She calls on her music angels for inspiration when writing her songs. She says she just thinks of them, they write the songs and all she does is record the music for the angels.

Jennifer Sweete has been a professional musician since the age of 16, and started playing music in second grade. She started with the violin until she hit middle school, switching gears and learning guitar.

“I wanted to be a rock star and I craved the guitar,” she said. “At the time my family couldn’t afford lessons, so I learned from a guy who was giving them on PBS.”

Lessons from the television were her only training and soon she was writing her own songs, playing in a variety of venues and eventually producing three CDs. Sweete describes her sound as unique with a mixture of rock, pop, blues and contemporary rock. She is now retired from playing live shows, but still records songs and albums and sings lullabies to her grandson every night.

But last September an opportunity unexpectedly fell in her lap. She was approached by her husband about designing a Web site for a nonprofit organization in Elbert County called the Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Combat Veterans Cowboy Up program developed by John Nash. The program helps combat veterans deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder using horses. Over time the horses help the vets break down walls and move forward in recovery.

Soon after, Sweete designed the Web site, became the senior director of marketing and fundraising as well as Webmaster and decided the program needed a theme song to express to the average person the struggles a veteran can have dealing with PTSD. Sweete deals with PTSD personally, although her experiences were personal and not disclosed, and she said she knows the hardships the disorder can cause for a person.

“I have been working on my PTSD for years and I feel like I have a pretty good grip,” she said. “But I know when it comes on and it can be overwhelming and can last for days.”

Sweete has also dealt with a number of friends who came back from the Vietnam War with PTSD and she watched as they were spit on and shunned from society. She said she gets frustrated at people who do not understand what the men and women have been through in war, therefore the process to write the song was intense and unlike any other writing experience.

Sweete started writing the song “Cowboy Up” in October with a specific intent on what she wanted to say and the point she wanted to get across to listeners. She first wrote down all her feelings she has about life, war, pain and PTSD and after filling up half a notebook, very little progress was made with the actual song. Days and days went by and one night she finally gave up and threw her hands up, just in time for some angelic inspiration.

“The next day I woke up and it was like, boom, and I wrote the song in 20 minutes,” she said. “I needed to let go of trying to write it myself without that great guidance in the sky where the gift comes from.”

After the song was finished Sweete asked her friend Barry Ebert to sing the vocals and then the song was put to video for YouTube by another friend, Kris Garrett, who runs her own Web site called KriswithaKamera.com making video and audio productions.

“I wanted Barry to sing the song because he is one of my favorite singers of all time and I just love his voice,” she said.

The song and video was released on YouTube on April 27. Sweete also released a version of herself singing the song. She said she thought a version with a female voice might be more relatable to women in the military.

Sweete said the writing process of “Cowboy Up” was therapeutic for her.

“While I was writing the song it was like a piece of my heart got put back in place,” she said. “I felt like it was one of the major things I came here to do in this life and now I’ve done it.”

Since working with the Combat Veterans Cowboy Up program and John Nash, Sweete said she has been able to work with some of the horses, bonding with one in particular named Honey. She believes the program offers a permanent solution to a permanent problem and that every vet should know about the program.

“I am honored to be working John Nash. The man has a heart of gold and he is a survivor of PTSD,” she said. “He’s helping a lot of people survive as well and regain their lives and really live again.”

Sweete said “Cowboy Up” is her thank you to Nash and she hopes he knows how loved and respected he is by her and so many people he has already affected.

To watch the video and hear the song “Cowboy Up” visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYkLZWJKJuc. For more information on the Combat Veterans Cowboy Up program visit www.CombatVeteransCowboyUp.org.

“COWBOY UP” © 2008 Jennifer Sweete

Where are all the words to say what we need to hear

When all of the ghosts of our past suddenly appear

Hey there look around, can you hear the bombs bursting clear enough

Heart to heart can we find the love

I bellieve, I believe, it’s why we’re still here, so …

Cowboy up – you’re back in the saddle

Your mind is a stallion when you finally decide

Cowboy up – ride away from the battle

It’s your new batallion gettin’ ready to ride

Cowboy up – you’re back in the saddle

Your heart is a stallion and the wind’s at your side

Cowboy up –ride away from the battle

Let’s get back on the trail – cowboy up for the ride

You’re not making this journey alone

Together, we’re all gonna find our way home

When all the ghosts of our past come to call too loud

Hey there listen close, can you hear your voice in the crowd

Never givin’ up, heart to heart we can find the love

I believe, I believe the time is right now, so…

Cowboy up- you’re back in the saddle

Your mind is a stallion when you finally decide

Cowboy up –ride away from the battle

It’s your new batallion gettin’ ready to ride

Cowboy up- you’re back in the saddle

Your heart is a stallion and the wind’s at your side

Cowboy up –ride away from the battle

Let’s get back on the trail – cowboy up for the ride

Cowboy up – the reins are for takin’

Your mind is a whisper of screams that have died

Cowboy up- you’re not alone in this saddle

We all go together – cowboy up for the ride

Up for the ride, up for the ride

Cowboy up for the ride

“We’re not out of the woods yet, but we’ve found the trail …”