ARLINGTON, Va. - "You all allow me to live this dream," said Nashville country music recording artist Laura Bryna, the new voice of Air National Guard advertising, May 30 here, as she debuted her new ANG-commissioned single, "Hometown Heroes."
The appreciation went both ways, as a crowd at the Crowne Plaza Hotel cheered after hearing a recording of the song, and Guard leaders sang her praises.
"She's not pretentious, she is who she is, she's one of us," said Lt. Col. Randy Johnson, director of Recruiting and Retention, adding that the petite Bryna "epitomizes the ANG warrior spirit. We really are excited about the opportunity she brings to the table in telling the ANG story."
"The way this partnership came about was a miracle," said Johnson, who got the idea to sign Bryna after attending one of her concerts when she performed songs from her new CD, "Trying To Be Me," in January.
Johnson said she will appear in radio, TV and print ads, theater spots, public service announcements and perform the song at a series of concerts throughout the summer. A music video of "Hometown Heroes" is in the works.
"We like the positive energy in your songs," said Brig. Gen. Stanley E. Clarke III, ANG deputy director, and gave "the small woman with a big voice" a flight suit.
Col. Joseph Lengyel, commander of the ANG Readiness Center at Andrews Air Force Base, gave the singer a coin for excellence, saying that, "she will be helping to bring great Americans into the Air Guard."
Bryna was selected after the Air Guard conducted an exhaustive search for a voice and personality officials felt would support their branding goals.
Bryna signed autographs next to a cake with her likeness. It went fast. Recruiters at the 140 ANG bases across the country hope accessions go with that kind of speed, now that there's a new voice behind the brand.
The ANG arranged a surprise visit by Bryna's mom, grandmother, adopted aunt and family friend, who emerged from a closet on cue.
According to her manager, Roger Sarchet, the song came about during a business dinner with him, Johnson and Master Sgt. Robert Hall, superintendent of ANG Advertising. When Hall and Johnson mentioned that ANG members are, in a sense, hometown heroes, something clicked for Sarchet.
"A friend of mine about four to five years ago had written a song named 'Hometown Heroes,' so I jumped from the table and called him on the phone and said, 'Do you still have that song? We may have to rewrite some of the words, but I think we got a place for it.'"
Though the song makes reference to the ANG at the end, it mainly pays homage to everyone in the military. It talks about high school football and coming through when it counts, during a game and when disaster strikes, like a tornado: "as flood lights shined throughout the night, miracles began," the lyrics go. Part of its chorus, "Ready for the moment, always there to save the day," echoes the National Guard's motto, "Always Ready, Always There."
According to her Web site, this Mount Airy, Md.-native spent hours listening to the likes of Patsy Cline on country radio; unfortunately, as she drove with her mother to visit her older brother in a Washington hospital after he suffered a brain aneurism that left him in a coma for six months at age 13. "Country music really got us through some very tough times," says Bryna. "They were songs about real life experiences, similar to what my family was going through." Bryna's been involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and has co-wrote an inspirational single aptly titled "Make A Wish" that appears on her debut CD released Jan. 22.