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Email: "New Country Music Star Born as Pro-Life Ballad Climbs the Charts"

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BY LifeSiteNews.com By Peter J. Smith NASHVILLE, Tennessee, February 8, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new country music star has been born - and with a pro-life ballad, no less, that is steadily climbing the country music charts. Matt Kennon’s debut hit single “the Call” has risen to No. 39 on the Billboard 200 list of top country music hits and packs a compelling pro-life, or what some may call a “whole life," message.  Accompanied by his guitar, Kennon sings about the lives of two individuals that would have ended very differently without the timely intervention of a phone call. The music video for “The Call”– already played on Country Music Television – captures even better the happiness in so many lives that would never have happened without “the call.”The first part of the song focuses on a young man – a despairing U.S. Marine in the music video – on the cusp of pulling the trigger of his gun to take his own life. Just then, a friend calls his cell phone and asks him to come along for a motorboat outing. The friend tells him that the girl he likes will be there, and that she was excited to learn that he might join them. The friend says, “You better not miss it ´cause buddy I swear / It won´t be the same / If you ain’t there.”The next part tells the story of two 18-year-olds that “had let a kiss go to far” in the backseat of a car. Believing the unplanned pregnancy would spoil their plans to go off to college, the baby's father pressures his girlfriend into scheduling an abortion. But while she is sitting in the waiting room – a “family planning clinic” in the music video – her phone rings, and the boyfriend asks her not to go through with the abortion saying, “baby I was wrong about everything.” Instead, he tells her that he bought a ring, and asks her to marry him, saying “we’re gonna start a life” with the baby “boy or girl; pink or blue.” Crying she replies, “I’m glad you called.”  The music video illustrates what happens as a result of these two last-minute interventions: the Marine is happy, boating with his friends and his new-found love on a bright sunny lake. The two 18-year-olds are picnicking nearby in the woods, beaming with smiles at the sight of their baby, cooing in his mother’s arms. Kennon concludes the heart-warming song by singing, “If someone you know is waiting on your mind / And needs a friend on the other end line / Don´t hesitate what you say may seem so small / But who knows / They might be glad you called / So make the call.”The song’s pro-life message is also personal to Kennon, a Georgia native whose real name is Matt Ferguson. In an interview with The Boot, AOL’s music blog, Kennon revealed that he was adopted by two loving parents, who tragically had lost three out of four of their own children in a house fire.  Kennon’s birth mother, on the other hand, actually had made plans to abort him. But unlike the story Kennon sings about in “The Call”, his own birth-father never intervened. Kennon’s mother did not go through with the abortion only because her doctor said she was two weeks past the legal limit. Fortunately, the same doctor helped arrange the at-birth adoption, guaranteeing that the baby – the future rising country music star – would find a loving, stable home. Later in life, Kennon sought out his birth mother and biological father, but the details of his natural family's chaotic life proved very disturbing: his natural father, he learned, had attempted to sell him for adoption on the black market for $10,000. But instead of discouraging him, said Kennon, the knowledge “gave me the drive to succeed and let [his biological parents] know I was more than just a price tag.”Kennon says today that he only considers his adoptive parents to be his real parents, and that he has been very blessed from the day they welcomed him into their lives. "I've only got a mom and a dad and they're both alive and well, and they've always been there and they always will be there," said Kennon.According to the Newton Citizen, Kennon grew up a Christian playing drums and singing at Bethel Christian Church in Conyers, Georgia, and participated in Salem High School’s jazz band until graduating in 1995. For the past six years, Kennon had been practicing his guitar, writing songs, and performing in showcases in the country music capital of Nashville before finally getting name recognition for “The Call.”Kennon is finishing the final touches on an album which should hit stores later this year. Matt Kennon will join music stars Dierks Bentley, Randy Houser, and Jamey Johnson in the lineup for the BamaJam Music and Arts Festival taking place June 3-5 in Enterprise, Alabama.   Watch the “The Call”  on Youtube and read official lyrics here.  Read the Matt Kennon interview with AOL’s The Boot here.  Click here to visit Matt Kennon’s Facebook page for more information on his music and tours. http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/new-country-music-star-born-as-pro-life-ballad-climbs-the-charts/

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