Arden, North Carolina (May 5, 2023) — In a salute to their adopted home that appears just weeks before the solemn commemoration of Memorial Day, Horizon Records’ The Chitans have released “We Are America,” a Roger Talley-produced meditation on sacrifice and service, perseverance and unity.
Written by Tery Wilkins, the song embraces American strength and diversity, and offers a profound message that resonates with special depth for the family group — who began their journey in the tiny Caribbean nation of Grenada before relocating to the United States, settling in Indiana, and starting the process of gaining their US citizenship.
Beginning with a melodic figure that echoes the closing line of several earlier patriotic classics, “We Are America” presents The Chitans — five siblings — in a vocal arrangement that moves effortlessly from unison singing to harmonies and solo voices. Backed by a subdued rhythm section and gentle strings, the group offers a lyric that begins by recognizing the military defenders of freedom before looking through a broader lens:
To the moms who stay at home or work from nine to five
We’re America
To the ones who’ve lost their jobs and they’re trying to survive
We’re America
From north to south, east to west, America, this song’s for you
We the people, By the people, standing for honor and truth
And it is only after this second verse that the music swells as The Chitans offer the stirring chorus once more, creating a musical development that echoes the arc of the song’s narrative:
We are America, land of the free
Our flag still flies for freedom, pride and liberty
One nation under God, we’ll stand up and fight
For the red, white and blue
We are America — America, here’s to you
“When we heard this song,” says the group,” we loved the lyrics. The soldiers from every branch of the military are out on the battlefield for America, but it’s not just the soldiers. It is the wives, husbands, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and the countless relatives who remain on shore fighting their own daily battles, too.”
“It’s a team endeavor,” they add, “to make this country what it is and should be. It takes every single person to show what America is all about. So, let’s all join together, because We Are America!”
Listen to “We Are America” HERE.
About The Chitans
Kaiziah, Kayandra, Jesse, Jayden and Karlainah Chitan and their parents, Layne and Karen, travel the world singing wherever they are called upon to do so, to share Jesus’s love with all people, especially the children of the world.
The family travels the world, serving the communities they stop in through ministering in churches, hospitals, nursing homes, senior homes, community centers, prisons, slums and on the streets (feeding the homeless). The family has sung at religious, cultural, human rights and civic gatherings throughout Canada, the United States — including at The White House and on Capitol Hill — Kenya (Africa), the United Kingdom, the Caribbean including Bermuda and to heads of state in Jamaica, Grenada, Bermuda and Canada.
In July of 2012, the family received a Congressional Award from the United States of America, for volunteer work done on the streets of Brooklyn, New York.
The Chitans have ministered with Lynda Randle, Woody Wright, The Nelons, The Collingsworth Family, The Talleys, Mark Bishop, Gordon Mote, Guy Penrod, Bobby Jones on Bobby Jones Presents, RussTaff, Wintley Phipps, Bill Gaither and his Homecoming Friends, and have sung at Singing in the Sun, Gatlinburg Gathering, National Quartet Convention and Gaither’s Fall Fest.