Songwriter reaches out to Texas fire victims

CENTER— Last month while media outlets buzzed with news of intelligence leaks, covert surveillance and possible collusion with Russians by the current administration, a fire swept across America’s heartland that received little coverage on many outlets even though it claimed six lives in Texas alone.
The same dry winds that fueled those fires also drove families from their homes in eastern Colorado. Amy Dean, mother of seven, grandmother of 12, lives just north of Center. She learned about the fires in Texas on Facebook. It was there she read the story of Cody Crockett, Sydney Wallace and Sloan Everett, two young cowboys and a cowgirl trying to save their cattle from certain death.
“When I heard the news of the loss of Cody, Sydney, and Sloan, I wept,” Dean later wrote.  According to an online article posted by NBC March 7, the three Texans were caught in the Panhandle sand hills and consumed by the fire while moving their cattle, Crockett’s sister said. Crockett and Wallace, in their early 20s, were boyfriend and girlfriend and Sloan, 35, was married with two young children and another on the way.
Dean said she could not shake the idea of the young Texans losing their lives in the fire so tragically. She took their story to her Christian friends at Gateway Church in Del Norte and was later inspired to write a song about them.
One of her friends, Kenny Michel, helped her record the song in his studio to help raise funds for the victims’ families.
“It was funny — when I called him on a Monday morning and asked if he could get me in right away (to record my song) he asked how soon I needed it done,” Dean recalled. “And when I told him by Friday he really laughed! I haven’t recorded before, and didn’t know how long it normally takes.”
Michel also played bass, lead guitar, and drums for the recording and Dean’s “very gifted” son Zeek Campbell played rhythm guitar for the song. A dear friend, Darlene Thompson, who Deans says she co-leads worship with at Gateway Church alongside their Pastor, Greg Shaffer, sang harmonies and accompanied Dean on the keyboard.
Dean also thanks her husband Eric for his “encouragement, love and support, from start to finish.”
Dean hopes to have her song available for download on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, etc. by the end of the week.  All earnings from downloads will also go to this effort. Future earnings from CD’s sold will go to the group Cowfolks Care.
“They have already raised over $15,000 and are in direct contact with families that have been affected by the fires,” Dean explained. “They are trucking needed personal supplies and donated fencing materials and food/water etc. for volunteer fencing crews.”
The video for Dean’s song “Cowboys With Wings” can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcftQt3nASs&sns=fb. CDs will be available from some of the local vendors, or those wishing to purchase the song can email Dean at [email protected]
People can listen to the song for free on the YouTube channel and a Cowfolks Care link is listed there for any who would like to donate directly without purchasing the song, (http://www.cowfolkscare.com).  
“The Lord gave me this song, and I believe it›s purpose is to bless all who were affected by the tragic fires; I pray it brings comfort and peace,” Dean wrote on her YouTube comments page. “God bless you all — Colorado grieves with you.”