Sneak Peek: Slugs and Bugs Live
Slugs & Bugs - God Made Me from Scott Brignac on Vimeo.
Hey Rabbit Roomies, we thought you’d be interested in this sneak peak from the coming Slugs and Bugs tour. This is one of the animated videos that will be playing behind me as kids (and their parents) watch the show.
What’s a Slugs and Bugs tour, you ask? Well, I’ll start from the beginning.
Ten years ago I traveled with The Proprietor as the opening act for a few shows, and that turned into a tour. We both had fewer and younger kids, and we were both writing songs about this new thing called parenthood. Andrew had written lullabies for his boys, and I had written one for my daughter, and a quirky song called “Chicken Wiggle”, about trying to get my daughter to burp without spitting up. Classy, I know.
Fast-forward seven years–AP and I had each had another kid and had written a few more kids songs. We decided to record those songs and write a few more to fill up a full length CD, and maybe make a little extra at the merch table. We really got into it, had a ton of fun in the process, and wound up with a very cool children’s CD called Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies.
People started buying it, then more people bought it, then VeggieTales heard it and called and asked us to write songs for them (we happily obliged). People continued to buy the record, and they often asked, “Will there ever be a tour?” And then last year, I was inspired to shift my focus from my traditional touring and writing escapades to more fervently pursue the development of Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies. (I’ll go into that in another post.)
So, I’m touring Slugs and Bugs Live, playing next week in St. Peters, MO and Austin, TX. Right now I’m booking for July through the fall (and still doing some classic RG shows here and there as well). If you want to find out more about the tour, check out SlugsandBugs.com. Our desire for the tour is the same as it has been for the record, that kids would love it, that parents would love it, and that they’ll all be having so much fun that they won’t even realize that they’ve learned some profound truths about the Gospel.
Because silliness is next to godliness,
Randall
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.
Speaking from recent experience, the kids (and adults) will be singing these tunes for weeks after experiencing SlugsAndBugs live. The neighbors girls and my two girls will spontaneously break into “Bears” while swinging on the backyard playground.
I’ll also add that RG is incredible at turning his entire attention on the young audience and inviting them into the world of Slugs. For 45 minutes he held in rapt attention every 4-9 year old while telling stories and singing songs and playing guitar and that masterful piano and told them about the awesome fun-ness of the Good News.
Jim A
Wow–multimedia! It’s not a tour, it’s the Slugs and Bugs Experience. I see theme restaurants in your future, Randall and AP.
Jonathan, will that be the slug salad, or the bug tartare?
Offer me either one and I’ll wave lulla-bye bye.
ahem.
Aside from the silliness, which is loads of fun, there are some truly beautiful songs on this album. We dug it out last month on the way to New Orleans and it was a welcome blast from the not-so-distant past.
I’ll do my best to make that Austin show! My wife will be on the church’s women’s retreat that weekend, so I was looking for something that would make the kids think hanging out with dad is super cool. This is just the thing. Glad you’re hitting the road with this wonderful project Randall.
I live it Austin…I have a 4 year old…score!
Everywhere I look it’s Randall Goodgame this and Tractor, Tractor that. Just because he has the coolest name in history and made a record my kids love more than pizza and that I love too doesn’t mean we should turn over control o the universe to this…oh, let him take over. He’s earned it.
I, for one, welcome our new tractor overlords.
…as do all three of my kids, apparently.
[...] the Rabbit Room post explaining stuff, by Randall. (I call him Randall because, well, we’ve never met and he has [...]
Randall - That’s awesome - it’s my kids favorite album! (Which is what I told Andrew back in February when I was helping with some recording in Nashville).
I Pastor a Church in Southern California, but we can only seat about 150. I don’t think it would be worth your time coming out here just for that, BUT - if you do a “west coast swing” we’d love to help, even be a “filler Church” between main events (so to speak).
Randall - Thanks for posting this! Our young’uns love Slugs & Bugs and we live about 4 hours north of St. Peters. We’ll see if we can make the trek next Friday. And it’ll be a good excuse for our son to wear his Slugs & Bugs t-shirt, which we just snagged last week here at the Rabbit Room. (No need to thank me for that plug.) You need to offer that shirt in adult sizes!
Randall, my kids and I really enjoyed the Austin show. They said, “We thought we were going to a concert for you, but it was really for US!” Thanks again. Hope you got some Tex-Mex before you skipped town.