A main purpose of music is to uplift and inspire listeners, which is a main intent behind my music. Growing up with the peace movement of the 60's and early 70's, this album grew out of a desire to remember the values of peace and love that were much more prominent in the culture of that time. Artists at times use their art for social conscience, and coming from a militaristic nation, I believe that it is important to teach the spiritual, humanitarian and material value of choosing peace, that the way of love is greater and wiser than the way of force. So a main inspiration for my album Journey Home was to write songs that specifically call forward the ideals of peace, and the ideas of Gandhi, John Lennon, and Martin Luther King, all men who very much wanted peace. My songs Give Peace Another Chance (after John Lennon's Give Peace a Chance) and Kindness and Love specifically recall the peace movement I participated in as a teenager. This CD is rich in range of musical expression and style, largely drawing inspiration from folk and folk-rock of the 60's and 70's. Specific musical influences include the Beatles, Cat Stevens, solo work by John Lennon and George Harrison (the vibe of Kindness and Love reminds me of Here Comes the Sun). I also draw from the musically adventurous sounds of the Moody Blues and Yes in their classic phases in the late 60's and early 70's. After expressing the ideals of peace and love, the focus of the CD moves more towards the spiritual realms with a song of blessing "Darling Angel" and songs about spirituality and humankind's ultimate destiny of journeying home to God in the songs "Do You Know Who You Are?" and the musically adventurous new age song "Journey Home." As a classically trained composer, I have missed the creativity of how groups in the later 60's and 70's music moved beyond formulaic pop into long musical adventures. The longer compositions in this CD come out of that creativity when pop groups would write expansive pieces, often of a musically adventurous and sophisticated nature. There is also some ambient new age music, "Angels of Peace," which can assist the listener in creating a peaceful or meditative mood.