The journey of healing for me has been a long bumpy road and musically, my art has been a blessing. Because playing my instrument allows for positive energy to flow from me as I rehearse or perform and lyrically it gives me a way to communicate things of a more serious nature that are so difficult to relay outside of the framework of my music.
Although I have always been a more creative human, it wasn’t until addressing childhood trauma that these artistic pathways began to open up and when the pathways opened, they opened all the way and shortly after a multitude of memories I had mostly forgotten about also opened up. With no real understanding of why or how these terrible things happened to me, I was only left with raw emotion, a guitar and a counselor to help navigate this very difficult time. My art allowed me to safely revisit these memories and express exactly how I felt in song to anyone or to no one but me and that is healing.
When I first began to publicly perform, I found safety in the poetic telling of my stories. The stories are written in poem form and require a bit of thinking about the subject matter and even still, a typical listener could only guess at the events. Now, after repeatedly singing my story, the actual story has become easier to tell, easier to accept and allows the damage causing trauma to stay in the rearview mirror.
-Aaron DeYarmon
To listen to more of Aaron's music, check out Graveyard Pete & The New Appalachian Sound at GraveyardPete.com, or listen on Spotify.
You can also follow them on social media:
Awards
* 2024 Band of the Year recipient - Who’s Hoo of Country Music
* Official Finalists of the 2024 Who’s Hoo Country Music Awards in six categories
* Winner of the World Songwriting Awards, 2024 Summer Quarter - Best Folk Song for Canadian Whisky
* Winner of the World Songwriting Awards, 2023 Fall Quarter - Best Traditional Country Song for Cross The Ravenswood Bridge
* Official Finalists of the International Singer-Songwriters Association 2024 Awards for Band of the Year and Band - Album of the year
* Top 10 Finalist World Songwriting Awards, 2024 Spring Quarter - Best Modern Country Song for Castles In The Sand
* Top 10 Finalist World Songwriting Awards, 2024 Winter Quarter - Best Traditional Country Song
* 2024 Multiple Festival Performer
* Ambassadors to Music Columbus 2023 Music Census
* 2024 Interviewed by Tom Pollard, Music of America. One of five bands from Ohio.
