By Rob Hochschild
Berklee.edu Editor
January 2002

	From left: Adam Countryman, Marty Silverstone, Brett Epstein, and Jon Small Photo by Liz Linder
	Audio • "United States (Take a Good Look)" (A. Countryman, M. Silverstone, B. Epstein, J. Small) Listen: slow | fast

On September 24, 2001, at a time when a lot of musicians were having a hard time staying focused on their art, four Berklee students suddenly found themselves completely obsessed with a new project. Adam Countryman, Brett Epstein, Marty Silverstone, and Jon Small hoped to use music to help others in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, but until they put their heads together, they weren't getting very far.

"I never thought a song would be appropriate because of so many sensitive issues involved," says Small. "One day I was in a piano room, thinking about the tragedy, and a little bit of melody came to me, a piece of a song. I thought I'd bring it to my friends and right away everyone was like, 'that's it, that's what we've been looking for all along."

After Small played the song fragment for Silverstone, the pair went to Epstein's apartment, where Epstein and Countryman, coincidentally, were meeting about producing a live benefit show.

"We listen to him play this snippet and we're thinking, this is ridiculously good timing," says Epstein. "We got it together right then. We didn't say 'let's meet next week and write.' It was 'close the door, turn off the phones, let's just do it, and within a matter of two hours, it was done."

A few days later, the team of songwriters became a team of producers and engineers, and began recording "United States (Take a Good Look)" in Epstein's apartment. Several of Berklee's best vocalists took turns singing and over the course of a weekend, a demo was completed.

A group of students performed "United States" during an emotional vigil on the Berklee campus in October 2001. As time went by, more people heard the demo and it eventually landed on the desk of a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) producer who used the song in an episode of the documentary television show, In the Mix. The writers were pleased about the attention the song received but were most proud of its message and the way listeners responded to it.

"It's not about making an artistic statement as much as it is a call for togetherness through music," says Small. "People need to confide in each other about pain and loss. The last line is "united as one" because it all boils down to brotherhood and unity."

During the Fall 2001 semester, the four students returned to Epstein's apartment several times to record the version of the song you hear on this page, with nine vocalists sharing leads and a six-person chorus singing backgrounds. They say the space was tight and the only soundproofing came from an arrangement of bricks and bedsheets that left the apartment looking like a haunted house. Nonetheless, the recording is clean and professional sounding. The musicians believe their studies at Berklee helped them turn out a strong track.

"Berklee (classes) had a 100 percent impact in the process of doing this," says Epstein, a Contemporary Writing and Production major. "It's just had to. You're learning things theoretically, you're learning things aurally, you're learning things visually."

They also learned that sometimes music goes beyond self-expression. "I've never had more of a purpose in music," says Epstein. "We can't donate thousands of dollars, but we can sleep better at night knowing we tried to do something."

Photo by Liz Linder

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