Josh Abbott's "27 Little Butterflies" honors Camp Mystic flood victims, supports families
A recently released single, "27 Little Butterflies," by country singer and songwriter Josh Abbott, pays tribute to the Camp Mystic campers and counselors who died during the July 4th, 2025, floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country.
In an interview with CBS News Texas, Josh Abbott of the Josh Abbott Band opened up about why he wrote the song, and the kind of healing he hopes it might offer the grief-stricken families.
"I knew that I wanted to write a song about it, but I didn't want to rush that process," Abbott said. "I didn't want it to be just a super somber sad song…Then on Feb. 13 of this year, I couldn't sleep, and I just went into my little writing room and started writing the song and it came pretty naturally."
Abbott is a father of two himself and says he personally knew families who sent their daughters to Camp Mystic. One of those girls included Mary Barret Stephens, his daughter's friend, who tragically died in the floods.
Mary Barret Stephens and my daughter grew up together," said Abbott. "We sent our kids to the same little pre-school here in Austin, TX, and that's where we met the Stephens family and became friends."
Abbott said he chose to refer to the victims as butterflies because it was fitting, adding, "Butterflies was essentially personal to us because this hat I'm wearing is the symbol for Mary Barret Stephens and 'Live like Mary Barret,' the foundations that the Stephens founded and so I was just picturing this little butterfly, and I pictured a whole group of them. A whole cluster of them."
"When I wrote this song, I just kept picturing Mary Barret and those girls smiling," he said. "That's what I pictured the entire time I wrote it. That's why I use certain terms and descriptions, because I wanted it to feel bright and happy. Like little girls playing the field with."
The song itself is described as a departure from the kind of music Abbott and his band usually record.
On this song, Abbott traded in the more upbeat tunes he's known for for one that uses love and remembrance to honor the lives lost.
He told CBS News Texas that he hopes the song offers a cathartic experience for anyone still grieving and needs to hear it.
"You know these communities…they say time heals everything, I don't know. I don't know how it ever heals from this," Abbott said. "It's just something I think everyone who lived through it will always remember."
In a stripped-down acoustic version, Abbott played the song for CBS News Texas and said all the proceeds made on this recording will directly go to fund the Heaven's Foundation, benefiting Camp Mystic families.
