Do you think a song could save someones life?
Has a song saved yours?
Songs That Save Our Lives is an ongoing collaborative project exploring the power of music and storytelling to express, heal, and connect.
We begin from a simple truth:
songs carry us.
They hold memory.
They hold grief.
They hold joy, survival, longing, love.
One song, one story at a time, we gather to honor the ways music saves us.
How Does Art Save Lives?
Songs That Save Our Lives begins with this question. This project gathers real stories about how music has helped people live —
and then brings people together to experience those songs performed alongside the stories that reveal why they matter.
A call to stories
We invite people to share one song that holds special meaning, memory, or medicine in their lives — and the story of why.
What was happening when this song found you?
How did it meet you there?
What did it help you survive, feel, or understand?
Stories can be submitted as an audio message or as a written reflection (up to 3 minutes or 1 page, in their own words). Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, and submitters become eligible to share their stories at one of STSOL’s live events and/or through the STSOL online libraries where they become part of a growing public archive of lived experience through music.
From story to stage
In 2026, Songs That Save Our Lives will produce a series of live performances that bring selected stories to life through music and storytelling.
Each event unfolds as a sequence of tune + tale pairings:
A live cover of a submitted song is performed by the house band METAMORFOS, followed by the story of how that song held someone through a defining moment — and reminded them they were not alone.
These gatherings create a shared space of witnessing — revealing, through story, how art helps us endure, make meaning, and find our way back to belonging.
Upcoming Performance:
June 27 — Keshet Center for the Arts
A living library
Stories shared through the project also become part of the Songs That Save Our Lives online libraries — a freely accessible multimedia archive of songs, stories, and community memory.
A place to return when we need to remember…