JBR introduces ‘By George,’ and ‘Love Will Meet You There,’ by Jake Sutton and J.R. Lee with Dan Kelly

EDITOR’S NOTE: I feel profoundly and humbly grateful that the artists who made “By George” are allowing me to introduce this piece to our readers/viewers at JBR. The fact is that the possibility of sharing this video and this music with people was what finally compelled me to learn how to make a web magazine. My hope is that when others are as moved by this piece as I have been, they will share it and talk about it and talk, too, about what it’s telling us and then go from there – to figure out what we were made to figure out.

The song/video stands on its own. But because this is a web magazine, and because I’m a reporter and writer, I interviewed the men who made it. A write-up of my interview with Jake and J.R. in their studio, White Hat Studio, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, follows the video.

The visual imagery in “By George” is powerful, and sometimes painful. There are other elements to the piece that could trigger painful reaction; know that, going in. But know this, too: Experiencing a powerful piece of art is almost always worth the emotion it calls forth. I would be very surprised if every person who listens to and watches “By George” doesn’t come through the experience changed – for the better. Much — so much — for the better. In the end it’s just a beautiful piece, beautifully performed; and that’s all it ultimately needs to be. Trust me: You’ll see. 

To watch and hear “By George,” touch or click on the words, “watch on youtube.”

With love,

Julie

Jake Sutton and J.R. Lee have known each other about five years. Jake was born in Riverside, California but grew up in Neillsville, Wisconsin. J.R. was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 12 years ago.

The two men first met when J.R. was visiting Jake’s brother, Adam. He heard Jake, a guitarist and singer/songwriter, and Jamie, a drummer, playing some of their music in the basement; and J.R. – who sings, writes songs, and plays the piano and has been working in music production since 1998 – told Jake, “We need to have a conversation.”

Jake and J.R. started working together; and about four and a half years ago, they opened their own recording studio, White Hat Studio — named for Mae Hemp, Jake’s “Grandma Mae.” Mae provided the men with the start-up money for their business because she believed in them; and she frequently wore a white hat that she loved.

Writing the song

Within a week after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota – while the country and the world were still reeling from what they had seen occur at 38^th and Chicago due to the multiple videos taken both by bystanders to the crime and by cameras installed on buildings in the neighborhood, Jake approached J.R. with his desire to write a song and call it “By George.”

“Jake said, ‘we need to do a song for George’; and I immediately said, ‘no, no,’” J.R. recalls. “I’m a person who doesn’t like to react off of emotion. I didn’t know anything about George Floyd; I didn’t know why police were called. I said, ‘let’s kind of pump the brakes a bit, until we have some more information.’”

When it became clear to J.R. what had happened on that street corner, he continued to have reservations. “Something like that wasn’t new for me,” he says. “It was just another statistic for me that was going to get brushed under the rug.” He says he was “shocked by the turnout” – the country-wide protests, and the world-wide support for a man none of these people knew, and for his family. He recalls realizing at some point “that Jake was onto something,” he says. “I knew that this could be the start of something beautiful, if it was done right.”

Jake recalls it coming to him like a lightning bolt that “it wasn’t just about George Floyd, it was about a lineage – before, now, and (into the future).” He said that when he started thinking about the song, he had a starting point and he had a destination; he didn’t yet know the steps to getting there. “We just hit ‘record’ and went,” he says.

By then, their good friend, Dan Kelly — singer/songwriter and maker of instruments – was on board, as well. “He’s very gifted,” Jake says — and “a walking music-IQ machine,” J.R. adds.

Making the video

Filming of the video began about a month after George Floyd’s murder, Jake recalls. Through one of the friends the men knew from the studio, a videographer/cinematographer named Michael Shahin’s name came up, and he was contacted for the project. He flew out from Arizona for the day to shoot the video. Final credits on the video would end up reading Michael Shahin, director, song by Orion James (J.R.’s artist name) and Aaron Dabney (moniker of a music-making duo Jake had been a part of with Dan Kelly, combining both of their middle names), with special thanks to Lucas Mullikin — whose filmed protest footage from Phoenix and Seattle was used in the video.

Throughout the process of making “By George,” Jake and J.R. “went back and forth,” they both recall, on including the graphic sound and images associated with the murder of George Floyd that are used in the beginning and at the end of the video. “I had strong reservations about it,” Jake recalls. While he still feels some conflict, he ultimately agrees with J.R. “I was for putting it in, because those uncomfortable conversations need to be had,” J.R. says. “If you refuse to see it, I’m going to make you see it.”

For both men, the question at the heart of their conflict, Jake recalls, was keeping at the forefront of their consciousness the question, “what’s more respectful for George, himself, and for his family?” In the end, J.R. learned through a mutual friend of the family that a cousin of George’s said that while it was painful, he was “glad they put it in.”

For Jake, “there are bridges we can create and connect to, to bridge the gaps of understanding between one another” – bridges based on respect; patience; compassion; sympathy; empathy (r.p.c.s.e.) – all of which come together, as love. “As a person and an artist, I don’t know what it’s like to be Black. I don’t know what it’s like to be George Floyd,” Jake says. “I can literally only imagine, and yet probably still be very inaccurate — which is why the bridges of r.p.c.s.e. are so important,” he says.

On a personal note: This reporter went to 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis on May 31, 2020 — four days after George Floyd died on the street with a police officer’s knee on his neck. During the course of that week, the site had become a sanctified place – as thousands of mourners and protesters had made their way there to pay respects, leave flowers and memorials and signs, and paint murals in memory of George Floyd. The mood on that cool, sunlit morning was solemn and respectful. Underneath it all, visitors were acknowledging a site of horror, and at the same time recognizing a place being conceived anew — devoted to remembrance, carved from grief, and built on resolve.

Among the people who were gathering that morning was Christopher Garris, of Aiken, South Carolina – who had completed the 19-hour trip to Minneapolis that morning. “Something in my spirit said, ‘you need to get to Minnesota.’ It was something that God put in my heart,” he said. “I have to believe that George died for a purpose – please, let his death be for a reason. I see a nation of people that want change. I see a nation of people that are fed up. I believe in law and order; I don’t hate law enforcement. But we will no longer stand for this; that’s all there is to it.”

Art, Jake notes, can act as a kind of therapist – “not across the room from you but from behind your eyes and between the beats of your heart,” he says. “That is why music, creating and writing, is so powerful and important to me, personally.”

During the week of the trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, Jake and J.R. and Dan produced another music video, called “Love Will Meet You There.”

“When the opportunity of inspiration strikes at a time to showcase r.p.c.s.e – love — through music, it’s a blessing; a blessing to be thankful for and a blessing to share,” Jake says. “Even though we often forget or don’t realize, at the end of the day, we were made to figure this out.” “Love Will Meet You There” brings these artists’ message full circle, back to the love that may be our only hope for doing so.

One more personal reflection: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of the murder of George Floyd on Tuesday, April 20, 2021. Three days later, on April 23, this reporter went back to 38th and Chicago — known by then as George Floyd Square. The day had been touched by a misty rain, and a damp chill still hung in the air. Members of the neighborhood community were serving cookies, fresh out of the oven. The music of local hip hop artist and activist Lewis McCaleb, known professionally as Lewiee Blaze, was playing on a loudspeaker. A rapper since he was five years old, the now-22 year-old artist-activist says he continues to spread his message of compassion, love and equality to the world, “by any means necessary.” Overlooking the square, a billboard announced that “ALL MOTHERS were summoned when George Floyd called out for his MOMMA.” There were paintings, murals and memorials. And there were gardens, tended to by people holding the neighborhood as a space where something new was insisting on being born.