Mar
26
2009

Song of the Day: Jill Phillips

POSTED BY Andrew Peterson

Kingdom ComeIt’s getting close to Easter. I spent the day tweaking last year’s slideshow for the Resurrection Letters tour, removing adjectives here, clarifying ideas there, adding a new song for good measure. I turned on the stereo and listened to the songs while I collated the lyric sheets in a three-ring binder. I dusted off the bouzouki so I could relearn the part to a Jill Phillips song.

Right now my living room looks nothing like it would look if Jamie and the kids were home. There’s an empty pizza box on the table; my luggage is in the middle of the floor where I plopped it when I got home three days ago; guitar cases lie open and the guitars that go with them are leaning against chairs and walls. The piano light is on, the bench is pulled back just enough to be welcoming. Today, my house is not a place for homeschooling and piano lessons. It’s a place for preparation.

All this fuss, because Saturday night eight of us will have traveled hundreds of miles to stand on a stage before the saints and sing to them of glory. We’ll sing to them of the dark day when Jesus died, and the bright morning when he took up his life again, and that is not something we take lightly. Yes, we’ll laugh plenty, we’ll watch movies on the bus, we’ll debate the lasting relevance of Wilco versus Debussy (that actually happened on the last trip), and we’ll stress over soundcheck. But when it comes to the concert itself, we hope to do more than just play a set. We hope to create an opportunity for us all to encounter the Resurrection story. I hope you’ll shiver at Judas’s treachery and come out of your seat at Christ’s victory. I hope you’ll leave with a renewed awe for Jesus of Nazareth and what he did, and what he is doing.

I missed the Song of the Day this week, so I wanted to post one of my favorites from the RL tour. This arrangement of an old hymn text was written by Andy Gullahorn, sung by Jill Phillips on her album Kingdom Come. The musical lift after the bridge, when Jill sings, “Praise the Lord,” gets me every time. It’s called “Man of Sorrows.”

MAN OF SORROWS
Man of Sorrows! what a name
For the Son of God, Who came
Ruined sinners to reclaim.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood;
Sealed my pardon with His blood.
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Guilty, vile, and helpless we;
Spotless Lamb of God was He;
Full atonement can it be?
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;
“It is finished!” was His cry;
Now in heaven exalted high.
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring,
Then anew His song we’ll sing:
Hallelujah! What a Savior!

28 Responses to “Song of the Day: Jill Phillips”
  1. Josh Kennedy said:

    Glad to know I’m not the only guy who’s devolves into bachelor mode when the wife goes MIA (living out of laundry baskets with clean clothes is one of my personal favs).

    What a song. Jill’s voice does so much with those lines that even with just a couple listens it strikes me as one of those tunes that no one else could perform and sound “right” trying to sing. Her voice has this amazing quality to it that while incredibly soft and light, it never comes out as weak, but somehow manages to convey a great deal of strength and passion. Also, kudos to Andy. He did a great job with the update to the music for this hymn.

    Thanks for the song - I may have just found my wife’s birthday present.

  2. jeremy said:

    “what a Saviour”

  3. Tony Heringer said:

    Barliman,

    Nice one. So, are you all performing at an event or is this just part of a spring time tour?

  4. nora said:

    after the captains courageous visited the hamlet of indianapolis last year, i itched with impatience for the release of RL:II. I created a playlist called “my resurrection letters” and cobbled together the six or so songs i could from what i had. in all honesty, it was most of the kingdom come album with high noon at the end. and while the itchiness went away when my two copies of RL:II arrived, i still play my pseudo album often and love it for taking me on its own journey.

    travel safely, captains, so we can see you in terre haute in a week.

  5. Greg Sykes said:

    So I guess I feel like repeating Tony’s question. I’ll be in Fayetteville, AR for your show Friday night — am I going to get to see eight performers or will it be the Captains alone (which is still awesome)? Just curious so I can prepare my companions . . . I’ll be bringing a few newbies to their first AP concert.

  6. Angie H said:

    Can’t wait for Saturday! We’re making the trek from St Louis to see the show.

  7. Brooke Cole said:

    Thanks Jill, yet again, for a song that lifts our eyes and hearts to The Cross. You are appreciated.

  8. kim w said:

    Can’t wait to see you Saturday! Thanks for making KC a stop on your tour!


  9. I found the Kingdom Come cd at a used cd store. The words “ha ha suckas” went through my head, prompted by the Spirit of course, as I thought about the people who had paid full price for this album and then left it for me to buy used at a ridiculously low price. Praise to the Lord the Almighty is still my favorite on the album, but this song is fantastic. Thanks for posting.

    Now if we could just get some type of tour love in Texas. I mean seriously, how can it be titled “The Resurrection Letters World Domination Tour” if you’re not covering Texas?


  10. Yes, Tony, this will be the second year of our Easter tour. As you know, Resurrection Letters, Vol. II grew out of a series of Easter meditations. The concert, like Behold the Lamb, is intended to be more than just a concert; the whole evening is fashioned to take the audience on a journey that will end with what we hope is a sense of awe and gratitude for Christ.

    So the Easter meditations are interspersed between songs and read aloud during the show, each one telling a part of the story of the Passion and Resurrection. I haven’t written volume one yet, so I chose several Andy and Jill songs from Kingdom Come, as well as songs from a few of my albums to tell the story. I just finished a new song that, if all goes well in rehearsal today, will be on the list. I honestly can’t imagine writing anything that would displace Jill’s “Hosanna”, “Man of Sorrows”, or “Lamb of God”, though, so they may be a part of volume one when it’s all said and done. Who knows?

    I hope some of you guys can come out to these shows, if for no other reason than to see me blubber like a baby.

    AP

  11. Paula Shaw said:

    Woohoooo!!!! We’re driving over from Tulsa to come to the Fayetteville concert! Just got tickets, and can’t wait! Yippeeee! See you there! =)

  12. Chad said:

    I recently purchased this album a couple of months back because I love the weightiness of the lyrics in old hymns. Hearing them sung anew with tweaked melodies and vocals can also be profound as it sharpens my awareness about what I am hearing and how I hearing it. Needless to say I love the arrangements and vocals on this album. I have found a couple of other musicians who have done similar projects that I enjoy and would like to list a few of my favorites.

    CLAIRE HOLLEY - SANCTUARY (1999) beautiful subtle bluegrass arrangements with amazing vocals . . . Come Thou Fount is my favorite

    FERNANDO ORTEGA - THIS BRIGHT HOUR (2003) his arrangement of I Will Sing of My Redeemer is just wonderful

    INNOCENCE MISSION - CHRIST IS MY HOPE (2000) hauntingly beautiful and sparse

    SANDRA MCCRACKEN - THE BUILDER AND THE ARCHITECT (2005) great collection of lesser known hymns

    SUFJAN STEVENS - SONGS FOR CHRISTMAS (2006) his rendition of Holy, Holy, Holy brings tears to my eyes . . . also Come Thou Fount is outstanding

    Anyone else have any favorite hymn arrangements or albums worth noting?

  13. euphrony said:

    AP, please find it in your heart to visit Houston. I’d even buy you some Mexican food with that white stuff on the nachos if you come.

    “Man of Sorrows” is an old favorite hymn of mine. I love Jill’s turn on the melody. Great selection for song of the day.

  14. Dave D said:

    AP, can those Easter meditations be found anywhere? Stumbling upon them awhile back was my first exposure to your writing. I was deeply moved and would love to revist them this time of year.

    have fun on the tour. thanks for the song.

  15. becky said:

    This is a beautiful new setting for those wonderful old words.

    Chad, I like Jars of Clay’s Redemption Songs. “Nothing But the Blood” done with The Blind Boys of Alabama is pretty hard to beat. And I like “Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder” very much. It’s an old favorite of mine that I don’t hear very often. One of my favorite lines is, “Let us wonder: grace and justice join and point to mercy’s store. When, through faith, in Christ our trust is, justice smiles and asks no more.”

  16. Tony Heringer said:

    Becky,

    Thanks for mentioning that song from Jars of Clay, that pops up on my mp3 player when I’m jogging and it gets me every time. I love that whole album. This topic could be a whole thread, eh?

    Barliman,

    Thanks for the follow up. I’ve not seen Behold the Lamb live but does it contain a similar element — i.e. “meditations are interspersed between songs and read aloud during the show, each one telling a part of the story”? I have the DVD of the show and it was just the music — which is good in and of itself but, if there is more then that is one cool show.

    Have you been approached about, for lack of a better term, packaging this liturgy? I think there would be a number of churches that would benefit from the fruit of your labor. Even if its just a matter of coaching on the topic I know it would be helpful– starting to sound like a workshop at this Rabbit Room conference you mentioned in the “changes” post. Anyway, just some food for thought.

    Aaron and euphrony,

    Texas is a whole ‘nother country, so they may not all have their passports updated. But if you guys are buying Tex-Mex I’ll drive the tour bus for food on that leg of the tour. :-)

  17. euphrony said:

    Tony, good to know you’ve seen our commercials! Did you know that McDonald’s has a standing policy that bus drivers eat free? I’m guessing they figure it’ll lure in large groups, if the driver has some personal incentive. I’m just saying, ’cause they have some mean burritos . . .

  18. jcm said:

    Jill, thanks for a terrific blessing. AP, thanks for posting. You guys ever get to South Jersey (talk about Texas being another country…)?

    Chad, great call on Claire Holley and Innocence Mission. Check out Ashley Cleveland’s Men and Angles Say. Her version of Christ The Lord Is Risen Today will get your blood pumping. The entire set is pretty good. If you like a joyful horn section, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band does a few dandy hymns on their Funeral For A Friend and Bruce Springsteen does a ramped-up version of This Little Light of Mine on Live in Dublin.

  19. Tony Heringer said:

    euphrony,

    As a native Texan (born in Orange, TX) and graduate of Texas A&M, I didn’t just see the ads, I drank the kool aide. I now serve as a Texas ambassador to Georgia. :-)

  20. euphrony said:

    Tony, I’m Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ‘95. Gig ‘em!

  21. Tony Heringer said:

    eurphrony,

    Gig ‘em bro! I’m Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ‘84. Whoop!

  22. Kristin said:

    Wonderful song.

    Wish I could come to join in on an assuredly beautiful night where the Word of Truth and artistry collide to magnify the Savior. Instead, I will just have to have my own time of reflection which will include listening to “The Resurrection Letter’s” cd.

    And just to join in on the Aggie fun, I’m Fightin’ Texas Aggie Class of ‘09. WHO9P.

  23. Ron Block said:

    Nice track - Jill has truly appealing vocal tone.

  24. Jason said:

    What a beautiful song by Jill. I love old hymns–they have so much depth. Thanks to everyone else who provided recommendations, also.

    Didn’t know there were so many Aggies in the Rabbit Room! I’m ‘98.

  25. ginger said:

    Lovely voice, lovely music. I love the words from the hymns as well. I often use a hymnal along with a Bible when I am journaling. I learn so much from them.
    I enjoy the song of the week postings. Thanks!

  26. kevin said:

    That’s one of best albums I own. She does have a great voice, the arrangements are well done, and the songs chosen are lyrically powerful.

    Now, if we can just get some of you to come up to New England my life would be complete…

    Tennessee has had you long enough.


  27. Andrew, my 13-year-old son wanted me to ask when the next book is coming out?


  28. [...] that was pretty much the clincher.  So … anyone  up for a show?  Here’s a little foretaste to lure you in.    All of this to say that I am incredibly excited to worship alongside Andrew [...]

Leave a Reply
Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

  • Andrew Peterson
    singer, songwriter, storyteller
    bio | posts
  • Pete Peterson
    writer, boatwright
    bio | posts
  • Jason Gray
    singer, songwriter
    bio | posts
  • Eric Peters
    singer, songwriter
    bio | posts
  • Evie Coates
    visual artist, writer
    bio | posts
  • Randall Goodgame
    singer, songwriter
    bio | posts
  • Matt Conner
    pastor, writer
    bio | posts
  • Curt McLey
    writer
    bio | posts
  • Russ Ramsey
    pastor
    bio | posts
  • Jonathan Rogers
    writer
    bio | posts
  • Ron Block
    musician, singer, writer
    bio | posts

Recent Comments:

  • Why I Want Eric Peters in My Corner

    chromecoverSo 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.

  • John Piper on C.S. Lewis: “I shall never cease to thank God for this remarkable man…”

    dwyl1Here 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

    Someone introduced me to Lewis my freshman year with the book, Mere Christianity. For the next five or six years I was almost never without a Lewis book near at hand. I think that without his influence I would not have lived my life with as much joy or usefulness as I have. There are reasons for this.

    He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he showed me that newness is no virtue and oldness is no vice. Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist. Nothing is inferior for being old, and nothing is valu¬able for being modern. This has freed me from the tyranny of novelty and opened for me the wisdom of the ages. To this day I get most of my soul-food from centuries ago. I thank God for Lewis’s compelling demonstration of the obvious.

  • Will There Really Be a Morning

    2736629475_23a9445164-300x2951Heaven 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.

  • Acedia & Me: A Book Review

    norris-book.jpgBrowsing 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.

    Acedia, coined the “noonday demon” by the early monastics, is the absence of care when life becomes overly challenging, repetitious and boring, while engagement with other people is too demanding. In short, it is spiritual apathy, and is described as a weariness of soul. Though it is not readily a part of the modern scientific lexicon, acedia, in today’s culture, is generally lumped in with depression and the sin of sloth, one of the supposed seven deadly sins. We treat it with medication, just like everything else. But, as Norris continually illuminates, acedia possesses spiritual roots, and, thus, can ultimately only be treated with spiritual attention and resolve.

  • Telling the Story: The Jesus Storybook Bible

    storybook-bible.jpgI’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?”

  • A Few Reviews for Resurrection Letters, Vol. II

    peterson-resurrection-letters-vol-2.jpgRuss Bremeier at Christianity Today:

    “One track he’s an evocative poet, the next a storyteller, and before long he’s singing praise to the Lord—all within the same album. Though he resides in the same folk-pop vein throughout, he varies his scope from song to song (like Mullins) and thus more fully articulates Christian living than most of today’s …

  • What’s the Use in Receiving?

    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.
    Myers, in his excellent book All God’s Children and Blue-Suede Shoes, points out that while Christians have been very sensitive to the content of movies, music and other art forms, we have been less discriminating about how art comes to us and what that process can help us become. We have counted the references to the name of Jesus in music (at rough estimation, repeated about 9,000 times in many Praise and Worship songs) and we have checked for how many so-called “curse words” there are in films, but we have failed to recognize our increasing tendency to fracture and disconnect from our own history and community in how we receive art. Often we see art only as a vehicle for moralism and this has issued in some pretty crummy results. And by art I mean music, painting, drawing, writing, etc. Myers (and Lewis) argue that we need to receive art in a different way than we are being trained to by our culture (increasingly autonomous in the modern era) and I think he is right.

  • West Coast Diaries Volume 2 - Charlie Peacock

    peacock-west-coast-diaries-volume-2.jpgThe 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.)

    Now you need to know for those formative years bridging high school and college, Charlie provided the soundtrack for my life.  So there’s my bias.  There was one record in particular which made me want to write, sing and play guitar.  In fact, it planted in me a desire to make art and live artistically during that window of life when I was considering, in many ways for the first time, what I wanted to do and become.

  • Learning to See - Annie Dillard

    dillard-the-living-1ts-ed.jpg

    Back in 1994 I was living as a student in Jerusalem.  A roommate of mine had this book called “The Living.”  He was just finishing when I first saw him reading it.  I asked him if it was any good.  In a non sequitur kind of way, he said, “Look at this picture on the cover.”  It was an old plate picture of a family of loggers in the American northwest, circa 1900 or so.  I couldn’t stop studying that image with fascination.  It seemed to capture an era we’ll only imagine– men and children with axes and saws beside a clapboad shack beside fallen redwoods with trunks six feet thick.

    I judged the book by its cover.  And while Annie Dillard didn’t take the picture, write about the picture or probably even select the picture, that photo of a world that seemed to be teeming with a secret knowledge of how hard life is brought me into Dillard’s world, which carries that same secret, along with a secret knowledge of how glorious life is at the same time.

  • Donal Grant: The Obedience of Faith

    donalgrant.gifMystery. 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.

    That’s Donal Grant. George MacDonald has an uncanny gift for unzipping a reader’s heart, dropping in all kinds of mind-expanding and life-altering thoughts, and then zipping it all right back up.

  • The Year Of Living Biblically

    bc_0743291476.jpgMy 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.

    Who knows? Maybe it was my tour induced exhaustion, or maybe it was the Vietnamese food I’d just had for lunch with a few friends, but for whatever reason I left the store with a hardcover of The Year Of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow The Bible As Literally As Possible by A.J. Jacobs tucked under my arm (after paying for it, of course - thou shalt not steal, you know).

    A.J. Jacobs is the editor of Esquire Magazine and the author of Know It All: One Man’s Humble Attempt To Become The Smartest Man In The World, a book he wrote chronicling his experience of reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. He is also a self-proclaimed agnostic who decided the only worthy book to follow the Encyclopedia Britannica project would be the book of all books: the Good Book.

  • THE YELLOW LEAVES: Some Thoughts On Buechner

    27809421.jpgThe 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).

    The blurb on the back of The Yellow Leaves from John Wilson, editor of Books and Culture, perfectly describes it: “Heartbreaking, sardonic, whimsical, elegiac, crazy-funny: this is a book to be sipped like a rare wine, the last bottle of a fabled vintage, brought up from the cellar for our delectation.” 

  • Shive Arrives: A Song by Song Commentary on The Ill-Tempered Klavier

    benshivecover.jpg

    One listen to Ben Shive’s debut The Ill-Tempered Klavier will provide obvious evidence of why this young man has secured the respect of peers and colleagues on the inside of the Nashville music community. With The Ill-Tempered Klavier, Shive’s skills are now planted in the public garden.

    Heretofore, there have been unsubtle hints: Andrew Osenga pronouncing Shive as his favorite songwriter, Andrew Peterson naming him as producer of The Far Country, his ubiquitous presence as a studio piano ace on a wide range of mainstream CCM records, Sara Groves choosing him to produce her next record, and the majestic arranging of the strings for Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God, The True Tall Tale of the Coming of Christ. Like a fast growing wildflower, Shive seems to pop up everywhere, though always in the background. Now, the secret is out. Raise the curtain on Ben Shive.

  • Flannery O’Connor: The Complete Stories

    flannery-oconnor.jpg

    I just stumbled on a copy of O’Connor’s complete short stories at a used bookstore here in Nashville and listed it in the Rabbit Room store. Years ago a friend bought me this same edition and I read it with a sense of creepy amazement; it was like nothing I’d ever read. I knew Chris Slaten was a big fan of her work so I asked him to write a recommendation for the book. We only have one copy, so if you click here and can’t find it, someone beat you to the punch.

    ———————-

    This collection is essential to both long time fans and first time readers interested in the work of Flannery O’Connor. My first time to read a handful of her short stories I was helpless to interpret them. One would expect that reading the 1950’s work of a female “Christ-centered” southern fiction writer would be a simple, modest or at least predictable experience.

  • Saint Julian: A Novel

    12330194.jpgWalt Wangerin, Jr. strikes again.

    Several people in the last few weeks have commented to me about how glad they are that they discovered Wangerin’s The Book of the Dun Cow here in the Rabbit Room. It really is a remarkable book, and I still can’t recommend it highly enough. It won the prestigious National Book Award when it was first published in 1978, and was only the beginning of Wangerin’s career.

    I just stumbled on his most recent novel, Saint Julian, and was so captured by it that it bumped aside the other four books I’m reading. Last Sunday afternoon–a perfect Spring day–I sat on my front porch swing and read the last half of the book, savoring the careful prose, the pastoral tone, and even the look and feel of the book itself. The cover illustration fits the epic, vivid quality of the story perfectly, and the fonts (I’m a sucker for a great font) added just the right atmosphere.

  • On Andy & Jill

    446540706_l.jpgThe 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.

  • RELEASE DAY REVIEW: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness

    on-the-edge-cover.jpgJanner 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.

    But once a year the Sea Dragons sing just off the coast of Glipwood. With their song, life reasserts itself in the hearts of Skreeans who have long since learned to numb themselves:

  • The Killer Angels

    The Killer AngelsI 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).

  • Arkadelphia from Randall Goodgame: Music in Motion

    arkadelphia.jpgA 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.

  • Nervous Laughter—Andy Gullahorn’s “Reinventing the Wheel”

    gullahorn-reinventing-the-wheel.jpgAndy 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.

  • archives