Roman's Road

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Do you like babies, giving to charity, and instrumental rock guitar?…And Let’s face it; who doesn’t?! Well, now these three elements have been melded together by guitarist Dave Paris.

"Roman's Road", is inspired by the plight of his nephew Roman, who was born four months premature. The video features home movies and clips of Roman’s earliest days in the hospital, to his playful moments growing up with his family.

Dave recounts the story:

“I was living between two cities at the time and staying with my in-laws during the week while my sister-in-law was pregnant with Roman. So I got to see and even be involved with the expectation of the arrival of their son, who was due in April. On New Year’s weekend we got a call that my sister-in-law had experienced complications and was giving birth MUCH earlier than expected.

For the next few months Roman existed covered with tubes and plastic in a hospital. As I stayed with my in-laws I now got to experience the hope and survival of their son, as I watched their family, friends, and church community rally around the boy for his mere opportunity to live. Everyone was involved in supporting and caring for this family as we prayed and comforted them and each other. Every free moment seemed to be spent at the hospital watching Roman simply live, as hospital staff tended to him. And while all this transpired, Roman’s parents continued on with the daily aspects of their lives and family, with constant concern for the fate of their child. All Roman did during this time was try to survive, much like we all feel we are doing at times. He was instantly loved, instantly cared for and about, & it was suddenly important that the life of this little human succeeded.

In April, the month Roman was slated to be born, he got to go home. There was still some shaky ground to go through, but overall he grew stronger and healthier and much like Pinocchio he became “a real live boy!” Now Roman is an all American boy; constantly into everything, hard to stop, and almost impossible to keep up with.

Some time after Roman’s ordeal, I had an opportunity to be involved in an instrumental “shred” rock guitar compilation album. Of course big things were planned: national distribution to major markets, media and radio exposure, and all the big dreams accompanying a major release. With all these opportunities in front of me, I figured this release would be the biggest thing I would be part of to date, and I wanted my submission to be bigger than just me. So I wrote my contribution song inspired by Roman and his recovery, with the intention of giving proceeds to charity, specifically the March of Dimes, who were involved in the children’s hospital that Roman was at.

Of course as often happens in the music business, the album fell through. The record company contact ended up backing out of the project, artists dropped out, momentum couldn’t be re-established, we couldn’t find another label to take on the project, blah, blah, blah….

So I had a song. In between session work and live performances I was still working on material for my own album. This song “Roman’s Road”, is the pre-release for that album, with the single being released on Roman’s birthday. The ordeal Roman went through is now far removed from his daily activities, but as this incident fades over time, those of us who were there will always remember how fortunate we are to see him survive and carry on.”

In conjunction with the single, the music video was filmed by Dave’s good friend, collaborator and Media Specialist Cyprian Alexzander. Cyprian spent countless hours sifting through and editing video clips taken by family, as well as filming the on location footage at a local playground. For the video, Dave also wanted pretty, young dancers, but the only ones available within the budget were his nieces! The result is a fun representation of Roman’s struggles and triumphs, set to a soundtrack of Dave’s signature guitar melodies, and can be viewed on YouTube.

The song, which is available for download at iTunes and Amazon, and other digital outlets, is just like Roman: fast, peppy, and non-stop. With the single released on Roman’s birthday – January 3, proceeds from the song benefited the March of Dimes. Watch the video, download the song, and get more info at Dave Paris’ official site.