Back in March 2016, I met this guy John through a friend of mine, Nathan Jones. We met at The Wolf on their famous Tuesday night–one of the best songwriter nights in the St. Louis area. When I heard John play, I smiled the entire time. The music carried a fun and playful vibe that doing anything besides smiling is difficult. Yes, these are songs for young people but music is music and the 38th Street Birds’ music is fun. Click play and read about the inspiration for “Paper Towel Dispenser” and be prepared to smile.
Story Behind “Paper Towel Dispenser”
Working as a janitor gave me much of the inspiration for the songs on this album. While I was cleaning a locker room, I put my hand under a paper towel dispenser and said, “Paper towel dispenser would you give me some towels?” The tune came right away. Then I thought about different ways you could use paper towels.
Still working as a janitor, I was leaving the Power House, about to go over to the X Building. I was thinking about how much I like chicken. I was actually thinking about one of my earliest memories of eating fried chicken. It was at Lake Okoboji on vacation with my family. Every year we would go to the Missions Conference that was held there in Arnold’s Park, Iowa. Great memories! Anyways, back to the song. I start the song with fried professionally. Because that’s probably my favorite way to eat chicken (and because of that nice memory). I was actually thinking about putting some band names in there, but decided to keep it universally applicable. So I went with “professionally.”
Then I decided to list lots of other ways to eat chicken. I realize that the list is not exhaustive. But I think it’s a pretty good list if I may say so myself.
38th Street Birds Biography
New to the Saint Louis area, John and Kelli Stanford write and perform songs that teach lessons. John is currently a substitute teacher, but has worked many jobs. Their dream is to do music full time, performing in schools, libraries, parties, or wherever. Kelli stays at home with our son Harrison (currently 10 months old).
38th Street Birds Links
- Home page
- YouTube
- Soundcloud
- Spotify: search 38th Street Birds