Tom Martish is a Friend who lives near Hillsboro Wisconsin. He lives an intentionally simple life, dabbles in music-making and writes songs that mean something to him. This latest one is to honor those flooded out in Gays Mills, WI during an extreme rain event in August 2007 (side note: here's_a_video of damage to the many organic farms in this area and the "Sow the Seeds" program launched to help them.) Below are Tom's thoughts about writing the song. I'm grateful he agreed to share this one with the community.

Tom's thoughts:

I wrote "It's Raining in Gays Mills" while the rain was still coming down. I live about 50 miles from Gays Mills, but don't drive, so not being able to easily get there to help, I decided to write a song to show solidarity with the people there. The idea came almost immediately to just include the Gays Mills flood in with other tragedies in the world. The refrain is meant to be slightly ironic and an understatement, but not to in any way play down or satirize the tragedy in Gays Mills. And the whole song is written with an ear toward to style of Phil Ochs, whom I greatly admired.

With the first four verses written I was stuck for a way to finish the song, to bring the message home to reveal what actually happened in Gays Mills. While in that stasis, I happened to call my friend Anne who just happened to be helping put the Kickapoo Coop back together, and she unwittingly provided all the information I needed for the last verse.