By Christian Newswire

SAPULPA, Okla. -- The song "Anaheim Girl" started out, of all things, as an anniversary present. "I started getting a series of messages from this truck driver named Todd Sturgis," recalled 'Long Haul Paul' Marhoefer, a trucker singer/songwriter based in Indiana. "He was attempting to commission me to write a song to honor his wife and co-driver, Tamera. Frankly, I kept trying to politely blow the guy off."

"Four or five months later, Todd got ahold of me again. I guess he had paid some award-winning musician a few hundred bucks to write this song for his wife and asked me to critique it. Not trying to be mean, but I thought it was a pretty lame song. At that point, I'm like, 'Dude, you can't go in there with that song.' I suppose I was a little bit like the trucker who doesn't give a guy any directions on the CB until someone else gives him wrong directions, and then and only then I chime in and say 'No that's wrong; here's the best way.'"

After a couple of phone interviews with Mr. Sturgis, Marhoefer wrote and recorded "Anaheim Girl," a song which details a trucking family's odyssey from addiction to recovery.

Sturgis then created a music video to go with the song and surprised his wife Tamera with it for their 25th trucking anniversary. The couple began to send the video out to a small circle of friends and family. "The majority of all the return emails started with the phrase, 'This made me cry,' recalled Mrs. Sturgis. "It was a very personal song. I never dreamed other people would be so moved by our story."

After receiving a link to the video, Marhoefer began to realize that this was shaping up to be a special project. "Several friends, and even the president of the record label I'm signed to, said things like 'This is one of your best tracks Paul.'"

Marhoefer then asked the Sturgis' if he could release the song on his upcoming CD, "You Were A Good Hand." "We were so excited to find out that our experience with God's grace was going to be out there for other people to hear," said Tamera. "What started out as a labor of love has become a statement of faith, redemption, and grace."

"Anaheim Girl," track 11 on the upcoming CD "You Were A Good Hand" is scheduled for release on Thanksgiving Eve, 11/27/2019.

Anaheim Girl The Video:
https://youtu.be/hwX9tq37iVE

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