December 12, 2008

Nashville songwriter gives honor to Mary in his new CD

Fran Rajotte, Tennessee Register

Randy Albright has always felt a special connection to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and it has expressed itself in his career as a singer and songwriter.

His latest project is the CD “A Musical Celebration of Mary,” featuring songs Albright wrote, such as “Child of Mary,” “Mary I Look Through You,” “Hurry Mary” and “Woman Clothed with the Sun.”

“Mary’s dialogue with the children of Fatima let us know that our Lord wishes for His mother to be more well known and loved in these latter times. … And in the writing and recording of my newest Catholic project and CD release, ‘A Musical Celebration of Mary,’ I wanted to do just that,” Albright said.

“I grew up with a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary,” said Albright. “I was born Aug. 14, 1957, to an unwed mother in Battle Creek, Mich., (who gave him up for adoption), and stipulated that I be raised Catholic.”

On May 8, 1958, at 32 months old, Albright was adopted into a Polish-American Catholic family in the small town of Bronson, Mich., where he attended St. Mary of the Assumption Church and elementary school. 

“Because I grew up with a special devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and being told that I was adopted through St. Ann’s orphanage, I always saw the Blessed Virgin as my heavenly mother and St. Ann as my heavenly grandmother,” he said.

He also grew up surrounded by music. Members of his adoptive family, including his mother, cousins, siblings and friends, were part of several Polish orchestras when Albright was growing up. He formed his own Polish orchestra while still in his teens. His earliest recollections of being on stage in front of a crowd were at the local area nursing homes and veteran’s hospital, where they carried on a regular musical schedule throughout his childhood years.

As a youngster, his dreams of the future as a priest, martial arts teacher, country music singer and songwriter and criminologist pulled him in many different directions. He eventually decided to pursue music and at age 20 moved to Nashville.

Albright found his way to Music Row and to Christ the King Parish, a few blocks away. He attended daily Mass after delivering The Tennessean newspaper in the middle of the night, and worked on his writing, pitching songs to publishers, producers, and record companies throughout the day.

“My youthful agility and martial arts background led me quickly and quietly over the eight-foot fence daily at the Opryland Park complex for a whole season, where a number of  my newfound friends and acquaintances were employed in what I called the ‘dream job’ of the entertainment industry,” said Albright. 

He landed the prestigious job in the “Country Music U.S.A. Show” the following year, imitating his phonograph mentor, Hank Williams Sr. This experience led him to more than 20 years of singing and corporate entertainment all over the country.

Albright attributes his career to the mother who raised him, bought him his first guitar at age 8, and taught him to play. “She was my biggest inspiration,” he said, “and there were many who helped along the way!” 

At age 9, Albright had written his first song. He has since written more than 500 songs with more than 100 of those being recorded, over half of them by Nashville’s major market recording artists such as Vince Gill, Charlie Pride, Tammy Wynette, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris, Alabama, Diamond Rio, Pam Tillis, Mark Sanders and Keith Whitley. Some of his hit songs include “That’s Enough of That,” “Way Beyond the Blue,” “The Memories Remain,” “Send the Angels Down,” and “Christmas Memories.”

Albright founded iKahnNashville Publishing and iKahn Records in 2002, and bills himself as Nashville’s Catholic record company, with the purpose of presenting to listeners a better understanding of the Catholic faith through music.

“I decided to promote iKahn Records as Nashville’s Catholic Record label to proudly proclaim that we create quality Catholic music, and it has helped our music buyers to more easily find the music of their faith,” said Albright.

He began his Catholic music career after being inspired to compose the music for the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, which led him to his first CD release “A Musical Celebration of the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy.” This was approved an endorsed by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception.

“My Divine Mercy composition started taking on a deeper meaning for me one day when one of the Marians pointed out that the Divine Mercy came to us from our Lord through a Polish nun, and that maybe my adoption into a Polish Catholic musical family was a part of a holy plan that was started a long time ago, and was finally being realized in my present day service to God through Mary,” Albright said.

Albright also performs the songs from “A Musical Celebration of Mary” as a one-hour live show with scripted dialogue that explains Mary’s role in salvation and why she is so very important to all people. According to Albright, the program is available for booking at Catholic parishes or organizations for the promotion of faith on the very topic, or for fundraising and various events. He is currently booking events for the 2009 season.

Albright is a long-time resident of White House, Tenn., with his wife, Laurie, and their three sons. He is a parishioner at Our Lady of the Lake Church in Hendersonville, where he started playing for the Saturday evening Mass in 2002.

His music can be purchased via his official music website at http://ikahnrecords.com, and St. Mary’s Bookstore and Church Supplies in Nashville carries the new “A Musical Celebration of Mary” CD, and has carried the “Chaplet” CD.  The album can also be found in the Marian catalogue online.

To book a live performance for a church or nonprofit group, contact Albright at ikahn_nashville@comcast.net or call him at (615) 285-0470.