At the Risk of Being Narcissistic
Okay, so the record label wanted a new bio. The bio gets an update every time a new record releases, because press people and websites and concert promoters use it for blurbs and such. Well, they wanted me to take a swing at writing my own, just to see what might happen. This isn’t the bio we’re using (Kierstin Casella, a very capable writer, did an excellent job on it), but I thought I’d share it here anyway, in light of the questions about Resurrection Letters, Vol. II.
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ANDREW PETERSON INTERVIEWS ANDREW PETERSON
(Though he realizes how very strange that is.)
INTERVIEWER: First of all, Andrew, I’d like to thank you for sitting down with me. I’m a big fan.
SONGWRITER: Oh, you’re very welcome. I’m a big fan of yours, too.
INTERVIEWER: Really?
SONGWRITER: Oh yeah. I like your hair.
INTERVIEWER: Really.
SONGWRITER: It’s so poofy. And brown! There’s not much brown hair in the world, is there? I’m glad yours is brown.
INTERVIEWER: Well, for the record, I hate my hair. It’s always been so thick and unruly there’s nothing I can do with it. You know those kids in junior high with the surfer cuts?
SONGWRITER: The ones with the bangs hanging in their eyes?
INTERVIEWER: Yeah. And they hold their heads kinda sideways, and flip the hair out of their eyes. It’s so cool.
SONGWRITER: Yeah, that’s pretty cool. You can’t do that?
INTERVIEWER: Nope. I tried growing my hair long, but it just gets poofier and poofier—
SONGWRITER: But not a good poofy?
INTERVIEWER: No. Frizzy poofy. It doesn’t hang. If I tried the hair flippy thing my whole wig would just flop around and double in size. That’s why I usually wear a hat. Or I buzz my head.
SONGWRITER: What does your wife say?
INTERVIEWER: She says she likes my hair. The poofier the better.
SONGWRITER: Why not listen to her?
INTERVIEWER: I dunno. Can we talk about something else?
SONGWRITER: Sure. You’re supposed to be interviewing me.
INTERVIEWER: Right. Let’s get down to business. It says here that you’ve sold eighty million records. How does that make you feel?
SONGWRITER: It makes me feel good. Would you pass the caviar, please?
INTERVIEWER: Sure.
SONGWRITER: It makes me feel like—wait. Did you say eighty million records?
INTERVIEWER: That’s what it says.
SONGWRITER: That’s impossible. If I had sold that many records I’d be eating caviar, and at the very least my car would have A/C.
INTERVIEWER: But you just ate caviar. I just passed it to you.
SONGWRITER: Well, that was a joke. We both know I haven’t sold that many albums.
INTERVIEWER: So my information is wrong?
SONGWRITER: Yeah. Look again.
INTERVIEWER: Ah. Sorry. I was looking at a Def Leppard press release. My bad. So how many records have you sold?
SONGWRITER: I’m not sure. I used to worry about that stuff, but I’m trying to quit.
INTERVIEWER: Why?
SONGWRITER: Well, it makes me remarkably cranky. If I called my manager and asked her how my record sales were doing, whatever the number was wouldn’t be high enough to make me happy. There would always be someone more famous, more popular, more successful (from a worldly standpoint), and that would take my mind off of what I’m supposed to be doing.
INTERVIEWER: Which is?
SONGWRITER: To eat caviar.
INTERVIEWER: No, really. What are you supposed to be doing?
SONGWRITER: Shedding light. Making music. Telling stories.
INTERVIEWER: Stories?
AUTHOR: Ho, there, lads!
INTERVIEWER: Who’s he?
SONGWRITER: (Whispering while AUTHOR eats a crumpet.) Oh, that’s Andrew. He’s an author now, and he’s taking it way too seriously.
INTERVIEWER: An author? Wow. What was the book?
SONGWRITER: It’s called On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness, which I think is a ridiculous title. He thinks it’s really funny for some reason.
INTERVIEWER: So it’s a funny book?
SONGWRITER: Well, no, not exactly. It’s a fantasy/adventure story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Unlike Mr. “I Wish I Were British” here.
INTERVIEWER: (Clears throat.) Andrew, how’s it going?
AUTHOR: (Eating fish and chips.) Splendidly, thank you for asking! Do either of you chaps have a light for my pipe? I feel the need to stain my teeth and look intellectual.
INTERVIEWER: Um, sure. Here you go.
AUTHOR: Many thanks, my boy.
INTERVIEWER: So what’s up with the weird hat?
AUTHOR: This old thing? I wear it because my hair is unsightly in its poofiness. Did someone mention stories?
SONGWRITER: Yeah, I did. This is my interview, not yours.
AUTHOR: You’re upset. Is the smoke bothering you?
SONGWRITER: No, but you are.
AUTHOR: How rude!
SONGWRITER: Well, I thought the interviewer and I had a good thing going here. The conversation was picking up—I had said some Very Important Things. And then you show up with your pipe and your hat and your silly accent. What do you want, anyway?
AUTHOR: I just thought I’d stop by for a moment and say hello. I have another pipe if you’d—
SONGWRITER: I don’t want to smoke a silly pipe, C.S. Lewis.
AUTHOR: I’m not C.S. Lewis.
SONGWRITER: You can say that again.
AUTHOR: You don’t have to be so mean about it.
SONGWRITER: I’m just being honest.
INTERVIEWER: Are you two finished? I have some questions for both of you, actually.
SONGWRITER: Really?
AUTHOR: Really?
INTERVIEWER: Yup.
AUTHOR: Delightful!
SONGWRITER: Fine.
INTERVIEWER: So this question is for the songwriter. What’s the latest project?
SONGWRITER: It’s called Resurrection Letters, Vol. II.
INTERVIEWER: Wait—I don’t have anything in my notes about a volume one. Has that been released yet?
SONGWRITER: Nope.
(Pause.)
INTERVIEWER: Okay. Is there…anything you’d like to add to that?
SONGWRITER: Nope.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.
(Pause.)
AUTHOR: Oh, bother! Would you stop being so enigmatic? Stop acting like it’s not a trifle confusing that you’re releasing volume two before volume one.
SONGWRITER: But I like being mysterious.
AUTHOR: No one likes a show off. Just tell the man what he wants to know.
SONGWRITER: If I do, will you stop bothering me?
AUTHOR: Perhaps.
SONGWRITER: The reason I’m releasing this album as Resurrection Letters, Vol. II is that when we were in the middle of the record—
INTERVIEWER: We?
SONGWRITER: Me and my musical compadres, the Captains Courageous.
AUTHOR: He’s being enigmatic again. Their names are Ben Shive and Andy Gullahorn.
INTERVIEWER: Thank you.
AUTHOR: Think nothing of it.
SONGWRITER: Anyway, when we were in the middle of the record, we realized that these songs dealt with the second half of the story. They seemed to find their unity in the idea that they touched on the effects of Christ’s resurrection on our own lives. These are songs about what happened in the wake of that day.
INTERVIEWER: And what happened in the wake of that day?
SONGWRITER: Are you serious?
INTERVIEWER: Indulge me.
SONGWRITER: Life happened. True, abundant life. Life touched by a freedom and grace that those in the Old Testament only dreamed of. See, the Resurrection—that moment when Jesus drew a breath in the dark of the tomb and his flesh and blood and bones reanimated—real flesh and bones, mind you—that moment changed the universe. It was the climax of the long crescendo that marked the change of the song from minor to major. Or from simple to complex. Or from darkness to a spray of refracted light.
AUTHOR: Now you’re talking.
SONGWRITER: Our lives are still difficult, of course. The world still needs fixing. But the Fall, the great brokenness of the world, began to work backwards after that moment on Easter Sunday. God gave us his Holy Spirit so that we could partake in the long work of pushing back the effects of the Fall. God said to Death, you may come this far and no further. And the flood waters began their recession. Am I making sense?
INTERVIEWER: I think so. You’re saying that this album isn’t so much a story album, but a collection of songs that are all touched by the idea that Christ’s resurrection is a part of our lives today.
AUTHOR: Well said, Chumblythorpe! Another way to put it: Resurrection is at the heart of the story God is telling.
SONGWRITER: Right.
INTERVIEWER: So are you planning on writing volume one?
SONGWRITER: Well, yes.
AUTHOR: That’s where I come in. May I?
SONGWRITER: Sure.
AUTHOR: I’m working on a book (also called Resurrection Letters) with a Bible scholar friend of mine. It’ll be a companion to the albums, one part meditational, one part commentary on the events surrounding Easter Sunday. The album got its title from a series of meditations I wrote last year during Holy Week. Someone on the website forum called them “resurrection letters”, and a light went on in my head. I knew that I wanted this album to bear that title. But when it came down to it, the songs, as he said, didn’t deal specifically with Christ’s resurrection.
INTERVIEWER: But they did deal with the theme of resurrection. A general resurrection as opposed to the specific Resurrection, right?
SONGWRITER: Exactly.
AUTHOR: In the process of arranging and writing the book, we’re laying the groundwork for volume one. It may take a long time. In fact, another album may release before volume one is written and recorded. We’ll have to see how things pan out. But the prospect of using these floppy, guitar and piano-playing fingers to make music that tells the story of Christ’s passion is perhaps the highest calling a musician can aspire to.
INTERVIEWER: So there’s going to be a book, and the writing of the songs will come from that. Is that what you’re saying?
AUTHOR: Yes. We think. Who knows, really? We’re making this up as we go.
INTERVIEWER: And in the meantime you’re releasing volume two as an album unto itself.
SONGWRITER: Yes.
CLOWN: Dingle dongle dippity doo!
INTERVIEWER: Who is that?
SONGWRITER: Oh, that’s Andrew. Ignore him, or you’ll encourage more strangeness.
CLOWN: (Somersaulting across the floor.) Jangly fangly frimp dee dooooo!
INTERVIEWER: What’s he doing?
AUTHOR: He’s working on another song for kids. He does that sometimes. Don’t look at him! Just keep talking.
CLOWN: Borp? Pribb! Zeeebert! (Skips away in parakeet costume.)
INTERVIEWER: That was odd.
SONGWRITER: You have no idea.
INTERVIEWER: So he writes songs for kids.
SONGWRITER: Yeah. He and his friend Randall Goodgame released a children’s record a little while back called Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies. It did really well, and opened the door to a fun partnership between them and the folks at Big Idea, Inc.
AUTHOR: They’re the ones who do the VeggieTales videos. So far, the Goodgame/Peterson team has written three of the Silly Songs with Larry.
INTERVIEWER: That sounds like a lot of fun.
SONGWRITER: Oh, it is. He loves it. Shh! Here he comes again.
CLOWN: (Playing an orange ukelele.) Gleep! Zazzamarandabo!
INTERVIEWER: There seems to be a lot going on these days. You have three kids, right?
SONGWRITER: Yeah. Three amazing kids. Jamie and I have been married for 13 years now.
INTERVIEWER: Congratulations. Speaking of Jamie, she used to sing with you, right?
SONGWRITER: For the first five years of my career. She really liked to sing with me, but she never really aspired to be a Singer. She was a schoolteacher for a few years while I finished college, and now she homeschools our kids. She loves it.
INTERVIEWER: What else is on your plate?
SONGWRITER: Other than the caviar?
INTERVIEWER: The imaginary caviar. Right.
SONGWRITER: Well, now that Resurrection Letters, Vol. II is wrapped and ready to release, I’m taking some time off.
AUTHOR: And I’m finishing my next book, by jove.
INTERVIEWER: So the two of you don’t work at the same time?
SONGWRITER: No, there’s not enough room in this town (points at head) for both of us. It’s hard to think about music when you’re working out the internal conflict of the main character in chapter 49.
AUTHOR: And I can’t get a thing done with all that guitar racket banging around. Would you pass the hot tea?
SONGWRITER: For crying out loud, knock it off with all the anglophile business.
AUTHOR: I can’t help it. It’s the hat.
SONGWRITER: Then take it off.
AUTHOR: I can’t. My hair’s too poofy.
INTERVIEWER: You guys are pathetic. We’re done here.
CLOWN: (Dismounts unicyle. Hugs INTERVIEWER.)
INTERVIEWER: (Runs away.)
SONGWRITER: (Shrugs.)
AUTHOR: (Moves to Oxford.)
A.S. Peterson has crafted a work of compelling historical fiction which begs the question, “Can this really be a debut novel?” With dogged fidelity, Peterson captures the spirit, manners, and social conditions present during the American Revolutionary War. We meet colorful, credible characters who navigate the high seas of life and love, dependence and independence, war and peace, truth and consequence, and despite forays into dark places, The Fiddler’s Gun is beautiful, lyrical, and redemptive.
Walt Wangerin, Jr. strikes again.
Janner Igiby lives in Glipwood, a nothing little village in the land of Skree, on the edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Manhood is on the horizon, but Janner finds it hard to feel much hope for the future. Skree is ruled by foreign oppressors, snake men called the Fangs of Dang, servants of a shadowy emperor named Gnag the Nameless. The Skreeans are weak and weaponless. They’re even tool-less. Any Skreean who needs to use a hoe has to borrow one from the Fangs (and fill out the requisite paperwork). And from time to time, the Black Carriage arrives in Glipwood to carry young Skreeans toward an unknown fate across the Dark Sea.
I am not a fan of Civil War literature; in fact, I have always thought of it as one of those weird sub-genres for obsessive types. They’re almost like Trekkies with their re-enactments and maniacal devotion to detail. It’s just not my thing (although I’m secretly jealous that they get to dress up and shoot cannons).
A Randall Goodgame song is like a great independent movie. Characters deliver lines like they were lifted from a break room, a truck stop, or a downtown diner. Seemingly incongruent scenes are juxtaposed and plot isn’t obvious; in fact, narrative–a good story–is often more evident than linear plot lines. An indie movie, like a Randall Goodgame song, seems to tell itself. Rather than being rudely yanked by a chain through a sequence of contrived events, with a Randall Goodgame song, I have the sense that I’m being allowed a willing, but vicarious sneak peak into the real lives of his real characters.
Sara Groves irritates me just a little bit. With each album she makes, she moves from strength to strength and is always raising the bar with the quality, depth, and lyrical ambition of her work. And as a fellow artist, that’s just a little irritating since it means the rest of us are going to have to work harder if we hope to keep up.
I am outside on my front porch. The yellowed leaves are methodically falling from the black walnut in the yard, my breath is chalky visible in the recent cold snap, and lately I have been exploring the unpleasant nuances of the dark night of a soul - my own, to be exact. It is a strange passion we live out on this over-glorified orb of rock hurtling through space at some rate that I’m sure would astound me were I to know what it was. It is an odd series of days, I am realizing, when you question your own faith more than you question your own doubt. And, indeed, it is these nagging questions which have prompted me to share my thoughts on Andrew Peterson’s 2003 album, Love and Thunder.
11-year old Reuben Land, a character in the 2001 book Peace Like a River, provides narration that is clear-eyed and insightful, yet retains the magic, wonder, and innocence of youth. I found it easy to entrust my imagination to the author’s clever method of telling the story through the sensibilities of a pre-teen boy. An author with lesser skill would have either made the boy too smart-alecky for his own good or impossibly cute.
I just finished a book that upon closing it, I felt like it finished me in a sense. A quiet meditative book that reached down and stirred the deep waters in me. It’s Marilynne Robinson’s 2005 Pulitzer prize winner Gilead, given to me by my friend Andrew Peterson.
Eric Peters’s body of work addresses a diverse range of topics, but hope is a recurring theme that gently percolates in the midst of it all. And yet, somewhere between the 2001 masterpiece Land of the Living, and Scarce, the flavor of hope that Peters’s work emits has evolved closer to a tone that is more resolute than what came before. And though the complexion of hope has a broad range, the lyrics from Scarce–while intermittently contrite and timorous as in previous efforts, are now strengthened and bolstered by roots that have grown deeper, radiating an underlying grit and security.
Having read The Great Divorce many times over the years, I’ve found this classic from the great C.S. Lewis to be full of startling clarity and depth on the differences between Heaven and Hell. The only thing both have in common is that both begin in the human will; we can either let Heaven enter us and rule in us to blossom into love and goodness, or allow Hell to infect and reign in our hearts by the daily refusal to submit to Heaven.
Even if you haven’t heard Room to Breathe, its still likely you’ve heard Andy Gullahorn. He’s what I’d call a heavy lifter by trade. He writes lyrics, plays guitar, arranges vocals and adds production help to the work of artists like Jill Phillips and Andrew Peterson.
Allow me to preface this by telling you that I am a great despiser of gushing reviews. I’d much rather write (or read) a scathing dismemberment of the latest Brett Ratner film or Terry Goodkind book than suffer through four hundred words of overblown hyperbole about even the best of things. But when asked to write some thoughts on Frederick Buechner’s Godric, no amount of distaste for high praise was able to intervene. I hope you’ll take what I say with the understanding that I do not say it readily or lightly.
Pure Genius
I am envious of your poofy hair. Mine just seems to be turning loose as I age.
i’ve got poofy hair too. it can’t be reasoned with. i just spike it up. excellent interview. i thought the interviewer asked good questions.
That was hilarious. I haven’t laughed that much in awhile. Thanks Andrew.
When my hair gets long and poofy, we call it the Ronfro. It’s as awesome as it sounds.
I loved the interview. You guys are all pretty amazing.
Wow.
The many faces of Barliman. I suppose a YouTube video will be forthcoming? You’ve the script for it.
A Gully-produced video of this interview would be amazing!
i feel sad for the interviewer.
I second Shawn! Gully-produced video!!!
Brilliant!
Gully produced-video, most definitely. I’m sure you guys don’t have anything else going on, huh?
My brown hair gets poofy and unruly too…with a bit of curl mixed in. And my wife likes my hair too. But I like to keep it short and tight. Hey, we sound a lot alike. Maybe we should hang out and be friends. In fact, my wife is a sign language interpreter. I bet if you took her (us) on the road you would have a lot of deaf people come to your shows.
….i have no shame
AP,
You are certifiably mad, laddie.
If I grow it out my hair gets poofy only on the sides.
RB
gully video of this interview now i command you
I just downloaded “All Things New” on itunes. Incredible. Even moreso than the artist interviewing himself.
That was great. I just read the whole thing aloud to my patient and enduring wife who also loves AP (all 3 of his personalities evidently).
Oh, and we pre-ordered our CDs today, too….
This reminded me of the David Wong/John Cheese/Dr. Oxford interviews. More characters and more funny, though.
Like Loren, I would prefer poofy to the steady march of despair that is my expanding forehead.
Also, Gully video! Yes!
The End.
“… But the Fall, the great brokenness of the world, began to work backwards after that moment on Easter Sunday. God gave us his Holy Spirit so that we could partake in the long work of pushing back the effects of the Fall. God said to Death, you may come this far and no further. And the flood waters began their recession…”
Beautiful, Andrew. God often uses your stuff to reach my heart. Thank you.
BTW- My friend whom God used to birth me into Christ out of devastation and New Age just died. Your song “Three Days Before Autumn” has been a deep blessing to me. Thank you for saying that being “broken and breathless and bent to the ground” is ok. love, prison joy
I’m still mad at all four of you for saying that you thought I was a better looking version of Dwight from The Office, because a better looking version of Dwight is still pretty homely.
Darn you Andrew Peterson(s)!
Can we just leave hair out of this??
Thanks for the laughs AP.
“CLOWN: (Dismounts unicyle. Hugs INTERVIEWER.)”
best part of the interview.
Hahaha. I love it! So funny. My hair gets poofy too, if I’m not careful…. I have to make sure it’s thinned enough when I get it cut…. and make sure I style it.
Ponytails are SO helpful for me.
NEW SINGLE ON ITUNES!
… I love you.
On my Facebook updates today:
“Andrew Peterson became a fan of Andrew Peterson.”
Life imitates art!
Ack! I just posted this on the Facebook page, but I wanted to reiterate it here: I “became a fan of Andrew Peterson” on Facebook because I wanted to be able to monitor the updates to the fan page. When I send out an update, I want to make sure it’s been sent, and that it looks the way I mean it to. You guys must have been worried about me after this posting and the fan thing happening back-to-back.
Well, I’d better go primp my hair and stare at myself in the mirror for a while.
Isn’t it funny how something as inconsequential as good or bad hair can set the tone for our whole day? I’ve noticed that, unless it is very extreme, most people can’t tell the difference between my hair on a good day or a bad day. I don’t know if I feel comforted that others don’t notice all those horrible flaws I see, or dismayed that they don’t notice how good it looks on those rare days when it is behaving the way I want.
My hair doesn’t get poofy, but it has these annoying wisps that fall out when it is in a ponytail. Sometimes they curl and stick straight up from the top of my head. Wisps on other people are kind of attractive, but most of the time they are not on me.
I still can’t believe that the label took someone else’s review over this one. I mean, it would fit snugly into one page in some liner notes, right? And it’s extremely informative, you might say. That is, it denotes the inner Captain-Jack-Sparrow-like schizophrenic ravings of a hallucinogenic mind, in short. I think it’s very telling and artistic and poofy.
this is really pretty funny…i have all mnanner of people running around my head too.
Thanks for the entertainment!
Here I was ready to settle for an audio recording of the interview - but gosh would a video be incredible! But then it also might ruin some of my mental image…
And I hereby join The Ranks of the Poofy-Haired.
Don’t worry, AP; I wasn’t taken in for a second. But seriously, how much ribbing did you take for that one?
Wisps! Oh Becky, I totally know what you mean. They are all over the place. Thank heaven for bobbie pins and styling creme!!!!!
By the way, I really truly honestly like the look of poofy hair. Perhaps this is because I don’t have to deal with it myself. I have one or two friends who have to deal with extra curls, and they don’t like it at all–but the ultra-curly growing out look endeared itself to me years ago and I still like it.
I tried to do the Buckwheat thing in high school by growing and fluffing out my hair, but it collapsed and ended up looking like a washing machine agitator.
You have a gift, Andrew. Use it well.
I love you man! Humor, yet with depth. Insightful, yet quirky. Cool, yet geeky. American, yet British.
Yet another reason why I love this site…
At least you have hair. I miss shampoo. Looking forward to the new album Andy.
I think Ben said it best… and I quote… “Wow.”
Dear Andrew Peterson,
I am 13 and six-eighths years old and I love your music. My mother was taking a nap earlier and I couldn’t get her to get up. So I went onto your site for a song for her and found this interview. And that woke her up. We love the “INTERVIEWER: That was odd. SONGWRITER: You have no idea.”bit . My hair is a mix between really curly (especially when it is humid) and fizzy and poufy . My parents and I are on vacation for a week and I forgot my hairbrush. I am not looking fowards to brushing it! I am imagining that your hair looks like an Irish dancers hair (wig) after she tried to brush it!!! By the way, I have lived in England for a year and know the Chronicles by heart (literally) and can tell them to you in a british accent. And my Daddy is a very intilectual theo./phil. professor.
Hurray for working on Wingfeather Saga book 2!! We can hardly wait! Keep up the good work!
Do you read NT Wright? ‘Cause it sounds like you do…
Dark Sea of Darkness was one of our wedding presents (per our registry) and it made the move from Oregon to Venus (Maryland) tolerable. Many thanks, and we look forward to the new album and the next book in the Wingfeather series.
Oh how I miss your entertainment, easy accessibility to shows (when I lived down South) and a kindrid with poofy hair. Please come to Minnesota- If you dare.
I didn’t notice the poofy hair at the concert Saturday night. Of course we were near the back and could see quite so well. Thoroughly enjoyed the night and the friends we brought along with us were very impressed. Thanks!
p.s. Your books will make excellent Christmas gifts.
Like all AP’s stuff - brilliant!
Thanks - I needed this! It nicely distracted me from three of my boys’ rising ruckus down the hall. It’s bound to end up with a trip to the emergency room (they’re laughing rather hysterically, which is never a good sign…), but I’ll have your interview to laugh about to myself while they get their stitches!
Thank you for your ministry - we have always been well blessed.
wow, im so glad that you are doing so much! It stinks waiting around 2 years for your favorite artist to do a new album… im not talking about you, i mean just in general…anyway, andrew i have really enjoyed and been touched by each work you have put your hands to… thanks so much!
Just heard Don’t Give Up On Me for the first time, awesome, beautiful, words fail to adequately express the worship moment.
As a wife of a poofy headed soul, I say, “Always, listen to your wife.”
Amen sister! The longer I walk through life with my bride, the more sweet she sounds. Even when I don’t want to hear what she’s saying, I still listen because I know its not just her talking to me. Jesus is talking through her to me.
Such Genius, theres nothing like reading an AP blog, or listening to an AP song to throw into contrast my own attempts at writing over the years. I was simultaneously entertained and blessed. Thanks for that Andrew!