Andrew Stonehome

“When You're Leaving”, is written from the perspective of a person who is encouraging someone that they love to follow their need to leave in order to grow.

For some reason, I always knew that part of growing up for me would include the need to leave the place that I was from in order to become the person that I wanted to become. Because of that, the idea of the hero's journey has always resonated with me. The hero sets off, faces their fears in order to become the person that they need to become, and then returns home to share their gifts. So after finishing college, I moved to the Pacific Northwest where I now live.  

I’m still in the early stages of my journey and the dragons that I need to slay are mostly my own; namely my inner critic who’s seldom satisfied and whose voice has overshadowed the voice of my inner child who wants to express himself creatively. Creating music as a way of expressing myself is something I’ve wanted to do since I was young, and I’ve finally worked up the courage to begin charting my own course through the stormy sea.

As a person who has a need to chart my own course, I’m aware of the impact that this need to leave can have on the people who love you, whether it’s a parent, a partner, a friend, or a child. It can be challenging to let somebody that you love leave, even if you know that it’s what’s best for them. 

As with all of the songs on my debut album, I wrote,  performed, recorded and mixed myself it in my 104 year-old house. The official video for "When You're Leaving" was filmed by my then 10 year-old son, my daughter, my dad, and a few shots in NYC taken by my friend. It also includes footage from my childhood taken by my dad. It was fun to go through the footage from my childhood to find scenes that aligned with the theme of the song. Below is a video showing some behind the scenes of the filming.