Spring Fling was originally the name my wife and I gave to an event we hosted in our front yard about a month ago.

The idea started back in 2020, in the wake of the George Floyd murder. Watching the news I felt that something was sorely missing the pose striking and online punditry — namely, a sense of simple neighborliness, and a demonstration of respect for human beings as such. I had some feelings and wanted to do something to help.

Our neighborhood in East Nashville is home to all kinds of people and families, so I made a little flyer and went door to door and personally invited everyone on my street to what we then called the Ice Cream Social. I made a bunch of homemade ice cream. It was an amazing turnout and it felt like a small healing and better, we made a bunch of new friends.

The slow return to post-covid life in 2022 presented itself to us as an opportunity to revisit that earlier sentiment.

We thought it would be fun to host a talent show at our house, and invite all kinds of artists - musicians of course, but also poets, spoken word artists, comediennes, and even an improv acting troupe.

My wife Randa hand-painted a banner to hang over the makeshift stage, and the two of us invited our friends and neighbors and reached out to a local charity to see if they’d be interested in being the beneficiary of the event’s proceeds. Crossroads Campus, an organization bringing resource-challenged youth and rescued pets together for mutual love and benefit, was a perfect fit.

We had more than 50 people RSVP, but in the end almost 75 crammed into our front yard for an afternoon of music, comedy, grilled hamburgers and homemade ice cream. We raised more than $700 for Crossroads Campus, and made a lot of new friends.

But the event prompted a self-imposed creative challenge as well. I decided to write and perform a theme song to commemorate the event.

As a kid, during special occasions, my dad would write a poem and read it aloud to the family — birthdays, graduations, stuff like that. I always loved that so I thought I’d take the cue and write a song for our own special event.

Thus the theme song to "Spring Fling" was born.

I penned the tune with songwriter/actor/director Travis Nicholson. The result is an upbeat salute to getting together with friends and strangers after a long separation. “Bring what you got, leave what you’re not / we’ll figure the rest out” Lenker sings over a twangy garage country shuffle.

"Spring Fling" was recorded live at The Retro Lab in East Nashville, engineered by Nick Beardon and featuring Korby Lenker on electric guitar and vocals, Travis Nicholson on acoustic guitar, Nick Beardon on bass, Joe Overton on fiddle, and Jerry Pentecost on drums.

This all happened really fast. We had this simple idea to have a party, to my surprise a song came out of it. And suddenly I’m putting out new music.

My thought is, if you want to address the the ills and evils of the world, however you define them to be, start local. People are beautiful and flawed but everyone has something to offer.
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