Music Behind the Uniform

Anew episode of the Come Together Music Podcast is live and this one was recorded in front of a live audience.

We were at the Tomorrow.City USA Conference, the nation’s leading convening of civic innovators thinking about how American cities can thrive, when I pulled two friends and fellow Aspen Institute Civil Society Fellows onto the stage for a conversation about music and legacy.

Melissa Hyatt is a former Baltimore County Police Chief, former Senior Advisor with the U.S. Marshals Service. At Tomorrow City, she was presenting the first autonomous police car in the United States.

Jerad Warren is a retired Air Force Colonel and the founder and CEO of Paradoxical Ascent, which uses physically demanding expeditions (e.g. Kilimanjaro, Patagonia, Kashmir) and deep self-inquiry to develop the next generation of leaders.

Together, the four songs they chose told us more about who they are than any bio could.

There’s a version of Melissa Hyatt that most people have seen: the one behind a podium, or in front of a camera, or in command of a department of thousands. Steady, measured, and unflappable. But there’s another version: the one from before any of that. A 16-year-old lifeguard in the summer, windows down, arm out, not a care in the world. Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” transports her back to that era.

Likewise, Jerad Warren is a hard man. If you met him, you might guess he listens to hard-driving music. You’d be half right. I asked him for a song that he enjoys that people wouldn’t expect. He chose Nine Inch Nails which, honestly, I didn’t think was all that surprising. That’s because I know NIN to be aggressive, industrial rock. Jerad picked a “Something I Can Never Have,” which features Trent Reznor alone at a piano. It is eminently musical. Jerad discovered it around 2005, 2006, and it followed him through multiple deployments and even through the Libyan civil war.

He was part of a complex evacuation mission, trying to get everyone out safe, but then got stuck on mainland Europe not knowing if he’d go back to finish the job.

“The military is very rewarding at times,” he said. “But if you’re not getting to do your job, it can be very, very frustrating.”

That song held him. “It’s okay to have this pain,” he told us. “You haven’t accomplished everything yet. But keep freaking going.”

For his legacy song, he chose Cake’s “The Distance.” An anthem that started with track meets, hardened through the Air Force Academy grind, survived Special Forces selection, and now soundtracks the early days of building a new non-profit after retiring last year. “Everyone’s left, he’s still going, he’s gonna finish.” His kids know the song. He joked that his wife is over it. But the song’s protagonist - and Jerad himself - is running through the tape regardless.

The Lifeguard Who Became a Chief

“Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty takes Melissa Hyatt back to a time before before the phone calls in the middle of the night about officers down. Before 24-hour, 7-day-a-week responsibility.

Her father was in law enforcement and she grew up knowing the phone could ring any time. He managed to be present when he was home and she learned compartmentalization from watching him but couldn’t always pull it off herself.

In the spring of 2015, while she was working in Baltimore County, unrest gripped Baltimore City. Nine days straight at work and a city on the edge. On the drive home “Free Fallin’” came on.

“I was tired, and I was drained,” she said quietly. “But it still just put me back in that space.”

Her legacy song was Billy Joel’s “My Life.” A declaration. High-profile roles attract opinions, and she spent years learning to care about them less. The uniform creates a kind of armor — formality, guardedness. Stepping away from it has meant stepping more fully into herself.

“Careers change, positions change, your phases in life change,” she said. “But you’re still yourself. And at the end of the day, that’s what you have.”

She and her husband moved to a farm about a year ago. Nature. Quiet. Space to just be. When she talks about where she goes to be left alone, she’s not hiding — she’s finally free-falling.

What Music Does That Nothing Else Can

As I mentioned during the recording, I’ve been hosting this podcast for a while and I keep coming back to the same realization: nobody is a one-note Johnny. Everyone has layers. Everyone has a song that cracks them open in a way that a résumé, or even a long conversation, doesn’t.

Jerad Warren, the hard-charging Special Forces colonel, reaches for a quiet Trent Reznor piano ballad. Melissa Hyatt, the composed, unshakeable chief, goes back to a summer she was 16. These aren’t contradictions, they are multi-dimensional human beings, each with a story to tell. That story is often better told with a soundtrack.

This episode is now live on all your favorite streaming platforms. I hope it gives you a moment today the way “Free Fallin’” gave Melissa a moment on that drive home.

It’s a great conversation and a reminder that behind every badge or uniform is a human with stories, responsibilities, hopes, and fears of their own. I hope you’ll listen and share.