GRAMMY season often brings new music<\/a> into sharper focus, opening a wider window into projects moving through the Recording Academy\u2019s awards-season process. For Jaro Magazine\u2019s music section, it is also a chance to introduce readers to listening experiences shaped by distinct lives, disciplines and creative points of view.<\/p>\n Kenny Radge\u2019s Diary of a Traveler: Weapon of Choice Pen<\/em><\/a> belongs in that space.<\/p>\n The spoken-word poetry album grew out of Radge\u2019s years supporting disaster-response deployments with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the experiences he carried home from that work. Built from poetry, jazz, piano, and testimony, the 33-track project traces a journey from public service into artistic expression.<\/p>\n The album is being presented for GRAMMY consideration in the Spoken Word Poetry Album category.<\/p>\n Diary of a Traveler: Weapon of Choice Pen<\/em> was shaped by Radge\u2019s years supporting U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster-response deployments and related federal assignments.<\/p>\n From October 2016 through January 2024, Radge spent 2,645 calendar days supporting disaster-response missions. The work often meant 12- to 14-hour shifts for weeks at a time. In some years, he spent close to 300 days deployed or away from home.<\/p>\n The quiet moments after those deployments became a space for reflection on life, loss, purpose, leadership, faith, relationships, and the human experience.<\/p>\n After transitioning to DHS Headquarters in 2024 and later leaving federal service in 2025, Radge began turning those reflections into spoken-word poetry.<\/p>\n One of the central pieces, \u201cWeapon of Choice Pen,\u201d was originally written for a Black History Month program that was canceled in February 2025 following an administrative transition. The piece later became the title track and creative foundation for the album.<\/p>\n Radge entered the recording process without a previous recording career or formal recording training. Still, he set out to turn the poetry into a full musical work.<\/p>\n In January 2026, British pianist, composer, arranger, writer and producer Deschanel Gordon traveled from London to Chicago for an intensive studio session with Radge and recording engineer Scott Steinman at Studio Media in Evanston.<\/p>\n Gordon, pianist in Olivia Dean\u2019s band and a songwriter on Dean\u2019s album The Art of Loving<\/em>, helped shape the project\u2019s musical foundation.<\/p>\n In approximately three and a half hours, Radge and Gordon developed the album\u2019s musical direction, with the final 10 piano pieces completed in roughly 60 minutes.<\/p>\n Released April 17, 2026, Diary of a Traveler: Weapon of Choice Pen<\/em> became a collaboration combining spoken word, poetry, jazz, piano, and storytelling. Gordon\u2019s compositions, arrangements, piano, organ and production provide the musical language through which Radge\u2019s words are heard.<\/p>\n Radge\u2019s writing moves between testimony, confession and affirmation. The work reflects a man processing the weight of service, the complexity of identity and the search for forgiveness, direction and self-worth.<\/p>\n \u201cI am a man, a man that is who I am. I am man, that\u2019s who I am, I am just a man. Running from my past, trying to accept who I am. I am a man, that\u2019s I am who I am, I am just a man, searching for forgiveness, Lord, here I am. I am a man, that is who I am. I am a broken man, caring for my children. I am just a man. They call me a dreamer, but this is who I am, planning for the future, this is who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Kenny Radge<\/p>\n Another passage speaks directly to resilience and self-definition.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the road to success, there will be many people who will tell you no, but all you need is one yes. Be you, be brave & be bold. Keep believing in yourself, and visualize while feeling your end goal. You are the only one allowed to put a value on your worth. Value thyself. You cannot be duplicated or replicated.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Kenny Radge<\/p>\n What makes Diary of a Traveler: Weapon of Choice Pen<\/em> notable is the life experience behind it.<\/p>\n This is not a project built from a conventional recording-industry origin story. It is a spoken-word work shaped by federal service, disaster-response deployments, personal transition and an artist\u2019s decision to turn memory into music.<\/p>\n Across its 33 tracks, the album places Radge\u2019s voice at the center of a reflective soundscape where jazz, piano and poetry work together. The result is a project that asks listeners to sit with the emotional residue of service, the discipline of survival and the inner work of becoming more fully known to oneself.<\/p>\n Diary of a Traveler: Weapon of Choice Pen<\/em> is available through its official listening page<\/a>.<\/p>\nFrom Disaster Response to Spoken Word<\/h2>\n
Building the Sound With Deschanel Gordon<\/h2>\n
![\"Cover](\"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Kenny-Radge-Weapon-of-Choice-Pen-Cover-Art-e1791463320423-1024x864.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nA Traveler\u2019s Voice<\/h2>\n
![\"Kenny](\"https:\/\/magazine.watchjaro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Kenny-Radge-in-studio.png\")
Listening Through a Different Lens<\/h2>\n
Listen to the Album<\/h2>\n