WHO WILL TELL?

BY DEDE SALEMANN

About the Album

Who Will Tell? is a testament to DeDe Salemann’s love for Jesus/Yeshua and her passion for expressing her faith through music. As a Messianic believer, DeDe’s hope was for the Christian and Jewish communities to come together in harmony. Although she sang and played guitar from an early age, DeDe was hesitant to share her own songs and lyrics with others until later in life. At age 62, she realized her lifelong dream, recording Who Will Tell? at Brownstone Recording in Brentwood, Tennessee. She was thrilled to have many artists and friends contribute their skills to the project, and grateful for the chance to express her devotion to Jesus/Yeshua through her music.

In the album’s introduction, DeDe wrote a message of thanks:

“Yeshua, Jesus… Thank you for giving your life in exchange for mine, for guiding me through your Holy Spirit to express the deepest desires of my heart in you. Thank you for using me in this season. Sustain me to run this race and finish well as your servant, for your Kingdom’s Glory!

Lord, we lift you up!”

“You are the God who reveals
Sunrise to sunset
We’ve witnessed Your Extravagance
You are the God who is One
We don’t comprehend
No Beginning and No End”

FROM “GOD WHO REVEALS”

Written by DeDe Salemann

Lyrics

Lift You Up
Who Will Tell?
Fight for Your Heart
God Who Reveals
Cry Out
I Am Not Ashamed
V’Ahavti
If My People
Aliyah
Salvation
No Eye Has Seen
Complete Album Liner Notes

The People Who Made it Possible

Producer: Dan Needham
Executive Producer: Victor Salemann
Recording Engineer: Billy Whittington

Recorded at Brownstone Recording (Brentwood, TN), with horns recorded by Ryan Mohr at Right Path Studios
Mastered by Kent Hooper at the house of BIG (Franklin, TN)

DeDe Salemann Lead Vocals
Dave Cleveland Acoustic Guitar, Bouzouki, Mandolin, Gut String
Jerry McPherson Electric Guitar
Jacob Lowery Bass
Jeff Roach Keys & Piano
Blair Masters Keys & Piano
Tania Hancheroff Background Vocals
Yehuda Zabari Spoken Hebrew Prayer (Intro on V’ahavti)
Lola Duncan Vocals (Intro on Aliyah, recorded by Danny Duncan)
Bob Davidson Shofar (Intro on Salvation)
Hylan Slobodkin Shofar (Intro on Salvation)
Skip Cleavinger Irish Whistle
Keith Everette Smith Trumpet
Mark Douthit Saxophone
Barry Green Trombone
Matt Butler Cello
Dan Needham Drums, Percussion, Programming, Background Vocals

DeDe's Early Years

Born in 1957, DeDe loved art and music from an early age, and couldn’t understand why her parents wouldn’t let her attend a Beatles concert in Seattle at nine years old. At the same age, she put her trust in Jesus while watching a Billy Graham crusade on television–a moment she would remember vividly for the rest of her life.

Trust in ADONAI with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and He will make your paths straight.

PROVERBS 3:5-6

Family

After getting married in 1979, DeDe and Victor focused on their studies and work, with Victor studying engineering and DeDe working at Nordstrom and later Boehm’s Candies where she tailored traditional dirndl dresses and worked in the candy kitchen. They welcomed their first daughter Stephanie in 1981 and then Jennifer in 1983, relocating their family from Issaquah the next year to Lake Sammamish. Summers were spent enjoying the lake, waterskiing behind Victor’s speed boat, and helping with numerous house and beach renovation projects. DeDe encouraged her daughters to pursue their artistic and musical interests, did crafts with them, and made sure they had time with grandparents and cousins.

Around the same time, both DeDe and Victor became heavily involved with youth ministry at Preston Baptist Church, designing creative party games like throwing pumpkins off the deck at stakes in the driveway. They got kids out of their comfort zone, taking them to support a ministry in the Okanagan of eastern Washington. They also did children’s ministry at the church, helping with various productions (notably We Like Sheep where DeDe played a lamb and Victor a ram). DeDe sang and played guitar on the music team while Victor worked the sound board.

A Heart for Israel

In the late 1990s, DeDe began attending a Messianic congregation called Emmaus (now Beit Tikvah) to learn more about the Jewish roots of Christianity. DeDe had many Jewish friends growing up on Mercer Island. She was eager to learn about Jesus/Yeshua in his Jewish context and better understand the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob revealed in Jesus/Yeshua in both the Old and New Testaments.

When Stephanie and Jennifer graduated high school, DeDe and Victor embraced more house projects, renovating their one-of-a-kind home and never shying away from even the most daunting of projects–including relocating the staircase and fireplace. DeDe joined Victor on almost all of his business trips, and in the 2000s they began attending Beit Tikvah regularly together, traveling to Israel in 2003. DeDe was very active on the worship team and dedicated herself to learning more and more songs in Hebrew.

DeDe never stopped playing guitar or singing during all these years, but didn’t feel ready to share her own songs or lyrics. In 2017, she attended her first Meuchad worship conference, where she performed an original song, “Salvation.” There, she met Paul Wilbur and was introduced to Dan Needham. Later that year, she recorded “Salvation” with Dan and a group of amazing studio musicians in Brentwood, Tennessee.

A Dream Realized, A Worshipper Taken Home

In 2019, DeDe’s dream of becoming a recording artist came true: she recorded the rest of her album Who Will Tell? with Victor sitting in on all the recording sessions. The album reflects the many lessons and themes of DeDe’s spiritual life and draws influences from many of her favorite musicians.

In 2023, DeDe learned she had an unruptured aneurysm. A procedure to address it was scheduled for October. The time before DeDe’s surgery was filled with worship team, travels, celebrations, and quality time with her husband, daughters and friends. Throughout her life, she was always documenting, saving, collecting, and thinking about how to remember, writing in her letter to her family, “Don’t forget me. Don’t forget us. Don’t forget Jesus.”

In November 2023, DeDe was taken home to Yeshua too soon for us but in His perfect timing. Her album Who Will Tell? is one of many ways her family and friends continue to remember, cherish, and be blessed by DeDe.