Jerry Silverstein

"Purple Heart" was the first song that emerged from our collaboration.Tom had brought the hook and Nancy shared the story of a friend who had been stalked and intimidated by an abusive ex. We wanted to write the song as life affirming and wrote the story as a turning point where an abused woman takes a stand and refuses to be bullied.
"She's found the stength inside
She's not gonna run and hide
She lives with the bruises and the scars
Deep in her Purple Heart"
During the writing sessions, Tom and I would check in with Nancy about how her friend was doing, and it made the song more immediate and real. The next summer I attended the Summer Symposium that NSAI held in Nashville, and there was a contest where participants entered songs. The four winners would get to perform them on stage the last night of the conference at a gala dinner performance hosted by Billy Dean. "Purple Heart" was chosen and Tom Murphy and I performed the song in the ballroom of the Lowe's Vanderbilt in front of 500 songwriters which was quite the rush. It's definitely a well crafted song that was a labor of love, sweat and tears.