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Divorce can bring a stream of emotions to the forefront for all parties involved. For Bluffton resident Trevor Harden, those emotions became the driving force for his yearlong project “One Love, One Year.”
Shortly after his divorce, Harden embarked on a massive undertaking — write one song a week for the next year. On Oct. 31, 2010, he posted his first song, “Witness.” Since that week, Harden has posted the lyrics as well as a downloadable version of each song once a week.
“I think it’s helped me process everything, divorce-wise,” Harden said. “I think it was fairly instrumental in helping me meet someone. So all in all, I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. And now I can look back when I’m an old dude and say, ‘I gave up a year to do this thing, and I actually finished it, and I’m proud of that.’ ”
The Indiana native works full-time as a graphic designer in Beaufort. When he’s not at work or spending time with his 7-year-old daughter, Kalli, he’s writing and producing his music.
“Sometimes they come easy,” he said. “Sometimes they take 16-20 hours worth of work for one.”
Harden said he finds inspiration from a number of muses, including his daughter. “I See You Sitting There” was a song for Kalli, who can be heard playing in parts of the piece. However, most of his work follows adult relationships.
“What I got out of it is a little bit of therapy maybe, and the cool part about that is a lot of other people have seemed to connect with that and work through their own stuff,” Harden said. “It’s not all been happy rosy love songs. A lot of them have been about not so pretty things, but I just wanted to cover the wide spectrum of those different themes for my sake and for other people’s sake.”
While Harden’s work ranges from dance electronica to hard rock to country, many of his songs feature an acoustic rock sound. Harden said he was influenced by Sting.
“I really like his depth of lyric and poetry and his spirituality that’s infused in his stuff,” Harden said. “Musically, one of things I like about him is he takes a lot of risks as far as stylistically.”
Harden plans to do a regional tour featuring some of his and his fans’ favorites from the year. He also hopes the project will lead to other prospects.
“Honestly, I don’t know what it looks like yet, but I think this is the beginning of something,” he said. “I feel like this is where my career is headed. I don’t have a contracting business and I don’t balance budgets, but I can write the hell out of a song. I know I can, and I can do it fairly quickly. I know there’s something in that.”
Harden’s “One Year, One Love” project wraps up Nov. 7. Visit www.trevorharden.com to download all 52 songs for free. To book Harden for a private concert, call Moon River Productions at 843-757-1155.
By Jessica Sparks
Top tracks: Click the song name to download.
Trevor's Favorite Song: Week 3: Behind the Scenes
"I think the poetry in that song is pretty well thought out... The theme of that one is about being vulnerable and completely open and honest in relationships, and I find that a good theme. I'm pretty proud of it."
Fan Favorite: Week 42: Disappear
"It's fairly personal and gutty. I lot of people connected to it."
Kalli's (his daughter) Favorite Song: Week 17: Hang
"She's always singing that little thing. She gets to singing them and stuff. She's very musical, but she's much more into dance."
Web bonus - Editor's pick: Week 8: Wild Abandon
I'm a sucker for a good reggae tune, and I actually got to hear this one performed live - ed.
