Recording and ranting.

6 February 2008 at 252am ("Religious." :))

Things are going swimmingly… yesterday we watched Old Gregg videos on Youtube, ate some pretty dang awesome burritos, drank obscene amounts of coffee and tea, talked about Catholicism and Church history, contemplated having some wine, but never did, and just about died laughing watching Japanese men with rubber bands under their noses try to eat marshmallows. Oh…yeah, we recorded a bunch of music, too. Thanks to all of you who have given so generously of your love, your encouragement, your prayers, and your dollars…every bit has helped make this possible, and I am humbly in your debt!

In all seriousness, it’s been an overwhelmingly joyful experience for me so far. I have been reminded over and over again that, as Jon Foreman so deftly pinpoints, “I feel like every artist operates at a crossroads between personal faith and art and commerce…”. That intersection can be the most frustrating place–I have always been afraid of “selling out”, and I have to confess that I haven’t always known exactly how *not* to do that.

What has been so infinitely encouraging has been working with a team of brilliantly talented individuals who have come alongside me to make this recording with the utmost integrity–both musically and spiritually. By doing this record independently, I haven’t had to compromise singing about one ounce of the Gospel I believe so passionately, or one single melody line of any song simply because it doesn’t happen to be “radio-friendly.”

I have a song called “Known”–one of the dearest lines to my heart is “As the lover knows his beloved’s heart; all the shapes and curves of her, even in the dark; You have formed me in my inward parts; You have known me.” Someone pointed out that it would never fly on the radio, and he’s right.

I’m morally frustrated by this business, if you know what I mean; I don’t understand why an industry that creates, produces, and distributes “Christian” music (oh, how I hate labeling it) is reluctant at any time or for any reason to promote songs that preach the Gospel. I realize that this is a blanket statement, and I can’t apply that to everyone; my point is that if the Gospel doesn’t “sell”, then I don’t want to sell what people are buying. I have absolutely no problem with Christians who do not record “Christian” music–they usually make better music anyway–my problem is with overtly “Christian” songs that are dismissed because they are too…graphic, scandalous, raw, or convicting. Isn’t that the Gospel? Isn’t Jesus a lover of prostitutes and beggars and thieves? Wasn’t our salvation purchased on a common sinner’s tree, by a dying, bloody Christ? Doesn’t Jesus know us as intimately as a lover, and isn’t that Scriptural? Furthermore, isn’t the very beauty of love and sex precisely that it is a shadow and a picture of the love of God for us? Then what I would like to ask, for once, and with no politeness or restraint, is why on earth any Christian wouldn’t want to hear that on their radio, and what Gospel they believe if it doesn’t include such things.

End rant here.