by Jill Phillips
It’s been a long time since I’ve been in the studio recording new music, and I’m thrilled to share with you that I’ll be working on an EP with Ben Shive in the upcoming weeks. Ben and I have been friends for years since the early days of traveling with my husband, Andy Gullahorn, and Andrew Peterson (in a silver van!) to support our albums Love and Thunder and Writing on the Wall. Ben and I have been talking for years about writing and recording music together and it’s such a gift to have him working on this new material.
The past five years have been a rich, meaningful, difficult, and faith-inspiring journey. I went back to school to get my masters in marriage and family therapy and have been working in the field of mental health while also continuing to perform and write songs. My kids are getting older and I’ve leaned into the busy teenage years that are fast-fleeting. I’ve also leaned into my own personal work, my faith, friendships, being in nature, and other things that give me life, both grounding and expanding my heart. The songs that are coming out of this season are some of my favorites yet. It has been wonderful to see how pursuing two different vocational callings can be generative and inspire continued creativity in different areas of my life. It might have meant time off of recording, but it was not time off of living. I’m ready to integrate what I have been experiencing through the medium of recording songs again.
It’s no secret that streaming has changed our musical landscape in a myriad of ways. I love the freedom it gives me to hear new music easily and explore lots of different artists’ repertoires. It has also made it much harder to recoup the cost of recording music and I have been more reliant than ever on people like you to help make it possible. I’m humbly turning again to Kickstarter and communities like the Rabbit Room to become patrons and supporters of this project.
I pray these songs find you in the both/and of acknowledging both your laments and the ways we are tethered to a Love that will not let us go. Jill Phillips
This EP will feature some of the new songs you might have heard at my live shows over the past few years as well as songs just finished this month. Ben and I recorded our song “Bright Sadness” earlier this year as a template for the work we’d be doing together this fall. All supporters will receive an immediate download of “Bright Sadness.” You can also see some clips from the soon-to-be-released video by my incredibly talented friend Michael Graziano (small-r films) for the song in the Kickstarter campaign.
The title, Deeper Into Love, comes from the chorus of “Bright Sadness” and is my prayer for you and for me as we continue to walk this faith journey together in the days we are given. Whatever comes our way—joy, sorrow, and everything in between, may he protect our hearts from callousness and resentment and give us the grace to draw deeper into Love. I pray these songs find you in the both/and of acknowledging both your laments and the ways we are tethered to a Love that will not let us go.