DeLayne Chowen - ChristianMusic.com

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About DeLayne Chowen

Ever want to change? I am trying to.

My name is DeLayne Chowen and I have been living a life of change, trying to evolve and grow to where God wants me to. My new CD, "Help Me Change" (2007), chronicles this journey. Bad times, good times, times of discovery and wonderment encompass, they all have led me to where I am. This is my story.

I grew up on a farm in South Dakota and attended school in a town of 664 people that was 13 miles away. Life was so completely simple then. There weren't 100 different ways of accessing the outside world as there is today. Don't get me wrong, I have grown to love the instant access I have to everything, but in the same breath I sometimes wish it wasn't there. It is so tempting to get caught up in everything. We should all revoke our own access from time to time to that stimulating world that sees to consume us and pull us away from the people and things we love most and with which we should spend the most time.

I look back and am thankful for the values that my parents and family (both immediate and extended) instilled in me. From a young age it became apparent that family and God was a necessary combination to have in life.

During my teenage years, I would need that combination when my family moved to Northern Virginia and I attended a school that had 667 people in my freshman class (more than my old home town). But things broke down as girls, sports and music seemed to take over.  But it was a girl who caused me to write my first song, so I am thankful.

I attended Virginia Commonwealth University and at the advice of my father joined the National Guard to help pay for school. Working throughout school brought back to mind the hard lessons I had learned from the farm. Playing in a rock band deepened my love for music and brought it back once again into my life. And being lonely and scared during basic training brought back the prayers I had learned from that small church in Vale, South Dakota .

Life would take a different turn after college.

I honestly think that for most of those years though I really did pray from the heart, but it was truly only when I was in need. But later I'd need to learn a deeper faith. Our whole life stopped one day when our daughter Demi was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma (cancer) at the tender age of 16 months. We are one of the luckiest and most blessed families because the tumor was fully removed and we dodged chemotherapy and radiation treatment. Because of this blessing I am donating 1/3 of all the CD sales to cancer research.

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After working on my first CD with Creative Soul Records' Artist Development program in Nashville, TN, I have rededicated my music to helping others.

I don't claim to be the best person in the world. In fact, I don't even think I am worthy enough to even stand in church sometimes. I do know though however that I am the luckiest person in the world. I have so many things to be thankful for and I am trying to become a better person, a better husband and a better father. I also believe we all can become better people in any way we want with God's help and that his is willing to listen to us and help us all change. I am so far from where he probably wants me to be, but I want to try to get there... how about you?