Walk of Honor – Pamela Hopkins (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

I don’t care what your musical preference is, what genres you err on the side of, or what sounds make up your comfort zones; I defy anyone to listen to Walk of Honor and not be moved. And I don’t mean move in the way in which we apply the word in these hyperbolic and exaggerated times. I mean, I really, deeply and fundamentally moved.

The song has its roots in a story Hopkins saw online, of a mother’s grief over having to let her daughter go after she was involved in a fatal traffic accident. That in itself is enough to write a thousand songs about, but in this instance, the young drunken driver responsible for the accident was one of those saved by the donation of his victim’s organs.

It’s a compelling tale that taps into the tragedy of the event and asks us to consider feelings of sacrifice and redemption, grief and forgiveness, second chances and the circle of life.

Hopkins uses her trademark soulful and seductive country style to add even more pathos and poignancy to the ballad, weaving a gentle, spacious, underplayed musical framework that allows the vocals and the message they carry to be the focal point.

We live in a world where every minor infraction and feeling seems to be something that the uninvited hordes of (anti) social media pour-over and find a reason to be offended by or find a point of pride. But a song like Walk of Honor puts all that nonsense, that affected wailing and gnashing of teeth into perspective—a real story, a true tragedy and a powerful, not to mention absolutely brilliant, song.