“Peace Will Come” by Singer/Songwriter Teddy Wender

Truer words have never been sung when New Yorker Teddy Wender sings in his new song “Peace Will Come”. The first two stanzas alone – we’ve got to stop all this fighting, and find a way to compromise, we’ve got to show a little kindness, we’re setting up for our demise – immediately grab the listener. “Peace Will Come” is Wender’s way of giving the universe a wakeup call and his chance to put his music side-by-side to other politically-charged and protest songs of the past. He does it, of course, with a lot of kindness and some amber soul.

WEBSITE: https://teddywender.com/bio

“Peace Will Come” starts and ends like a slow jam. It has a lot of qualities from the 1960s pop/R&B era. Wender, a true New Yorker complete with an unruly whiskey-laced scraggle of a voice, is quite the crooner and charmer. The guitar work and bass rhythms are faint, leaving the majority of the brunt work on the music bedrock to the electric piano. In the companion music video, Wender is seen playing the piano, complete with black sunglasses. He’s animated with his movement and his hands. He’s motioning for the listener to come along. “Peace Will Come” is a one-man show for the most part, but the backing music has a fullness to it. After the song’s bride, there is a choir of voices singing the chorus. It brings yet another layer of joy. I think the choir after the song’s midpoint is very complimentary. It showed that the song really moved from a solitude point of view to a community point of view.

The music video covers the New York scenery. From the Times Square subway station marquee, to Battery Park’s chess boards and some New Yorkers still working hard, and not out of the game from the pandemic, the sun seems to cast a large ray in the video. The sun is shining the world is ready for that moment to change and put the past, the darkness behind us. Participants in the video hold white posterboard with song lyrics written in black lettering. With so much racial tensions this past summer, I can’t help but think that this is a commentary that we can get on the same page. It’s not impossible or unlikely that people can live together, Wender sings in his irresistible vocals. His voice really grew on me and I loved the history and the textures it has. It’s a concoction of the sonic tones of Joe Cocker, Leon Russell, Randy Newman and The Grease Band.

APPLE MUSIC: https://music.apple.com/us/album/peace-will-come-single/1530997584?i=1530997586&ign-gact=3&ls=1

“Peace Will Come” is written by Wender and Neil Rosengarden. It’s also produced by Chris “The Fourz” Brown. The song is the first track from Wender’s album Theo. His next single will be “Just Like A Soul Train”. I highly recommend “Peace Will Come” to add to your Spotify lists for songs that just make you feel good and inspire you to be your best. I think the best is yet to come for Wender and “Peace Will Come” is outstanding.

Nicole Killian