22-year old soldier Luke Stricklin spent a year in Iraq. For months, friends and family of the Arkansas National Guardsman asked what it was like, and wanted him to share his feelings about the war. He couldn’t. Conversations over a static-filled phone line weren’t enough.

So, he paid a young Iraqi boy $25 dollars to help him find a guitar. When he got it, Stricklin wrote a song. He called it, “American by God’s Amazing Grace.” He and his Army buddy J.R. Shultz hunkered down in their Baghdad camp. With a laptop, a cheap microphone, and some free software, they recorded the song and emailed it home. Nashville got word of it. By the time Stricklin returned to the US, the song was on country radio stations from New Mexico to Tennessee.

Now the Iraqi vet has a self-titled album due out in September. On Point recently caught up with Luke and his guitar, and asked him to tell us more about the experiences that inspired “American By God’s Amazing Grace”.

Guests:

Luke Stricklin, 22-year-old Arkansas National Guardsman who composed “American by God’s Amazing Grace” while stationed in Iraq. His album is due out in September.