Inspired by grief, Boise woman set to release album in wake of drunken-driving crash
When Sammi Swenson signed a record deal at the end of 2019, her life was on the verge of changing. Just not in the ways she expected.
Swenson, then a junior in high school, had plans to enter the studio in early 2020 to record an album full of songs she’d written. The coronavirus pandemic put those plans on hold, but Swenson was still hopeful she’d be able to begin recording soon. In May 2020, COVID-19 cases were declining in Idaho and Swenson was taking small steps toward normalcy, too.
She and her younger sister, Maddi, had spent the day with a friend, and Swenson was driving the younger girls home the evening of May 7. At the intersection of Five Mile and McMillan roads, a drunken driver sped through a red light and smashed into Swenson’s car. Maddi was severely injured and their friend, 15-year-old Ava Sawyer, died.
After the crash, Swenson grappled with trauma and grief, struggling to process Ava’s death and the grisly crash. Music was the furthest thing from her mind — until she began writing songs for Ava. On Thursday, Swenson will release an entire album — “Silver,” which she recorded under the name Sammi — inspired by her friend and her grief, with a launch party Thursday in Boise that will benefit victims of drunken driving.
Music helped Boise woman heal from crash
Swenson said it’s hard to pinpoint how she got her start in music. Both her parents are musicians (her dad, Matt Swenson, taught choir at Boise High School) and Swenson began learning to play piano and guitar as a young child. Singing and songwriting came naturally, too.
“High school was hard for me, and I found it was a great way for me to communicate by writing music,” Swenson told the Idaho Statesman.
In 2019, Next Music Company reached out with an offer of a record deal. The company, which was founded in Boise by musician and music teacher Jeff Baker, is part of a group of labels under Origin Records, a Seattle record label specializing in jazz.
“The initial album was supposed to be R&B, which is completely different from what it is now,” Swenson said.
When Swenson wrote the initial album, the songs felt meaningful, personal. After the car crash, they felt trivial.
“I became pretty bitter about it because I was like, ‘This stuff feels so surface level now that I’ve experienced something with a lot of depth and a lot of layers to it,’ ” she said.
Swenson was the only person in the crash who remained conscious at the scene, and she struggled with processing what she’d witnessed and the ensuing grief over Ava’s death and Maddi’s injuries. Swenson felt disconnected and began to isolate herself at home. Her dreams of recording an album started to disintegrate.
About a month after the crash, Swenson was still keeping her distance from making music when a song came into her head.
“It was the most bizarre thing,” Swenson said. “In one day I had a whole song written and recorded.”
She posted the song on SoundCloud, a music-sharing website, with a photo of sunflowers and three words: dedicated to Ava. Soon, she noticed other users were commenting on the song, telling Swenson her music soothed their grief, too. The track has been played 40,000 times.
It was an epiphany for Swenson. Rather than writing music just for herself, she wanted to write songs other people could connect with and find solace in. The first song for Ava turned into many more, and last summer Swenson traveled to Seattle to record her album at Studio X. She described the album, “Silver,” as an indie pop record.
“What I like to tell people is it’s almost a mix of Billie Eilish and Adele,” Swenson said.
Album release will benefit victims of drunken drivers
Swenson’s album features 11 songs, many of them interconnected reflections on Ava Sawyer and the crash that changed Swenson’s life. She named it “Silver” in a nod to a silver lining.
“I was able to take something that was just horrible and really hard and painful and turn it into something beautiful and potentially something that can help other people heal from the things that hurt them,” Swenson said.
For her album debut, Swenson initially planned a small gathering with family, friends and collaborators who had worked on the record. Instead, she decided to honor Ava’s memory once more.
Swenson and her family had been in touch with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, since the crash, and Swenson wanted to use her album launch as an opportunity to amplify the organization’s message.
The “Silver” album release party will take place at 6 p.m. Thursday at JUMP. The free event will be the first time Swenson’s album is played publicly, and a portion of proceeds from limited-edition merchandise will go to the Idaho chapter of MADD.
“Her lyrics are so awe-inspiring,” said Miren Aburusa, program manager for MADD Idaho. “What was especially amazing to me was the maturity in her words, and I think that can only come from tragedy.”
Aburusa said she hope’s Swenson’s album will bring MADD’s message — “Ride, Don’t Drive” — to a younger audience.
“Too often with MADD, people in their 30s, 40s, 50s might know our message, but the majority of DUIs is people between 20 and 30,” Aburusa said. The drunken driver who crashed into Swenson was 19. He also died.
Swenson already has plans to perform at MADD events later this year, including a tribute to victims of drunken-driving crashes.
“Silver” will be available for streaming Feb. 18 on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other online platforms. Listeners can also pre-order copies of the album at nextmusiccompany.com.
This story was originally published February 17, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
