PRESS RELEASES: Lillie Van Buskirk-Jackson and Zaricor Jackson Jr.

BWD Magazine

http://www.bwdmagazine.com/souldirection1-september-2015-souldirection1-duet-singersongwriters-variety-magazine-lifestyle-models-music/



Christian Newswire @CNewswire

After Hardships, Senior Couple Anxious to Prove Age is Just a Number http://ift.tt/1gnoZJz 
DOWNEY, Calif., Sept. 14, 2015 /Christian Newswire/ -- Lillie Van Buskirk-Jackson and Zaricor Jackson Jr. (aka SoulDirection1) are a senior couple that have done homeless ministry in the inner-city of Los Angeles for 15 years as they sang in churches. They put their long anticipated album on hold because they felt a strong urge to help the homeless. Their music is sure to surprise you.

 
After the completion of their album, Lillie had a medical emergency and needed surgery which delayed their progress for about a year. Lillie stated, "It was the hardest time of my life knowing that we had spent so much time writing songs and in the studio and now everything had ground to a complete halt." She also stated, "I had hoped that there would be opportunity for us to sing in churches and Christian events again. I really missed ministering to the people of God."  To add to their frustration, Zaricor also had issues that he refused to discuss.
 
Finally they were able to move forward with their new album. While on the comeback trail, their album "To The Least Of These" has reached #12 on the European Charts, and has charted well on other charts. Their video of "To the Least Of These" (youtu.be/4vjW9cTPcm4) has reached #4 on Artist's United (First Episode) and their song "God Is" has been voted #1 (over 20,000 votes) on HardcoreMix.com. The reviewer of their song stated, "After one listen, you will fall in love with these two!" (HardcoreMix.com/SoulDirection1-interview.html).
 
They are also featured on the cover as well as an interview in the September issue of BWD Magazine (BWDMagazine.com - a variety magazine). Oh, and let's not forget, over 1 million followers on twitter - twitter.com/SoulDirection1.  Because of these successes and their ages (67 and 71), it has given them new hope and led them to appeal to all churches and ministries to please invite them to minister at your church or Christian event. Their music covers many genres. God's word says, "Ask, and it shall be given you," (Matthew 7:7-8) so this is their Clarion Call.
 
These seniors feel as Joshua felt when he said, "Now therefore give me this mountain," Joshua 14:12a.
 
Music can be auditioned on SoundCloud at SoundCloud.com/SoulDirection

 

 

Front And Back Cover for the magazine plus an interview article.

HARDCOREMIX.COM ARTICLE:

HardcoreMix:
Where did the two of you grow up?
Lillie - Modesto, CA up north and Artesia, CA (a small suburb southeast of Los Angeles)
Zaricor (Sonny) - The inner-cities of Watts and Compton, CA

What influenced you both to get into music?
Lillie -Ever since Junior High when I was in choir, I have loved to sing.  When I got older, I always sang in the choir, or was worship leader at church.  I have sang with trios and duets and now with my husband.

Zaricor (Sonny) - My father was a musician and song writer, so growing up, I was heavily influenced by the rehearsals he had, and the different professional groups from the neighborhood.  As young kids we all looked up to the singers that made it real big. I used to watch "The Coasters" practice, so I always wanted to be a singer.  So I went all the way through school and college in choirs.

Explain to us your role in Street Ministry.
We locate people that live on the streets, and supply them with food, clothing, toiletries, and prayer. 
We don't have a designated spot, we just travel to where we know they usually are.  We have had outreaches at different churches during our last 15 years, but find we really love being able to get to the people that don't know to come to a church outreach for their needs.  The homeless people like us, and we like them, so it is a good partnership.

Coming back to music after a bit of time, has meeting and helping people,
influenced your song writing?
In every way possible because all of our songs are a direct result of our experience with homeless people.  The entire album "To The Least Of These", is dedicated to the homeless, and each song, one way or another, is meant to uplift them, and give them hope, and to shine a spotlight on what they go through every day.  So everything we write about, is directly related to our homeless ministry.  For instance MARIA is an actual case study of a very successful lady, got on drugs, lost her $250,000 year business, ended up on the streets, and although we gave our song a happy ending, hers didn't come until a couple of years after we wrote the song.  She is fine now.

Where do you all record at?
We record at our studio, as well as Pastor Muzik Martin's studio (a member of Eccence, a great singing group).

The two of you look so happy together. What is your secret?
Working together on all projects, sharing responsibilities, tolerating each other's short comings, letting God take control of all situations and using our talents to the fullest with God as the final authority.

SoulDirection1 has a nice website, and is connected social media and more.
Do you like being able to reach out to fans almost instantly?
It has proved to be very good for us, although we mainly Tweet and post encouraging bible verses.
It has given us a big platform to discuss our street ministry and introduce our followers to our music. 
It is always good to know that what we post and tweet, is appreciated by those that receive them

Would you ever cross over and do a Rock or Country type song?
Actually, we are Ordained Ministers, very committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Zaricor sang R&B several years before getting saved, but I never really sang until I got into church.  And to answer your question - we would never cross over.  We will use the genres, but only biblical content.

What new projects have you two been working on lately?
We are currently beginning to work on our second album which will still be heavily influenced by our street ministry experiences.  We still are working with the homeless on a continual basis.  We hosted a cable TV program for about 10 years that was discontinued by the city, and we have over 100 episodes plus raw footage, never edited that we plan on doing as a YouTube/webcast.

What can we expect from SoulDirection1 in the future?
Our webcast, a new album, more good music, more helping the homeless, and more staying super active with Social Media.  We are also very proud of our 1,050,000 followers on Twitter.

 

INTERVIEW WITH RadioDirectX.com:

RadioDirectX:
We are Zaricor and Lillie Jackson, a husband and wife CHRISTIAN/ GOSPEL duet singing  under the name of SoulDirection1.  We are ordained ministers that work  with the homeless.  We met in an unusual way.  Lillie's husband had passed and she attended  one church and Zaricor was assisting a pastor in another church.   Somehow God put us together through a young homeless man that one of  us worked with and the other gave a place to stay.  This renewed a  vision to not only help the homeless but sing also.  We have sung at  many churches through out the Los Angeles area and this is our first  venture trying to reach a larger audience. Our song "GOD IS" is currently #1 with 20,000 votes on HARDCOREMIX.com, we have charted on PROMOBUZZ.COM, OUR VIDEO "To the Least of These" (a Docu-Drama highlighting the problem of homelessness) reached #4 on ARTIST UNITED VIDEO COUNTDOWN. We strongly believe that  all lives matter.  We hope you enjoy our album.  website:  www.SoulDirection1.com   email:    ReachingOut@SoulDirection1.com

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