You may not have heard of rappers Chowder, Big D.A.Q. or lil Gordito — but you might spot them at the Grammys.

Andrew "Chowder" McMains, David "Big D.A.Q." Bond and Caleb "lil Gordito" McDonald are three Salem teens rapping their way into the music industry with songs about addiction and mental health.

They've been recognized for songs they submitted to the national Teens Make Music competition, hosted by California charity MusiCares.

McMains' and Bond's song won first place and McDonald's took third. All three will fly to Los Angeles to attend the 61st Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 10.

While there, the teens will not only attend the ceremony, but they'll see the sights, attend a benefit and check out backstage rehearsals. The first-place winners will also get to attend the event's after-party.

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As exciting as the festivities will be, the teens said using music to process their past, as well as share that with others who may be doing the same, is really what it's all about.

The teens are part of the adolescent program through Bridgeway Recovery Services, a Salem-based healthcare nonprofit.

The out-patient program specifically works with teens overcoming substance use, who are referred to the program by schools, parents or probation officers.

Using music as an outlet is something program supervisor Sonny Saltalamachia said can make a life-changing difference for the teens.

"It's the rewriting of the story in their mind that has been telling them they're failures," he said. "They're rewriting those traumas to become conquerors and victors over those circumstances."

Using art to heal

The music-focused program began at Bridgeway two years ago when the organization was awarded thousands of dollars from Willamette University's Atkinson Graduate School of Management and the City of Salem.

Bridgeway used the money to purchase music and video production equipment that the teens could use to work through their challenges and inspire others to do the same.

When teens are referred to the program, their needs are assessed and the team develops a treatment program fit to the individual. This can include individual and group therapy, but it can also include activities geared toward teens, like football games and haunted houses.

Some of the teens, including the three going to L.A., showed special interest in the "journaling through music" project and started writing songs that supervisor Saltalamachia engineered and produced using the equipment.

Saltalamachia said the majority of the music the teens write is rap and hip hop since that's mostly what they listen to.

Since some rap glorifies drug use and gangs, as well as the degradation of women, he said, Bridgeway teens have to steer clear of those subjects and, instead, be vulnerable and delve into the things they're going through.

"The goal is to leverage the culture around them and change it," Saltalamachia said.

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Seeking forgiveness through lyrics

Bridgeway's studio is in the basement of the IKE Box coffee house in downtown Salem.

On the walls of their recording room, there are dozens of papers with lyrics scribbled and scratched out. Some verses are about their mothers, their fathers. Others dissect the negative stories they hear about themselves.

While teens McDonald, Bond and McMains all have varying levels of experience writing music, they were all able to produce songs that spoke to the core of what they're going through and what they want out of life.

In Bond's and McMains' song "Lost," the boys share their perspective from using. The chorus, sung by a woman, gives the mother's plea — "Tell me the cost, tell me the price. You don't know all that I've sacrificed."

Bond's verse is about the things you lose and the sadness that accompanies that loss. "What stems from that can turn into something productive or disruptive," he said.

McMains said his lyrics are about the feeling he got when we was using drugs and rarely sober. "I kept thinking 'I want to stop, but I can't stop,' so I'd just go get high," he said.

McDonald's song takes another approach. His verse is an apology to his mother. "I knew what I was putting her through," he said. "It got to the point I didn't know who I was."

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In McDonald's song, "Demons," he says, "I got brought to the heavens I thought I was dreaming ... living the truth that's what I believe in," and asks for his mother's forgiveness.

Even though the Grammy invitation doesn't include tickets, Bridgeway is sending the teens — and their mothers — to Los Angeles.

Contact reporter Natalie Pate at npate@StatesmanJournal.com, 503-399-6745 or follow her on Twitter @Nataliempate or Facebook at www.Facebook.com/nataliepatejournalist.

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