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Hey there! We’re thrilled to be chatting today with the dynamic duo behind the inspiring anthem “Keep On,” Ruth Benfield and Scott Oatley. First things first, how has the summer of 2024 been treating you both?
(RUTH) Honestly it has been very busy for the both of us. We have been writing, producing and arranging music for a movie called The Christmas Letter starring Chevy Chase and Randy Quaid. It really has taken up most of our summer, and on top of that Scott released a new album…
(SCOTT)
Yeah, it’s been a whirlwind of a summer. I dropped my sophomore album on July 12 for my solo project, VÂN SCOTT. It’s called Songs I Never Wrote (because they would’ve been about you) and it’s really kind of a retrospective of my love life (or lack thereof) thus far, haha. I’ve also been planning some fall tour dates in LA, New York and Nashville, and prepping more songs for release yet this year, including a Christmas single that will be featured in the The Christmas Letter movie Ruth mentioned!
Congratulations on the incredible recognition that “Keep On” has received, including winning Best Song at the Los Angeles Film Awards, New York International Film Awards, and several others! How does it feel to see the song resonate so strongly with audiences and critics alike? Did the accolades change how you view the song or its impact?
(RUTH) Thank you, from the beginning we both knew how important the message of this film and its subject matter of supporting our nation’s veterans is, and “Keep On” simply echoes that message.
I think winning any awards for the song has just reinforced how important the message is with how much it is resonating with people right now, in a world that often can feel hopeless. It’s about finding a way to survive in the dark times of life, about holding onto hope and believing a better day is ahead, encouraging us to keep moving forward and reminding us that we are not alone. Some of my favorite lyrics that Scott wrote are, “You can’t escape this life, without scars and stripes,” and that is such a truth for everyone, veterans and civilians alike…
Huge congrats on the impactful track “Keep On,” which beautifully ties into the powerful story of The Keeper. The film debuted on Memorial Day, and it’s been a few months since. What has the response been like to both the film and the song?
(RUTH) The response to the film, especially when we premiered it, was quite overwhelming, to see so many people be just so touched by George’s story, a lot of people were moved to tears, people related so much with these characters and with these true stories. This story is about real-life people…fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters, friends, and the families who now feel their aching absence every day. It’s about the devastation of suicide and the lack of support for the brave men and woman that fight for our freedom, who were faced with incredibly dark times and who tragically lost hope and couldn’t see any other way out… that reality will never leave me. I have seen their photos, heard their stories and spoken with family members and nothing prepares you for that much heartbreak…it reminds us how important it is to bring this issue to light.
So many people in this nation are related to or have friends or family that are in service or are veterans and we saw it really touch home for so many people, and also to see George really put his life out there and this experience that he really went through in real life, on the screen, is very raw, but it’s very genuine, and heartfelt, and it’s hard to not get moved by that. The most prominent responses were from those with military families and veterans themselves, one person shared, “I just really want my father to watch this film so that we can have a conversation about it.” And another’s response was that they were so “grateful that this film was made,” that they’d had similar experiences whilst deployed and that it felt so good to not hold it in anymore, to feel like it was ok to talk about it.
Even our co-director who is in the Marine Corps was moved to tears during filming particular scenes and through this, realized that he actually had PTSD, and started therapy because of it.
We are really encouraged by the message of this film and how it’s affecting people’s lives and I think that the song is just another branch of that. It’s reminding people that there is hope, that they’re not alone and to not give up in the tough times, so I just think overall it just solidifies the importance of getting George’s message and story out there, and we are really grateful to be a part of it.
Ruth, you’ve had an extensive career in both the music and film industries. How did those experiences influence your approach to writing “Keep On”? What was it like crafting a song that carries such a profound message?
(RUTH) As far as writing music for film and television…I was thrown in the deep end a few years after music school when I was asked to write a song for a TV special, and of course they needed it in a week! I had never written for a specific project before and everything in my mind was saying a “hard no!” But a part of me thought, “maybe I can?” It turned out I really loved the process of writing for a theme, message or tone. I went on from that experience to start writing for film, and from that point on I just kept putting my hand up.
I think having very little time to write and pull something together straight out the gate, helped me to think quickly on my feet and handle the fast-paced music-in-film industry moving forward. You also need to be able to quickly decide the direction you want a song to go in and what the overall tone and message you want to convey is going to be, as well as be able to pull together and discern who the right people are for that particular project.
Over the years I’ve discovered that I love collaboration so much more than going it alone. I also find when you are willing to let go and allow someone else’s perspective into that process, the song has the chance to metamorphose into more than you originally envisioned.
All of those past experiences influenced my approach to the song, but really, I just had a heart for this story, a vision and some statement lyrics – which speaks to the collaboration point I just made. I personally knew the message and tone I was after but, like a relay runner, entrusted that baton on to Scott to run with for the next lap… (he would have won the gold by the way). Scott and I have worked together before on another film, he has had an incredibly extensive and successful career in the music industry, and I trust his musicality implicitly. The entirety of the message of the song still gets me everytime I hear it, he went above and beyond to capture the heart of the film.
Scott, we hear “Keep On” was born from a bit of a unique situation involving a two-string ukulele! Can you walk us through that moment of inspiration and how it shaped the final song?
(SCOTT) Well, this film follows the main character on a hike through the Appalachian Trail. So from the start I had the thought to ground the production of the song with an element of folk that would reflect that region. When I reached for my ukulele, though, I was instantly reminded that I hadn’t repaired it since it was damaged on tour! But I rolled with it and basically wrote the entire arrangement in one sitting while jamming on three strings. When it came to changing the key to better suit Ruth’s voice, I tried re-tuning the strings and another one snapped! So, in the end, the only ukulele element that made it into the final recording was simply two strings droning on the chord changes in the background, haha. It worked out great, though, because that led me to make the song more acoustic guitar driven, which I think ended up suiting the track best overall. I guess the lesson here is to always make the most of any given situation. If it hadn’t been for my “unlucky” ukulele, I would have never found that same inspiration another way.
The military connection in The Keeper is strong, with a focus on veterans and their struggles. Scott, coming from a military family yourself, how did that background influence your contribution to the project and this particular song?
(SCOTT) I’m very proud to have been brought up in a military family because it made me who I am today. The last three generations of my family (my brother, dad, and grandfather) have all served in the Air Force, and my dad has even tracked down our lineage back to Oatleys who served in the American Revolution! That being said, I’ve always been more of the black sheep of the family. No one else in my family is a musician! So it was an honor for me to be able to express my gratitude and appreciation for my family’s service and all veterans’ service in this way through this project and with this song.
The line “left, right, one foot in front of the other” is central to the song and embodies a steady resilience. Ruth, how did this phrase come to be the cornerstone of the track? What does it mean to you personally?
(RUTH) “The Keeper” is the true story of George Eshleman, an army vet, battling ptsd and hiking the Appalachian Trail, initially to raise awareness of the tragic statistics of veteran suicides, and to find some inner peace in the solitude, however George was so overwhelmed by seeing so many friends and fellow vets die by suicide and by the darkness he had experienced in his life, that his intention was to stop in the middle of that hike and take his own life on that trail… Thankfully, through the support of a very special group of veterans along the way, he chose to keep moving forward…and because of this, we now have George as a part of our lives, and he is someone our family loves dearly, and his story has forever impacted us personally.
George’s story resonated with me in my own life. I have wanted to give up in the dark times and believed that it would be so much easier to just stop than keep going… the problem with that is that when you stop, then you are stuck in that place, if you stop moving in a dark tunnel because it has just been too dark of a journey for too long, you start to believe that there is no light at the end of it, but if you just keep moving forward, even if it becomes more of a methodical survival pattern, “left right, left right, one foot in front of the other,” then you are at least moving forward, not backwards and not standing still. Eventually you will make it through, “[hold] on to the light” and that darkness will fall behind you, but only if you keep going. I think that is why this song and this film will resonate with everyone, because we are not immune to tough times, darkness and trials, everyone goes through them, so it is our hope, that this song, and this film can serve to help people to hold onto hope in the midst of those dark times, that they will choose to keep moving forward, to not give up and keep going…
As the music supervisor of the film, I had initially approached Scott in the beginning of pulling together the soundtrack, about collaborating on the title song together, but we collectively decided that the amount of time we had to pull it together was not enough, he had a lot going on, and film deadlines really wait for no-one. I had another band in mind with a song I liked for the project and they had agreed to sign on, but then that fell through, so I actually ended up writing another entire song with the “one foot in front of the other” crux, however I threw the rest of it out as I wasn’t happy with the tone, it had become more melancholy than the hopeful and uplifting tone I was seeking, so I approached Scott again, with even less time (haha), a vision for the tone of the song, the theme I was looking for, those lyrics and 100% gut feeling that he had the song… he thankfully agreed to the madness and I trusted he would pull it together, and sure enough, I think it was honestly a week later, I got an email and a scratch recording with “I think we have a song” and we did, and “left, right, left, right, one foot in front of the other” became central to the chorus in the midst of the amazing musical and lyrical tapestry Scott wove around it.
In a time when messages of hope are so needed, “Keep On” feels like a rallying cry for anyone facing tough times. Was there a particular moment during the writing process where you felt the song really captured that essence?
(SCOTT) Yes, the song very quickly took on another meaning for me personally. My sister has suffered a total of 11 concussions over the past few years. That has quite literally messed with her head – scarily and unsettlingly to the point of having suicidal thoughts herself, which she (thankfully) was comfortable enough sharing with me and which she gave me permission to share with you now. So yeah, for me, “Keep On”’s message of hope runs much deeper. I could truly feel the weight of this subject matter in my soul. I not only recognized it as a great opportunity to raise awareness of suicide through this film, but with my contribution through this song I felt a duty and responsibility to offer encouragement, and to help anyone who has struggled with mental health and who has had to confront the darkest demons imaginable to see the light at the end of their tunnel.
With “The Keeper” having been out for a few months now, how do you both see “Keep On” contributing to the broader conversation about veteran care and mental health awareness? What do you hope listeners take away from it?
(RUTH) I think the journey has really only just begun. We’re about to come out on Prime Video on November 8th in time for Veteran’s Day, which will significantly widen the audience we can reach with this message, and it has always been the film’s hope and mission, being made for veterans, by veterans, that it would contribute to the conversation about veteran care and mental health, by first and foremost bringing this issue of the alarming rate of veteran suicides to light.
From many conversations I have had with veterans working on this film, this has not been an issue that is widely acknowledged, even though there are support networks out there, veterans have not been universally supported in the ways that they need to be when they come home from deployment. They are taught in war to be strong and brave and tough and to handle any situation they are faced with, and most are faced with situations and left with trauma from this experience that we could never fathom but are then expected to come back and carry on like normal, or feel like it is a sign of weakness to ask for help, and feel like they are alone in the way they are feeling.
We hope by helping bring this issue to light that nationwide veteran support will expand, specifically for mental health. Realizing that when these brave men and woman come home from fighting for our freedom, that they need so much more than a slap on the back and, a “thanks for your service,” they need real support, and recognition that “hey, you’ve been through some stuff, let’s unpack that, let’s talk about that, let’s see if we can help you process what you’ve been through before it becomes overwhelming.” They may not even be aware they are experiencing symptoms of PTSD, and their families and friends may not even have thought about that, so we hope this film becomes something that can raise that awareness and help begin that conversation.
For listeners of the song, “Keep On” I guess it’s like a side note to that, we hope people who may be going through dark times would listen to this song and be encouraged and reminded that there’s hope out there, that they’re not alone, to keep moving forward and not give up, that there are people who care about them and who want to help, and that support is there for them.
On the heels of releasing “Keep On” as part of The Keeper’s soundtrack, what can fans expect next from you both? Any exciting projects on the horizon that continue to explore these meaningful themes?
(RUTH) Yes, actually we have both been writing music for a film called The Christmas Letter and have a duet called “Christmas in New York” coming out for Christmas. Scott is also releasing the film’s end title track “Christmas Letter (What I Could Write)” separately as part of his solo project, VÂN SCOTT.
(SCOTT) Both of those songs have us pretty excited. They are also incredibly different genre wise. “Christmas in New York” is a blend between 1940’s old Hollywood and a 1960’s jazz club. We wanted it to be reminiscent of the legendary Christmas classics we grew up listening to, from Bing Crosby to Nat King Cole. “Christmas Letter,” on the other hand, launches into a Queen-esque acappella intro right out the gate with an amazing, infectious energy that would make Freddy Mercury proud! The rest of the track takes off like “a rocketship on [its] way to Mars” – to quote Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now.” It really is such a fun and catchy tune to punctuate the end of the movie.
(RUTH) However, they both explore the underlying theme of the film from different perspectives. “Christmas Letter” explores how we tend to get caught up in the material aspects of everyday life and even more so at Christmas, whereas “Christmas in New York” is largely about iconic New York Christmas experiences and the beauty of New York at that time of year. Both songs encourage us to step back and take a moment to be grateful and remind us that the people around us are what matter the most, our friends, families and loved ones.
(SCOTT) Absolutely. In addition to all these exciting things we have coming up this holiday season, I’m also thrilled to be ushering in a new era with my music for VÂN SCOTT. I’m coming right off the heels of a sad boy pop album, and dramatically shifting the tone with a string of upbeat, positive songs to bring us through the end of summer and into the fall. The first single “You’re My Best Shot” comes out Aug 30th, followed by “Happy Where I Am” (out Sept 19) and “Turn Off the Tears” (out Oct 10). Then, of course, I’ll be ready to share the “Christmas Letter” single in November just in time for the holidays.
All of these brand new releases will have supporting tour dates as well! I’m doing a release show at Hotel Cafe in LA on September 17. I’m also doing release shows in NYC and Nashville in October and November, respectively. It will definitely be a jam-packed rest of my 2024, but I couldn’t be happier to be sharing new music and keep doing what I love!
