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Homeless Man Joins Video Shoot & Stirs the Heart to Sing.

Just a Guy, His Smartphone & Some Amazing Talent.

The Magic of Music. 

To say that David Allen Welsh hasn’t had the easiest of lives is an understatement.

After losing his home at age six, he grew up in homeless shelters in South Dakota and Iowa.

Welsh says he always had a natural interest in music, and during his time in the shelters, he taught himself how to play on the shelter’s borrowed pianos.

Ten years ago, the now 50-year-old Welsh, relocated to Vancouver, Washington, and started to make twice monthly visits to the Second Solutions thrift store and coffee shop. He entertains staff and customers alike at Second Solutions, with his moving piano performances.

Welsh’s playing is stunning, despite his inability to read a note of music, and his painful symptoms from the long-term effects of frostbite, which he got from living on the streets.

He says, “I don’t know how to play music, but I like what I hear in my head. Sometimes I don’t even know what key I’m pushing. My eyes aren’t even open. I’m just letting the music play the music.”

Watch and listen to him in this video and prepare to be amazed:

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Editor: Rachel Nussbaum

{Photo: Flickr}