The creation of "So This Is Freedom"

David Zaffiro was born in Seattle Washington and started playing guitar eleven years later just after moving to Fairbanks Alaska. His family relocated to Anchorage when he was sixteen and he quickly connected with a few friends to form a band named Blind Alice. It was somewhere between fusion rock meets avant-garde pop. 

The next season of his life brought him back to Seattle where he played guitar and wrote songs in a few local bands before finally joining the band Bloodgood as the lead guitar player. They toured all of the US and Europe for years. David went on to write and produce four solo projects for Frontline Records which lead him into producing and mixing as a successful career to this day.

David moved with his beautiful wife and two children from Seattle to Nashville in 1993 where he still works and lives near his immediate family.

Here are some of the artists he has had the pleasure of working with:

Little Big Town            Passion               Eli Stone       

The Band Perry           Newsong            Christy Nockels

Natalie Grant               Kim Hill               Tammy Trent

Devon Gilfillian            Julie Miller          Michael English

Striking Matches         Mac Powell         Rush of Fools

Lauren Daigle             Whitecross          Fee

Tanya Low                  John Waller         Point of Grace

Bloodgood                 Jamie Slocum      Holy Soldier

I grew up in a musical family.  The music eased me away from super-shy into bravely loving people.   The greatness of God's love was tangible and I needed to express how I felt, so I started writing at age 11, singing and playing the piano.    We moved all over the U.S.  and I picked up diverse musical influences everywhere.  I love all the styles, I just do!   I have served as a worship leader in several churches and recorded 7 projects, all indie.  Toured on and off.  In all my musical endeavors, songwriting and sharing original music is my main passion.  Dallas Low is the love of my life and together we have 4 amazing children.  Why do I do music??  Because I cannot not do music.  Because it's worth being brave... in case it hits you in the gut of your soul or helps carry you through.  It's a vulnerable business, but you are worth the risk I take.  Maybe it won't be your cup of tea, but then maybe it will be just what you need at a certain moment... in a certain circumstance...

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Our family went through some major health issues in recent years.  We truly felt God's faithfulness through it all!  Coming out on the other side, I'm really thankful to be recording and back in music, SO thankful for my family's encouragement and support... They helped me back up when I had fallen down.  I want to thank Sara Groves in (many of, but especially) her song "From This One Place," for reminding me that every bird's song matters.  I want to thank David and Susan for helping me unearth what has been there all along, forgiving grace and hope when I was stumbling through painful circumstances and, at the same time, back into music.  I love you guys.  Jesus is worthy, so worthy of our praise.

• Click here or the photo above for Family Photo Album.

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Nashville-based session violinist David Davidson was created right into a musical family and raised in Winter Haven, FL. He played the piano at age group five and began learning violin at nine. He received a violin scholarship or grant to Florida State School in Tallahassee, and changed professional at 19, originally being a traditional musician. He was concertmaster with the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra for four years. In 1983, he started playing nonclassical music, documenting periods in Nashville, and ultimately performing on albums from a wide selection of country, pop, rock and roll, and modern Christian artists. He was an associate with A Strings, which documented "Home for Xmas" on Warner Bros. In 1992 he created David Davidson & the Compliment Outfit to record the instrumental Christian recording Praise Ensemble. Which was accompanied by Psalms of Everlasting Wish. Signing with the Green Hill label in the middle-’90s, he released some instrumental albums, including "Big String Classics", "Prelude to Pleasure", "Phantom of Broadway", "Heartstrings" (a duet recording with pianist Russell Davis), and in 2000, "Celtic Dream".

Jim Frazier is a multi-instrumentalist, product and arranger. He makes his home in Nashville for the past few decades. He's recorded and produced artist projects for Curb Records, Sony, Word, BMG and many others. He's also composed and produced music for television, having music used on HGTV, Undercover Boss, Guys Grocery Games, and America's Top Model to name a few. When Jim is not in his studio, he's performing with many of Nashville's top bands as well as playing keyboards and guitar in rock legend Jim Messina's band.

J.R. McNeely is a multi-instrumentalist hailing from Nashville Tennessee. Since 2011, he has appeared at AROTR as the Bass player with his former band, ”SixtyFour”.
 

A mixing engineer, he originally worked with John and Dino Elefante at Pakaderm Studios in California and Sound Kitchen in Nashville where he is based now.
 

Some of the many artists with whom he's worked:  D.C. Talk, Kutless, TobyMac, Francesca Battistelli, Jeremy Camp, Lincoln Brewster, Sarah Reeves
 

Check out allmusic.com for more info.

Dan Needham is a session/touring drummer and producer residing in Nashville, TN. He has played live and recorded with Michael McDonald, Peter Cetera, Amy Grant, Kenny Loggins, Josh Groban, Michael W. Smith, The Getty's, Israel Houghton, Andraé Crouch and hundreds of other artists in pretty much every genre.

Shortly after leaving college, Jonathan Allen, a young worship leader from NC, moved to Nashville to pursue music. Early on he met Pastor Steve Berger at Jonathan's retail job at the mall. After their brief conversation, Steve invited him to come to his small start-up church, Grace Chapel, to lead worship for 50 people. 18 years later Jonathan leads a worship team and Choir of over 100 people in a church that has grown to nearly 5,000. Jonathan's passion is for the local church and the musicians who serve there. Jonathan also spends time collaborating with various writers to develop worship songs for his local church. The most recent being, Mighty Redeemer, was published and released by Lifeway Worship. Jonathan and Allison, his wife of 17 years, reside in Franklin, TN with their 2 boys.

Billy was born on Travis Air Force Base in California and raised in South-Central Alaska. With loving support from his parents, Mel and Dorthe, Billy began playing music professionally at the age of 14. He played gigs throughout the Great State before moving to Seattle in 1982. Skip ahead twelve years...

From 1994 to 2000, Billy traveled the world with his band The Forgettables through eight Armed Forces Professional Entertainment tours, entertaining American troops stationed overseas and flying or riding in almost every US military conveyance imaginable. Having been targeted by heat-seeking missiles only once in six years during eight tours, Billy went to Nashville and toured the United States with outlaw southern rock bands. In 2001 he returned to Seattle where he began composing music for film, animation, video and games. Billy composes for full orchestra and a wide variety of other instruments including the "odd digital" genre. Since 2003 he has teamed up with co-writer Jim Chase to create original music scores for dozens of feature films and shorts in the Puget Sound area and around the world.

Since a teenager, Dave has played various instruments in different bands. His history with audio engineering goes back to junior high when he started learning and helping run sound for various school functions and productions. In later years Dave worked at a studio where he fine-tuned his craft of session playing, recording, producing and mixing.
 

For over two decades Dave has been working with artists and bands helping them discover and create their sound. He has worked on hundreds of songs, and as a result has seen artists and bands he’s worked with, land deals with major and indie labels.
 

Since then, Dave has expanded into composing, sound design and re-record mixing for film, TV and games. Out of this new direction, Dave started Twenty20Sound as a post sound and music production company in 2014. In 2018 Dave joined Smart Post Sound in Burbank where he continues to work on film and TV.

Georgia native John Waller first caught the attention of the Christian music community as frontman for the fan-favorite, According to John (1996-2003). When the group disbanded, Waller moved to Colorado, helped launch Southlink Church and began writing songs that led to a signing of a record deal with Beach Street Records/Provident Music Group.

His major-label solo debut, The Blessing (2007), earned a Top 10 “Faces to Watch” nod by Billboard while his follow-up, While I’m Waiting (2009), included the poignant title track featured in the Fireproof film, the No. 1 independent film in 2008. The music video to the title track of his As for Me and My House (2011) has received over 5 million views on YouTube alone while the title track of Crazy Faith (2015) was featured in the US News, World Report-lauded film, War Room.

While not in the studio finishing his latest album set to release in late 2021, Waller can be found with his wife and 10 children residing in Atlanta, GA.

Next Level is a vocal team dedicated to partnering with artists and choral arrangers.  They sing throughout the Nashville area, tour the U.S. and lead worship.  These incredible vocalists each have a beautiful heart and musical journey.  Kala is Tanya's first cousin.

Rami Henry is Tanya's younger sister, and she grew up singing with Tanya and their brother, Joel.  Eventually, they formed the group "Simple Truth," recorded three albums and gave concerts nationwide and in the Philippines.  Rami has a degree in vocal performance from Metro State University in Denver, CO.  She and her husband Nathan love to lead worship.  They have three beautiful children.  Their current endeavor is "Spokane 1.27," a non-profit they are developing to assist foster families.