Queen City locals The Pistol Mystics have teamed up with the Sing Me a Story Foundation to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House of Greater Cincinnati. With your donation, you’ll be helping children in need, and you’ll also get a free download of their latest single, “Out My Window”! 

The Sing Me a Story (SMAS) Foundation takes the words and pictures from a child’s imagination, and, with the help of songwriters, turns their story into a song. The SMAS website connects musicians with the stories of children at various organizations (such as children’s homes, hospitals, and hospices), who then create and upload the songs. SMAS’s artist coordinators, Lily and Jamie, contacted the band prior to their show at The Southgate House Revival in May.

“My initial reaction was, ‘Of course we’ll do it,’” says Pistol Mystics singer/songwriter Joe Rains. “I’d already seen the segment on The Today Show,” – you can watch it here– “So it was something I was excited and proud to be a part of. Writing the song, though, was much harder than I expected.”

The difficulty, Joe says, was in keeping the song upbeat. They chose to write a song for Sarah (age 13) at the Ronald McDonald House of Greater Cincinnati. Her story, “When I Looked out My Window,” is about some of her favorite things she’s seen out her hospital room window, such as hot air balloons in the park and window cleaners dressed as Spiderman and Superman.

“There were two things I had to keep in mind,” he continued. “The first was to avoid writing a sad song. Even though they’re in a hospital, these kids are happy and hopeful, and I wanted the song to be the same. Secondly, the song needed a simple, easily repeatable hook… something easy to latch on to, so they can sing along with their story.”

“Out My Window” is a raucous, bluesy punk song, recorded over one summer day at The Monastery recording studio in Clifton. You can get a free mp3 download of the song with your donation to The Pistol Mystics’ campaign on Sing Me a Story’s website.