Meet Anna Huckabee Tull of Custom Crafted Songs in Concord

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Huckabee Tull.

Anna, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Everything I do–Commissioned Songwriting, Life Coaching, the book I released last year (“Living the Deeper YES”), the five musical albums I’ve released, even the project I created last year of walking every street in my hometown of Concord, MA–all of it stems out of one powerful moment in my life that happened over twenty years ago.

I had hit a wall… Marriage crumbled, job feeling totally wrong, life seemed to have handed me an eject button on everything I was involved in. So, I hopped into my car and started driving wherever the wind took me for three magical, tear-filled months. Way out in the middle of the brown hills of California I had an epiphany: I am feeling numb on the outside, but I am vibrantly alive, waaaaay deep down on the inside! The only thing that is truly worthy of my attention is that spark, deep down inside of me, and deep down inside everyone else.

From that day to this, I have navigated my every move based not on what “should” happen, but on where the spark inside me takes me.

I got a Master’s Degree in Applied Psychology and Spiritual Psychology and have spent the rest of my life helping myself and others feel free and expansive and expressive, from the inside out.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has been an astonishingly smooth and serendipitous road, ever since my big epiphany!

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Custom Crafted Songs story. Tell us more about the business.
I seriously think I have one of the coolest jobs on the planet. People track me down when they are ready to do something unusual, amazing and powerful. And I help them do it.

Basically, I sit in a room with whatever brave soul has sought me out, and engage with them pretty intently on a topic of their choosing for about two hours. When our conversation is complete, I turn the essence of what they shared with me into…a song! And what happens once a song like this gets born can be pretty incredible.

Creating the song is not a two-second turn-around. I go deep and work on it for weeks and weeks. But when I emerge, what I have for them is something that never existed before, and that, pretty much every time (knock on wood) becomes the fulcrum point for something really powerful happening out in their world and beyond.

Who tracks me down, and what are they wanting songs for? It’s fascinating, actually. Lots of times it’s an inspired twist on a traditional event. A father wants a father-daughter dance song for his daughter’s wedding. A grandmother wants a lullaby for her new baby grandson. A husband wants a very special love song for his wife on her birthday or on their anniversary. But then again, often it’s something far more unexpected.

Because I am a Psychologist and a Life Coach, people seek me out for songs that heal, or help them stretch, or that bridge a painful gap in a meaningful way. They’ll come to me and say, “I haven’t spoken to my mother in twenty years, and I want to begin the dialogue with a song.” Or, “My husband is struggling with Alzheimer’s and I want to create two songs, one where he sits for the interview and shares his parting thoughts, and one where I sit for the interview and offer a song to inspire other caregivers.” Over the years, I have created over 250 original, studio-recorded songs. And the only thing more powerful than playing someone’s song to them for the first time is all the stories I hear about what happened out in the world once they started sharing their song with others.

I composed two songs for a well-known Cambridge blogger, Marie Pechet, who was struggling with cancer. She shared that one of the songs, which was vibrant and uplifting, “The Days of Your Opening,” helped her beat her 12-month prognosis and live nine healthy years with cancer. The second song, “From the Inside,” took a deep dive into Marie’s internal world, grappling with staying lovingly connected to herself throughout her illness. She shared with me that listening to this song helped her, when the time came, to start releasing and letting go. At her request, I performed both songs recently at her standing-room-only memorial service. To my surprise, people literally danced down the aisles upon exiting the service as I performed her final, uplifting song. It makes my heart soar to see and be a part of such transitions and gifts of love.
http://www.customcraftedsongs.com/listen/the-days-of-your-opening

Some years ago, I composed a “fresh water well induction song” for a college professor from Brandeis who was traveling to Ghana with a team of students to help install a well in a village where children had previously had to travel an hour each day just to collect water. I created a simple three-part round called “Sweet Water” that I recorded with students from the New School in Cambridge, who then taught it to the Brandeis students, who in turn travelled across the sea with their professor and taught it to the villagers. Can you believe they still sing this song every morning in the village schoolroom as they salute their flag? I have been invited to perform this same song on National Water Day all throughout New England and far beyond. It just keeps rippling outward.
http://www.customcraftedsongs.com/listen/sweet-water

I composed a song for a man with Lou Gehrig’s disease who had lost his ability to speak. We conducted the interview over a period of a month instead of a few hours, as he laboriously pecked out answers, a few each day, to questions I posed him using eye-retina pointer technology. That song, “Bright Eyes” started with his desire to explain to his young daughter what was happening to him, and speak to her of his love. But this same song eventually landed on the desk of the president of the ALS Association. He invited me to perform at the ALS convention in Harvard Square, and then flew me to Washington DC to perform before the largest ever gathering of ALS patients and their caretakers. Years later, the wife of that same president invited me to create a powerful and intimate song for her husband, to be played at a gathering of ten of his closest friends, who flew in from all over the world to help him celebrate his 70th birthday.
http://www.customcraftedsongs.com/listen/bright-eyes-an-update

I never know what the next request will be or in what ways it will hover close in intimate privacy or take fight and be shared all around the globe—adoption songs, songs helping to process unresolved anger towards a parent who has passed away, songs of apology, songs of triumph. And then there is one of my favorite assignments that, as a Life Coach, I hear often: “Can you compose a song so I can hear what I will sound like when I am on the other side of this painful issue/loss/disappointment?” The answer is, I can!
http://www.customcraftedsongs.com/listen/13

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I believe luck is something we can invite.

My life has been filled with mountains of good luck ever since I had my big epiphany about how important it was to attune myself to that powerful spark of vibrancy deep within me.

I wrote a book last year called “Living the Deeper YES” that is all about helping others to do the same. It feels like astonishing good luck that the book has jumped this year to the Top 3% on Amazon. I am still pinching myself about that. But then again, absurd as it may sound, I genuinely believe that I invited that to happen. And I genuinely believe that others can learn to invite in more of what they deeply want, as well.

Life feels so much better when you do!

Contact Info:

• Address: Concord, MA
• Website: Songs = http://www.customcraftedsongs.com, Life Coaching/Author = http://www.annahuckabeetull.com
• Phone: 978-254-5836
• Email: AnnaHuckabeeTull@gmail.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnnaHuckabeeTull
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ahuckabeetull?lang=en
• Other: TED TALK: http://www.customcraftedsongs.com/listen/home

Image Credit:
Kevin Harkins, Joe Wallace, Bill Tijerina, Jim Tull

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