SongwritingWith:Soldiers sets an album of veterans' songs for November 6

SongwritingWith:Soldiers will release an album called The Power of Being Heard on November 6, timed to land ahead of Veterans Day. The 15-song record carries 24 veteran voices, written and performed alongside professional songwriters.

The writing bench includes Erin Enderlin, Radney Foster, Will Kimbrough, Trent Willmon, Maia Sharp, Mark Nesler, Gary Burr, Dylan Altman, Terry Radigan, Danny Myrick, Georgia Middleman and Gary Nicholson. Radney Foster's track The One They Call is performed with Kelly Willis, and Jay Clementi's Daddy's Son features Brody Clementi.

The first eight songs are already on streaming platforms, running from Will Kimbrough's At Ease through Gary Burr's Something Ain't Right. The remaining seven, which include Erin Enderlin's When You Look At Me and Gary Nicholson's Funeral Detail, arrive with the full release.

Kristin Starling, the organisation's president, said every song on the record shows that nobody has to carry their story alone, and that the voices on it belong to service members and families who trusted the nonprofit to help tell them. She said the hope is to create connections that outlast the retreat itself.

The retreats are the point of the operation. SongwritingWith:Soldiers runs weekend sessions across the United States for veterans and their families from every conflict, pairing them with professional songwriters to co-write from lived experience rather than from a template.

Since 2012 the organisation says it has worked with more than 7,000 veterans and military families. That scale is what makes a 15-song album a sample rather than a summary, and it explains why the credits list writers rather than a single producer's stamp.

The album is logged on the release calendar for November 6. Its writers come from the country side of Nashville, and veteran-facing recognition has been running through the format this year, including Darius Rucker's AMAs Veterans Voice Award.