Auburn, Maine, Native Writes Intense Song About the Lewiston Shooting
The song "When It Comes", which is about the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, was not easy for Scott Folsom to write.
In fact, according to the Sun Journal, Scott still can't talk about the October 2023 shooting without getting emotional. He was personally affected. Not just being a native of Auburn, but because one of his high school classmates lost his son. The wife of one of his cousins was shot three times but survived. Scott and his family know many people who were impacted by the shooting.
Nearly a month after the shooting, Scott decided to write "When It Comes". He was hoping that putting his feelings into a song would make him feel better. It's an emotional song with a beautiful and haunting video made by Sarah Violette. The song is out now.
Part of the song goes,
And you don’t know what to do, can’t believe it’s real, as you suffer through the sorrow and the pain/What I am going through, how the hell you gonna heal/When you recognize the faces and the names/When it comes to your town.
The video is jarring as there is footage of Lewiston, but also headlines of mass shootings across the country. It makes you pause as you think to yourself, "There are so many." Scott did not have an easy time making this song. He told the Sun Journal,
It’s such a weird feeling, your whole memory of the place and everything is just changed. I was going between completely sad and upset and then really angry that this (expletive) keeps happening over and over.
He said that he was hoping that writing this song and recording it would be cathartic. He's had that happen with other songs when he's trying to work through some emotions, but not this one. He says he doesn't think he'll ever get over what happened.