easter story, you know. So I have to ask you, like, what was that process like for you? I mean, you kind of mentioned before you did read through it, as you were composing, is that right? Or you had, like, the scriptures open to the story. Is that what it was?

Nathan Bradford:

Yeah. So I began every compositional work that I had set aside time for with prayer, prayer, that I could get out of the way and let there be more of God and less of me, that I could be inspired. And then I would always end the session with gratitude, because I feel like gratitude opens up your heart, and I would always end with gratitude and a prayer. But I did have the scripture accounts open as I was working on each scene and I would get to a. I wanted to make sure they were in the right order. So I want to make sure, for example, that you know the Savior disappeared out of the room before Thomas came in and they all said we saw the Savior. And then you have music, that kind of shows that he's in disbelief, and then you hear cues, musical cues, that the Savior's back in the room again. So I'm having things in the correct order and that things are done really close to the scriptures as possible.

Alisha Coakley:

Wow, that's really neat.

Scott Brandley:

So would you say it's like, is it set up like every day up to Easter, like would that, is that how you like. If somebody wanted to listen to it leading up to Easter, would that work with the soundtracks?

Nathan Bradford:

Yes, they could start with the week before Easter, or, you know, sunday to Sunday, and they could listen to a track every day, and then on Easter they could enjoy the Sunday track, and so, yeah, it would work like that.

Alisha Coakley:

And, of course, we will share the link. Is that okay, nathan, that we share the link to your playlist in the description?

Nathan Bradford:

Yeah, Okay awesome.

Alisha Coakley:

So when we're all finished with the episode, make sure that you guys go check out the description and then you can have access to all of these songs. They're really, really cool, very powerful so.

Scott Brandley:

As you noticed, we made a little bit of a change here because the sun was going down. So through the magic of editing, Nathan is now in a new place, but we can see him a lot better. So I appreciate you making that change, Nathan. Quick question to kind of kick things off again what's your intent behind putting this together and how do? How can people find it?

Nathan Bradford:

My intention is to connect people with the true meaning of Easter. I feel oftentimes a lot of people in the grocery store shopping for those chocolate eggs and those peeps and looking for those Easter baskets and things in colored eggs. When you ask people if they're excited for Easter, maybe they're focused on the things that are trivial, that will pass away. And I remember when I was a cashier I used to work at Walmart for several years and I used to get my heart all excited for Easter and I used to ask people if they were excited for this upcoming Easter weekend and a lot of people were very, very casual or negative about Easter because it's not, it's only for kids, or it's not exciting, or there's nothing special about it, or it's just another day.

Nathan Bradford:

And I used to feel like it was such a big deal for me that I wanted to share that passion with others. So this album is a way to kind of awaken the special feeling inside of all of us that each of us are, you know, to be redeemed by a God and to be in tandem with Him and to have eternal life by just turning our sins over to Him and letting Him, you know, redeem us completely. I think that's just the most amazing thing, and Easter is the weekend that changed the world after all, and I just feel like this album could be one where people could look at the true meaning of Easter more carefully and closely. And my other hope was that it might bring people to read the scriptures more, because they're hearing some exciting things in the album so they want to go back and see if maybe a verse of scripture could fit into an exciting detail in the album and say, oh good, that verse is in there. I can actually put that in my imagination, like things like that.

Alisha Coakley:

That's cool, that's really cool.

Nathan Bradford:

Something else I wanted to talk about was the craft of this album was very intentional. I started with three songs in mind and prayed about them and I felt very, very good about those three songs Peter's song he Live to Love Me and come to him, which my wife sings, and those three songs are the foundation for the album. And something I've always appreciated about composers is when they hide tunes and elements of favorite Disney songs or different things in different moments of the movies, for example, like One Last Hope from Hercules is the street market song when they're going through the big city. I love when they hide different little crafty tunes just here and there and your ears can detect them and it actually fits like it fits the setting and you wouldn't have it any other way. And so as a way to do that myself that's always been intriguing for me as a composer is to hide melodies and hide things. So I guess you could say I'm doing my own little Easter egg hunt.

Nathan Bradford:

So if you listen to the album you can look for those Easter eggs. Listen to those three songs throughout the work.

Alisha Coakley:

Wow, okay, see, now that you said that, now I'm gonna be like, okay, now I'm really gonna listen, because I went through and I listened to all of them and I was like, wow, these are really interesting, like very cool the way that you put it all together. And, granted, I was interrupted a lot by my children because they don't know how to not interrupt me even though they are way old enough to know.

Alisha Coakley:

But that'll be really really neat to go back through and to find those. So can I ask you what little Easter egg like? Is it Easter eggs like, maybe, primary songs or other songs that we kind of know in the church, or is it Easter eggs that go back to like your other tracks? Or are you not gonna tell us, cause that's gonna spoil it.

Nathan Bradford:

I'm wondering if I should even tell you this or let people hunt for it themselves, but there's one specific hymn that's hidden in this album that everyone knows. That is based off of Luke 24.

Alisha Coakley:

So Okay, see, that sounds like fun to me. That sounds like a.

Nathan Bradford:

So it's like everyone gets to go and find all these treasures hidden.

Alisha Coakley:

Right, we're gonna have to go look at Luke 24 first. Be like what is that? Okay, got it Now. What kind of hymns correlate with it? Okay, got it Now, let's listen into it. I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna see. I'm gonna say to our listeners if you guys figure it out, put it in the comments and let us know, See if we all agree on it. And then Nathan will have to, you'll have to comment back and be like yes, you got it or no, try again.

Nathan Bradford:

The most important thing for me is it's easy to get caught up and look what I've worked on, look what I'm sharing, look what I've done. But I think the deeper meaning for me is I want to say look at what the Lord has connected to my heart and done for me as I've worked on this. It's brought me closer to the Lord because my mind thinks cinematically, more than I am an author or a chef or something else, when there's so many people writing books. Now, if you've noticed and I don't know if it's a COVID result, but almost all the people I like are writing books and publishing them and saying look at my new book, look at this.

Nathan Bradford:

And for me I wouldn't feel as authentic if I were to write a book, but I feel like my brain is wired to write a soundtrack and to share that as my book. And so I feel like I want to give glory to God with my talent, so much because I've been so blessed throughout my childhood with good music, wonderful family, fantastic parents and great music teachers. And this is my way of giving back, like honestly, more than any other way. I know how it's taking the gift that I've been given and reciprocating it back and outwardly and letting it bless other people's lives as well.

Alisha Coakley:

That's really cool.

Scott Brandley:

That's awesome.

Alisha Coakley:

I love that.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, I just picture you like watching these movies, these Disney movies, and watching them for the music and not for the movie. Yeah, that's what I did, that's so funny. That's cool. Yeah what a different way. That's a way to bring in all of that talent that's in a movie that we don't actually consider usually because it's more visual. But I love that you focus on the music side, the audio side, Very cool.

Nathan Bradford:

Yeah, and I feel like every time I studied like a lot of scores for like over 10 years and listened to them over and over and over and I had them in my head where I could sing it without even turning it on, all the way, from start to finish on a lot of them. And I feel like when I go back and I put the movie on and I know what's coming and I know the key changes and I know the details in the music and what instruments are supposed to be queued to come in at the right time, you can't hear them because they're overshadowed by the sound effects and the volume's turned way down so you can't appreciate the notes and the talking is taking over. So I wanted this album to really soar and be the non-movie, the movie list movie, I guess.

Nathan Bradford:

Gotcha gotcha, and something I did wanna bring up too is that we all speak so many different languages in this world, but music is the universal language. So I feel like everyone in this world could turn on this album and they could all connect to it, even if they don't speak English. And that's another big power of music is that everyone can understand and feel the emotion, even though there's someone who speaks Japanese or French or something that's not English.

Alisha Coakley:

So that's really neat. So let me ask you and I don't know, maybe this is not in your wheelhouse, but one of the things that I've really been drawn to lately is the fact that there are certain frequencies and things like that that we hear right that really do have an effect on how we feel. So how do you I mean, I guess one, is that something that you know anything about or are looking into or whatever else, and do you use any of that in your compositions?

Nathan Bradford:

I believe that energy is attached to intention and what people do with their work and things like that is. You know, it's a biased thing.

Alisha Coakley:

Right.

Nathan Bradford:

And it's different for everyone, but I feel like whenever I'm out in the world, whether it's at work or hearing people in the parking lot, at the store or just anywhere, I feel like the energy is really negative and derogatory and just it brings you down and it makes you feel at least for me, it makes me feel like it's keeping me in the same place, spinning my wheels, and it's hard to, like you know, improve myself and be inspired to be a better person and to get out of the anger and getting out of the depression and the sadness and all those different things and the frustration.

Nathan Bradford:

And I think, while those frequencies are very useful because it can help people relate to, like, if an artist is writing about pain and, you know, anger and frustration and loss, listening to a song that has all of that included is very validating. But I've gone through that myself for so many years that now I feel like the best way to get out of that is to look to God and to look higher and to find things that are going to take you above and beyond those things and have more hope. And so, yeah, those frequencies are real, they we all get to choose. I always say that we get to live with ourselves. So if we choose happiness, then we get to live with that, and then if we choose misery, we get to live with that, and we're the only people that get to live with ourselves truly.

Alisha Coakley:

So um so make yourself.

Nathan Bradford:

Enjoyable because you get to live with yourself Well.

Scott Brandley:

I just put a lot of responsibility on my shoulders.

Alisha Coakley:

I like living with myself, so that would be awesome. You're born in Canada. All Canadians like themselves. They're so happy all the time. So, nathan, where can people find your music? How do they listen to?

Scott Brandley:

this um composition that you've put together.

Nathan Bradford:

It is on Apple Music, Spotify and iTunes and people who listen to Pandora or iHeartRadio Deezer. There's probably 30 different channels or platforms out there in the world, but those are the main ones YouTube, music, so SoundCloud.

Alisha Coakley:

Okay, and they would just look up your name just Nathan R Bradford or NoR. Yes, okay, gotcha.

Nathan Bradford:

It has to be an R because there's other Nathan Bradford's that have been on iTunes Gotcha. So Nathan R Bradford and we'll go ahead and we'll share.

Alisha Coakley:

I know you gave me a link that we can put in the description too. That can kind of bring people to like all of the things that you've done. Is that correct? So that's cool, awesome. Well, let me ask you oh, go ahead.

Nathan Bradford:

I'm sorry. I was just going to clarify that this includes my past history of the dark music I've written and also where I'm at now with writing light, so they get experience both sides Awesome, okay.

Alisha Coakley:

So I was going to ask you about that, because you did mention that you're kind of in a darker spot, and so how do you feel writing this music has helped with maybe even your testimony at all?

Nathan Bradford:

I have always remained strong in the church, like I never had a moment where I was serious about leaving the church or anything like that.

Nathan Bradford:

But sometimes when you focus so much on the things of the world or the darker things, it can kind of make the things of the church look like they can be set aside on the back burner, like they're not as vital or important, and then what you're really passionate about takes all of your love and focus in your heart.

Nathan Bradford:

So what it's done for me, and ever since going to the temple and feeling that love from God, it's helped me give God my focus and give my heart back to God, and it's helped me not put so much heart into the secular things that are entertaining and fascinating but they're not the ultimate important thing on earth. So, and I got thinking, what has helped me is someday I'm going to have to depart from all this stuff I'm growing to love and it'd be attached to. So is it going to be hard for me to say goodbye to it later? And if it is, maybe I should say goodbye right now and then I don't have to have such a hard breakup with this dark music that I love or something and I could just pursue that love with the things that are allowed in the kingdom, you know, and then I don't have to say goodbye to that. That's a good way of thinking about it.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, I really like that Awesome. Well, Nathan, I think we're about ready to wrap up here, but I do want to ask you if there's any last thoughts or testimony takeaways or anything else that you'd like to share with our listeners before we go today.

Nathan Bradford:

I just wanted to lastly share that I know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world and I look forward to actually meeting him in reality, not just reading about him and thinking he's a character, but he's a real, living person that I look forward to meeting and embracing. And while creating this album, I thought about, maybe, what he would feel about this album and, if he approves, if he's a proud of it too, and I would say humbly that this is the best work I've ever done in my life, because it's focused on the most important person, and I just want to share his love with people. I want to share this album and hope it lifts your spirit, hope it nourishes your soul and thank you.

Alisha Coakley:

Awesome, I love that. Well, we hope, too, that our listeners will definitely tune in and check out that playlist. Go ahead and do what Nathan suggested, maybe, and or what Scott suggested, and take it a day at a time. You know. Like, I believe, does it start on Saturday. I think that was the first track, wasn't that?

Nathan Bradford:

I believe yes or Sunday.

Alisha Coakley:

Yeah, well, go look, so you guys can start today, and I would say, you know, take a day, and every day this week lead up all the way to Easter Sunday. I think that would be a really, really cool thing to do as a family and it only takes a few minutes. Some of the tracks, of course, you know would happen on the same day, correct? So you might listen to two or three of them, you know, in one sitting, but I think that that would be really, really awesome. So thank you so much, nathan, for coming on here and for sharing not only your story but your talent with us and this awesome playlist.

Alisha Coakley:

I think this could be a really cool tradition to start with others, and I'm excited to see what else you do in your future to see how else you can point others towards Jesus Christ and towards his life and ministry. I definitely agree with you that music is so, so powerful and it's so important to make sure that we are filling our lives with music that is uplifting, that's not just entertaining, but music that's uplifting and that can edify and sanctify and glorify our Heavenly Father right, and so I really appreciate you coming on here today and sharing all this with us and I just I hope that all of our listeners enjoyed it too, and I'm going to encourage you guys to do your five second missionary work. Put that little share button, comment, let us know what track was your favorite of Nathan's and if you guys have any questions for him, make sure that you comment there too. I'm sure that he'll be able to read those comments.

Scott Brandley:

Yeah, thank you, and if you have a story that you'd like to share on Latter-day Lights, go to Latter-dayLightscom and let's help you share your light with the world. And till next week, we will hope you have a good week and we'll talk to you then.

Alisha Coakley:

Alright, have a good one guys.

Scott Brandley:

Thank you Bye bye.

Nathan Bradford:

Bye.

People on this episode

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Scott Brandley

Host
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Alisha Coakley

Co-host