AUSTIN, Texas -- They say music has healing powers for your heart, mind and soul.
- Home Street Music started in 2017
- Empowers those experiencing homelessness through music
It's something that singer-songwriter Vanessa Lively knows very well. Lively spends a big part of her time giving back to the homeless community in the best way she knows how: through music.
"I held a very special place in my heart for people experiencing living without a home. Ya know, because that just never made sense to me that that could exist in a country like ours were we have so much," said Lively.
Lively started a nonprofit called Home Street Music in 2017 through a partnership with Community First Village in East Austin. During the Home Street Music sessions Lively and members of the village gather in a circle to share their art. The group gives members like Scott Osborn the confidence he needs. Home Street Music helped Osborn rekindle his love of performing after several hard years on the street.
"It got me to play and it got me to start writing again. That's the main thing, I haven't been writing in a long long time. It put me on a music schedule. It put me on a formidable path," said Osborn.
When the right words don't come to mind sometimes the right chord can tell the story. Music is a universal language and Lively says the members see the world through a different lens which inspires her to continue.
"I feel like that's what the circle is best at, it's that we come and we just like inspire each other because we are seeing what the other people are coming with and creating," said Lively.
