Using Music to Sort Out Life

By Becky Orr, Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

Jun. 23–CHEYENNE — James Ednie is on a mission: He wants young people to understand they have a purpose in life and can achieve their goals.

Ednie uses music and his own story to deliver a positive message.

“I want to help kids be aware of the tools to help them become who they want to be, not just who they are,” he said.

He has talked to students at Cheyenne schools including Cheyenne’s East and Triumph highs, the Community Based Occupational Educational program and Baggs Elementary. He speaks at church youth groups and facilities like Attention Home.

“James is as genuine as people get,” said Jim Woodard, a teacher at East High. Ednie spoke to students in Woodard’s psychology classes.

Ednie wants young people to know they can make viable and productive choices, Woodard said. He uses music to help enter their lives.

“If you look at today’s push toward technology, you can’t present a PowerPoint, e-mail or anything on the computer that would parallel what James does in person,” Woodard said.

Ednie wants kids to have the tools he didn’t have when he struggled as a young person. “I chipped away at myself every day,” he said.

He created a program “Rock for Kids,” several years ago to help send the message. “My program is a success-oriented program, gift-wrapped in entertainment,” he said.

“I go in and set kids at ease by telling them why I’m there. ‘ I’m here to increase your self-awareness, share some things that can maybe help your life and entertain you in the process,” he said.

“Sometimes it’s who you become in the process of achieving the goals and your character that is the true reward in the first place.”

He uses his skills as a musician to weave in songs he wrote that pertain to the presentation. He talks about the frustrations of his youth and of his struggle to survive a near fatal car crash. He grew up in a family of five in New York. He never took drugs. But he said he didn’t understand how to sort things out. He became unhappy and hated himself and the world.

He hated school, too. But he felt at home with music and art and became a professional musician. Ednie has played in bands and studios. He sings and plays guitar, base drums and piano. Since moving here in 2002, he has performed at the free shows during Cheyenne Frontier Days.

His life changed when he was 18 and his car was hit by a van traveling 75 mph. The van driver ran a red light and the vehicle crashed into his car while he was turning left.

He was unconscious for six days and broke all the ribs on his right side. He suffered brain contusions, a 5-inch rip in his diaphragm, three herniated discs and two crushed vertebrae.

Although he missed six weeks of college, he was able to pass his tests. He recovered and subsequently got his bachelor’s degree in music. Doctors called him a miracle man, he said, because 90 percent of people injured in such crashes die when they hit their heads against the window.

Ten years later, he was in another crash when someone hit him from the rear. Knowing that he was a miracle man helped him believe in his goals. “My experiences took my love of music and molded it into a mission and purpose.” He went from hating his life to setting goals — like becoming a full-time dad and a musician.

Ednie is deeply concerned about the high suicide rate in Wyoming among young people and wants to reduce it.

He has a grant from state’s Suicide Prevention Task Force to provide suicide prevention education in his presentations. He offers information and flyers to give young people help.

A young girl came up after one his presentations and told him she had thought about suicide when she was in the fourth grade. She thought about it because her parents argued so much.

He wants young people to know there is hope.

“I speak from my heart. And because it’s my life, you can’t fake that.”

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