Episode 5: Andrew Peterson, “About Resurrection Letters, Vol. II”
POSTED BY Andrew Peterson
Hey, folks. I just published a new episode of the Rabbit Room Podcast. I don’t mean to hog the air time, but I wanted to share the stories behind the new songs on RL II with the folks who couldn’t make it out to one of the release shows. The whole album is on here, albeit in edited form, so if you have friends you want to pass the music on to, go for it. Thanks for listening!
The Proprietor
Click here for the direct link.
Click here to listen:
14 Responses to “Episode 5: Andrew Peterson, “About Resurrection Letters, Vol. II””
Leave a Reply
So I was having a bad day. I woke up, for no apparent reason, at 5:30 in the morning, and my brain was already two hours ahead of my body. It was the kind of day that usually lands me in front of the mirror with a mental baseball bat. But on this day, I did not have the wisdom to walk away in defense. Instead, I moved in closer for a beat down. My arms would not reach up to fight, but remained stubbornly, helplessly at my sides. My face, totally unprotected from the oncoming head blow, narrowly dodged clear at the very last second, and I closed my eyes in relief. A minute or two passed and I gained strength enough to push away from the glass and head for the safety of my computer. I put my head down and got to work, hoping to shake off the shadows, but an hour later I found myself crying through the proofread because I hated every single letter on the screen.
Here is a small excerpt from John Piper’s excellent book Don’t Waste Your Life (which you can read here for free, or buy here for a pittance) wherein he expresses thankfulness for Clive Staples Lewis and details some of the ways he has cleared a path for us all. I’ll only add that I vigorously concur, and that JP is among the very few men who rank with CSL for impact in my own life. -sam
Heaven knows why it has taken me so long to write a little something about this album, the newest EP from friend and soul sister, Julie Lee. Julie and I met several years ago at a friend’s house and found immediate ease in conversation and a unique connection; sparks of light and magic hung lightly in the air around our collision. It was one of those instances where you know for sure that the God of the Universe meant for you to meet this one particular human being out of the millions that He created. I know that sounds a little dramatic, but I like drama (the good kind only, please) and am grateful when I find it happening in my little life.
Browsing the shelves of wicked-cool used bookstore here in Nashville, McKay Books, I happened upon Kathleen Norris’s (The Cloister Walk, Dakota, Amazing Grace) latest, Acedia & Me. Though I had no idea she had a new book out, the cheap sticker price for a primo first edition (Note: you will recall from a previous post that I have a more than slight affinity for used bookstores and, especially, first editions) was an easy decision. The title itself was mildly intriguing since I was vaguely familiar with the word, “acedia”, but of which I knew very little. The subtitle, “A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer’s Life”, though hardly an enticing, round-em-up, gather-em-in slogan, is true to Ms. Norris’ midwestern style, neither flamboyant nor melodramatic.
I’ve been hearing about this children’s Bible called The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones for a year or so now, first from Ben Shive, then from a smattering of others whose opinions I respect on such matters. One night last week Jamie and I were putting our sweet Skye to bed (she’s 6 now), and we were talking to her about Christmas. I’d been gearing up to leave for tour and with the first Sunday of Advent fast approaching we wanted to find out what she thought. Jamie asked her who was born on Christmas morning, and Skye answered, “Um…Noah?”
Russ Bremeier at Christianity Today:
Is there a qualitative difference between learning a song from your Grandfather and downloading a song from iTunes, from getting a recipe online and pulling out the yellowing paper of an old, family recipe? Ken Myers answers in the affirmative, channeling C.S. Lewis when he discusses the need for thoughtful Christians to consider not only content in what we appreciate in art, but also how we receive it.
The other night my wife and I had the opportunity to see Charlie Peacock in concert. The Art*Music*Justice tour, featuring Sarah Groves, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Brandon Heath and Charlie, had an off day in Kansas City. So Charlie set up a house show with just him and his piano in the upstairs art gallery of the world’s most perfect Christian bookstore, Signs of Life, in downtown Lawrence, Kansas. (No kidding. Not a Scripture mint to be found, but huge sections on art, history, classics and local writers. There’s one wall devoted to the puritans, and another to Walker Percy, Flannery O’Connor and the like. Dangerous.)
Mystery. Intrigue. Drugs, dark secrets, the decay of the will, and the transforming power of God’s love sown by a single man to a harvest of redemption.
My favorite book I’ve read this year was initially only a curiosity piece I perused while killing time in a Barnes & Noble. I had recently bought Unchristian – a book that offers an insightful look at how outsiders of the faith view the church – by David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons, but decided I needed a mental break and started looking for something a little lighter. I’m not inclined to reach for humor books, but the cover of a book featuring a man dressed in Old Testament garb and looking earnestly heavenward with the ten commandments in one hand and a Starbucks cup in the other proved irresistible. I picked it up, thumbed through the pages and found myself laughing out loud in the aisle at Barnes & Noble – another uncharacteristic behavior for me.
The Yellow Leaves: A Miscellany, the new book from my favorite author, Frederick Buechner, was released on June 16th. I added it to my Amazon shopping cart when I first heard about it from the Proprietor and Eric Peters, after they heard Buechner read a couple excerpts during the grand opening of the Frederick Buechner Institute back in January (which also featured a concert by Michael Card, with AP opening for him).
Walt Wangerin, Jr. strikes again.
The musical bumper sticker on my car during the ol’ college years would have definitely read “I’d Rather Be Listening To Acoustic Music.” Therein was my initial foray into the early careers of Square Peg artists like our own Proprietor. I found great enjoyment in the Texan college worship scene (early Crowder, Robbie Seay, Justin Barnard, anyone?). And the great unknown (acoustic) rock over which I stumbled came in the form of Jill Phillips.
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.
Andy Gullahorn is funny, but he’s also one of the more serious lyricists I’ve come to enjoy in a while. Listening to Reinventing the Wheel, you come to understand that he is more than a good songwriter. He is a craftsman. He knows what he’s doing, where he’s going, and where he’s taking his hearers.But as I said, people say Andy Gullahorn is funny. They say that, I think, because he makes them laugh. But as for me, I’m calling it nervous laughter.
Genius Barliman, pure genius.
Andrew seems to understand the fan’s perspective and to answer the desire of those who appreciate his art on a deeper level than mere background music. In fact, Andrew is one of those rare artists who draws listeners. Real listeners.
His music is not a distraction, or even a soundtrack. It is an investment. And you know you are getting something that has been an investment from him. Not of money only, nor of time only, and not only of talent. There is soul, and magic on the edges.
Thank God for AP and those very few artists like him. May God multiply them among us.
Thanks Andrew for this introspective on the new CD. I have not stopped listening to it for 2 weeks now. Mostly on the back porch while pipe smoking in the evenings.
SD- “Investment” is the perfect word for Andrew’s music.
Andrew - you’re explanation of Rocket brought a tear to my eye. That song has pulled me from the post-election funk and reminded me that the love of God is greater than politics or presidents, and that Love is in me.
Thank you so much for sharing these stories! I have so enjoyed the depth, beauty and truth of this CD, and this just intensifies all of that!
Andrew…thank you for being such an honest vessel!
Thanks for doing this podcast AP. I love hearing the stories behind your songs.
I had the privilege of hearing the stories behind these songs live and in person on the Columbus stop of the tour to promote the album. I drove from Cincinnati and got there hours before the show was to start to make sure I got a good seat. (and I did… front row!). It was a remarkable evening to say the least. As the night went on, Andrew revealed the inspirations behind these wonderful songs. However, I quickly became saddened at the thought of my friends, for whom I bought extra copies of the album, missing out on such an important aspect of this collection of songs. Thank you for posting this podcast. Now the stories behind the songs can be enjoyed by all!
Thank you so much for making this episode of the podcast! Your explanations of the songs brought me to tears more than once. I’ve been listening to (and loving) the album for weeks now, but there’s always deeper to go.
You probably already know this, but the Rabbit Room is featured as “New and Notable” under the Music Podcasts section of iTunes! I hope this will lead to more listeners enjoying the podcast.
April,
I didn’t know that. Cool! Thanks for pointing it out.
AP
“only God is man enough to do it”
nice.
Hey, if you can’t hog the air time on your own podcast….
I would love this CD no matter what. The music is amazing, and I love the layers of meaning in the lyrics. My friend was listening to the CD while she was on a roadtrip last week. She called me from the car to tell me that, even though she had listened to the CD a lot, she really listened to the lyrics of Window on the World for the first time, and she loves that song. My experience has been similar. I liked the songs the first time I heard them, and I like them more now after hearing many times, and letting them rattle around in my brain for a while.
One of the best things, though, is that I feel like I have seen the ideas behind the songs growing here in the R.R. Some of the posts have been extended versions of the songs, like a novel that started as a short story. That has made an already great CD even better. So thanks for the stories, thanks for the music, and thanks for the podcast.
AP,
Thank you for this podcast; it was really neat to understand more of the background behind the music on RLII.
Is there a place somewhere where you have written down similar stories / explanations of the songs on your prior albums, perchance?
Luke
I received RL II for Christmas, and like many people I’ve been listening to it non-stop. I’m concerned that I’m going to develop bad sectors on my hard drive from incessant reads :p
The parallels between Hosanna and Hosea are striking and cause for much contemplation. (I’m partial to Hosea the song anyway because Hosea is my favorite book of the OT- it’s the greatest single illustration of God’s unshakable love and His eagerness to forgive and restore us contrasted with the tragedy of our repeated rebellion).
Rocket is my favorite song right now. Such poetry! The comparison between a NASA launch and the soul’s journey into (an adequate preposition fails me) God is so perfectly executed that it tickles my sense of beauty every time I think about it.
Thanks for sharing your joy and genius with the world!