“Mom's Photo Album”
September 14, 2026
Happy Birthday Mom,
There was never really another choice for Page One. This was your favorite song in the world. I remember as a kid thinking George Strait sang every song on the radio because his 4 disc “Strait out of the Box” got so much airplay in our car, and this was always the one you came back to most.
The last trip we took as a family was to L.A. in July 2024. The way you lit up while pulling into Marina Del Rey and getting your picture made with the sign is something I won’t ever forget. You’d always wanted to experience it and I’m so glad looking back now that we made it happen.
Just 5 months later on Christmas 2024, as you took your final few breaths, I remember sitting next to you holding your hand and thinking you should get to hear your favorite song one last time. So I played it quietly on my phone while singing it softly to you, as your spirit passed over from this world to the next. “A spirit too strong for the body you had to hold you anymore” is what I told you.
I just know you’d be thrilled to see that you’re forever going to be tied to this song and on the cover of a Marina Del Rey single. I hope it makes you proud, and I love you and miss you very much.
I’ll bring you another one next year.
Love, —Colton
What it is
Mom's Photo Album is an album I'm building one song at a time.
Every year on my mom's birthday, September 14, I'll record one of her favorite songs and add it to the same album.
Each song gets its own page here with a photo and a birthday message to my mom about why I chose it. This year, the album starts with Marina Del Rey. Next year, I'll add another.
Why I made it
I didn’t know what her birthday was supposed to be now.
After my mom passed, I started thinking about what I was going to do when her birthday came around. I didn't want September 14 to just be a day I dreaded every year because she couldn't be here to celebrate, and I didn't want it to become just any other day either. I wanted to do something for her, and I wanted something I could look forward to as that day got closer.
Music was always a part of our relationship, and the biggest part of my music vocabulary came straight from the artists she would put on while I was growing up. If they are one of my favorite artists, chances are they were one of her favorites first. So recording one of her favorite songs every year felt like a cool birthday present I could still give her. Each one that I record can be pinpointed to specific memories — whether it was one she used to sing to me, stories she'd have about certain ones, anthems to a vacation we took, or just one she'd send my way because she knew I needed to hear it.
I never really had any interest in keeping the money these songs make either. I didn't write them. I'm recording them specifically for my mom as a birthday gift to her. So whatever Mom's Photo Album generates will go to the scholarship we started in her name and help send kids to college.
The Leslie Morman Legacy Scholarship
She asked for scholarships instead of flowers.
One of my mom's last wishes was that instead of sending flowers to her funeral, people put that money toward scholarships for kids instead. So after she passed, that's what we did.
Last year, we were able to give three graduating seniors each a $1,000 scholarship in her name.
Now I'm carrying that idea forward through The Leslie Morman Legacy Scholarship, a new program within the nonprofit we started. Every dollar Mom's Photo Album generates from my recordings will go toward the scholarship. As the album gets a little longer every year, hopefully the amount it can contribute grows with it too.
Page one's goal
1,000 people. One more $1,000 scholarship.
Marina Del Rey is the first page of Mom's Photo Album. On September 14, I'm asking 1,000 people to purchase the song for $1.
You can still stream it anywhere you normally listen to music. Buying a copy is what funds the scholarship.
Want to be one of the 1,000?
I’ll send you the $1 purchase link on September 14.