Singer awakens to a million hits

by Dennis Dalman

news@thenewsleaders.com

One day, Sailor Jerri woke up to a million hits and realized with a shock that a song in honor of military troops she’d sung had gone viral on Facebook and YouTube.

Since that day in April 2017, another version of the same song  continues on its viral journey, with multi-million hits online and downloaded by listeners in at least 22 countries – at last count.

Jerri, who hails originally from Milaca and goes by her stage name to protect her privacy, recorded the song in Sartell in the at-home recording studio of producer/songwriter Greg Michael Huberty.

Jerri’s impassioned tribute to military troops is an altered version of “Hallelujah,” a 1984 song written and recorded by the late Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen. Now considered widely as one of the greatest songs ever written, “Hallelujah” has been recorded by the likes of (most notably) Jeff Buckley, as well as K.D. Lang, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and more.

“Hallelujah” is a kind of world-weary secular hymn, a melancholy lament, a desperate prayer and a struggle between pain and beauty, between earthly desires and spiritual striving. In his song, Cohen focuses on an elusive, difficult romantic relationship.

Jerri’s own lyrics are quite different. They are both a tribute and a sad lament to all the men and women who sacrificed so much in serving their country in the military. Her first verse goes like this:

“You packed your bags and shut the door.

You crossed the seas to fight a war.

You didn’t know just what would happen to ya.

Stepped in the dirt, boots on the ground.

And gunfire was the only sound.

And to yourself you whispered hallelujah . . .’’

Online, the song is accompanied by a cascade of photos sent to Jerri by troops – photos that range from upbeat (military camaraderie) to tragic (wounded warriors).

How it started

One day in early April 2016, at about 10 a.m., when Jerri was at home with her two young children, she had a burst of inspiration and wrote her lyrics with the Leonard Cohen melody in mind. She was eager to video a do-it-herself recording – just her singing it, no accompaniment. She posted it online.

When she woke up one morning to learn the video had gone viral, she was so stunned she didn’t know quite what to think. She began to get thank-you messages – one from an American soldier stationed in Germany who woke up one morning in the barracks to hear Jerri’s version of “Hallelujah” playing loudly in the barracks. Then she received a request from United Kingdom soldiers who asked her if they could play it too. Messages, thank-yous and praise poured forth.

Jerri and her friends decided she should make a better – more professional – version of the song. While on the way to Las Vegas to see country legend George Strait perform, Jerri’s boyfriend, Ryan, said to her, “You’ve got to call Greg.”

He meant Greg Michael Huberty of Sartell. Ryan, who served two tours of combat in Iraq, is a singer in a band called Copperhead Creek, and Huberty had written and recorded songs the band members really liked a lot.

Back home, they visited Huberty, who agreed the song must be recorded with an acoustic guitar as background and a fiddle weaving in and out of the verses. They put the polished song online May 10, 2017, with the photos, and what was merely viral a month before went super-viral. Millions, millions of hits. So far, more than 120 million.

“Jerri’s song has perfect lyrics and the right voice/personality to go along,” said producer Huberty. “It was really cool to see how fast her fan base was growing, how impactful the song is and how fast the song kept spreading globally through social media. It is continually touching lives.”

Background

Writing and singing “Hallelujah Veterans’ Version,” as it’s called, came naturally for Sailor Jerri (performing name) because she has long worked with veterans’ support groups.

She herself is a veteran, having served in the U.S. Navy from 2002-2006 stateside as an aviation mechanic. She also recently recorded an original music video (“I’m Going Anyway”) with her former Navy compatriots and some new ones at her old airplane hangar on the U.S. Naval base in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

“I always loved to sing,” she said, “but I didn’t learn to play guitar until 2016.”

At about that time, she became aware of a patient at the long-term care center at the St. Cloud VA Hospital. The patient, she said, was so lonely he actually put an ad in a newspaper for someone to come visit him. Jerri was so shaken, so moved by that veteran’s plight, she became determined to learn guitar so she could visit the VA and other veterans’ venues to entertain them.

Jerri is a strong believer in musical therapy – the way that music can help people cope with emotional problems, messy memories and deep sorrows. Time and again, she has seen how music connects with veterans and their loved ones, which, she believes, accounts for the viral popularity of “Hallelujah.”

Jerri’s version of “Hallelujah” caused such a sensation she almost immediately became an in-demand performer at places throughout the nation – especially in patriotic Texas where she has performed many times. As a performer, Jerri is booked solid all the way into next year.

“It’s funny, but it’s as if Minnesota doesn’t know I exist,” she told the Newsleader during an interview. “But not in the South. I’m booked all through the South. I’ve met George Strait. He’s a great guy. I meet so many artists, so many good people. And they are all so nice and complimentary to me. Ninety percent of my audiences are military people.”

With Huberty’s help, including as a co-writer, she later recorded a CD in the Sartell studio. Titled “No Rules in Sight” and released last April, the CD shot up the charts like a rocket, to the No. 14 spot on the iTunes country chart.

Jerri and Huberty are now working on a second CD, which is expected to be released next May. Huberty, originally from Eden Valley, moved to Sartell two years ago. His recording studio in his home doesn’t have an official name, and he likes to keep it on the private side, just using the studio for aspiring singers/talent he learns of through word of mouth and for clients/singers who contact him via his website (www.gregmichaelhuberty.com). The kinds of music Huberty produces and records include country, pop, Christian, rock, folk, R&B/hip-op, as well as voice-over and other audio projects.

Huberty graduated from St. Cloud State University with degrees in marketing and advertising, then went to an audio school in Minneapolis to learn recording techniques. Besides being a songwriter, Huberty plays guitar, piano and, more recently, banjo.

It was a thrill, he said, to see Jerri’s “Hallelujah” video go so viral.

The last verse of the song goes like this:

“You fought the fight ‘til it was done.

You have the strength to carry on.

You thought it’d be much better back home, did ya?

You try each day, keep pushing through.

But the battle lies inside of you.

It’s a cold and it’s a broken hallelujah.

Hallelujuh, hallelujah, hallelujah . . . ’’

To hear the song or other songs by Sailor Jerri, go to her website at www.sailorjerrimusic.com.