Music

Kenna Turner West started writing songs as a child. “But they were horrible,” she recalls. “‘Sam Lives In a Garbage Can’ is the first song I ever remember writing, and then there was the big hit, ‘He’s Contagious, and He Might Rub Off On You.’” When she was in her twenties, she wrote songs as…

Song Snapshots is a column featuring the stories behind new and classic Southern Gospel songs. On their final recording, the original Couriers (Dave Kyllonen, Duane Nicholson, and Neil Enloe) recorded a new song written by Neil Enloe, “When it Hurts So Bad.” To understand the song, Enloe recalls, you have to understand where he comes…

Song Snapshots is a column featuring the stories behind new and classic Southern Gospel songs. One day, the Couriers were in downtown Philadelphia. They were visiting a long-time supporter of the group who had invited them over for a meal. “She has gone on to be with the Lord now, but she would come to…

Sometimes even the strongest songs take a few years to find a home. After Kenna Turner West wrote “Red Letter Day,” it took three years of pitching before it was recorded. “I believed in the song,” she recalls, “so I was willing to get a lot of no’s until I found a yes.” One day,…

“Some songs are written as stories for other people to tell, but some songs I write because the story is mine,” Kenna Turner West shares. “If She Could” falls into that second category. Her grandmother battled Alzheimer’s for about ten years. It reached the point where it was too dangerous to leave her alone, so…