Wednesday, May 03, 2006

"help my unbelief" progress, and trip to NC

well things are busy right now for us. currently there are 7 people in my house, we're tracking one last bass track tonight, and literally putting some of the finishing touches on this record. We're getting really close. Paul is down here at my house, as has become our custom, spending a little over a week with us as we round out all the songs before they go off to get mastered. we are on schedule to have a final mastered cd in less than 2 weeks. Then all we'll be waiting on is artwork and getting the cds back from the duplication house. it's nice to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

this past weekend we traveled up to north carolina to visit two churches to share some of our songs, see some old friends, meet some new friends, and generally have a wonderful time with beautiful people. Saturday night we were in Mebane, North Carolina, at Grace Reformed Baptist Church. We played there about a year ago, and it was great to visit with them again. We drove to Cary and played for Peace Pres on sunday morning and then again sunday evening. I'll never forget the afternoon at the Hawke's house in Cary, where shane spent the afternoon running around with about a dozen children, and the rest of us stayed inside and talked, played music, and slept. It was one of the loveliest, most relaxing sunday afternoons I've had in a long time. sundays are always so busy for me. Thanks everybody for making our trip so enjoyable.


I wish I had more time to write, but even if I did, it would probably be boring. these songs are way more exciting than anything I have to say. Here are some photos.



12 comments:

Benj said...

Wow, less than two weeks now. You guys got ahead of schedule or did I lose track of time?

Likening the making of this album with a metaphor for death seems oddly apropos.

I see a trumpet. I can't wait to hear where that shows up.

I also see Cheerwine, a beverage seemingly unavailable in Texas but abundant in Arkansas for one reason or another.

Anonymous said...

benj - I think we're on the anticipated schedule. once we have a completed cd it still takes several weeks to get things turned around.

where's the death metaphor?

the trumpet is cool. but then we cut it. I liked the photo though.

good eye on the cheerwine. I'm impressed. I had never heard of it before, as it is not available in Alabama. it is tasty and delicious.

Benj said...

"Light at the end of the tunnel."

Oh, well, a picture of a trumpet is cool, too. I guess.

Yeah, I like it. It is a little like Cherry Dr. Pepper, but better.

Anonymous said...

i had a question for you guys.
i read in that review of Gadsby that while "christ or else i die" was one of the best songs on the album, its pretty much impossible to sing corporately. or something to that effect. i'd love to do it sometime at my church or something, but it does seem like a hard one to translate. have you guys been able to pull that off?
brian
ps. still very much looking forward to gadsby dos.
pps. got ideas for 401 and 402 coming along pretty well.

Anonymous said...

Brian - We've actually never sung that song corporately at Red Mountain. I'm not sure if it's because we've justr neglected it or because it's hard to sing. We sang "Jesus Precious Blood" for the first time a few weeks ago and it is one of the most singable songs on The Gadsby Project.

I would say give it a shot with your congregation. If it doesn't work then don't do it again. We've bombed sometimes at church trying songs. That's the cool thing about the church is that it's supposed to be a place where you're accepted even if you make a mess of something. We do it all the time at RMC. It isn't the end of the world.

Glad to hear you're writing out of the hymnal. Keep it up!!

Anonymous said...

that's cool man. yeah, i'm thinking less about the church i attend and more about a group of friends that gets together in the summer for worship. we may try it indeed sometime.
at various times last summer we did "friend of sinners," "Jesus is our great salvation," and "come boldly to the throne of grace."

very true about the church. a while back, a kid in our church who's learning trumpet wanted to play on sunday. He did amazing grace, and i was accompanying him on guitar. We got up there and i totally forgot to capo it, and was like a half step off from him. I didn't quite know what to do, so we got through the thing, me sorta stumbling to transpose via bar chords on the spot, messing up a lot. it ended, and i was like, "let's try that again," and we did, in the same key. it was pretty much totally fine.
long, perhaps pointless story, but. hooray for churches being chill in that way. just people making music for/because of- Jesus.

Anonymous said...

I know that Aaron (our lead worshiper here at our church in Athens) has sung 'Give Me Christ' by himself at least twice in a corporate setting with some minor tweaking. I'll ask him to post what he did if that helps anyone...

FYI, we've also done 'Dearly We're Bought,' and 'Jesus Is Our Great Salvation' (which brought people to tears last Sunday) and are looking at doing a couple of songs that Ashley sings on the album since we've had a few really talented female singers become part of our church.

Anonymous said...

yeah, matt, particularly if he was playing guitar, i'd be interested in what he did.

Anonymous said...

ive been going to red mountain a few months now... (my friend from OH told me about your blog)
and it was just tonight during communion that i was thanking jesus for the beautiful music at red mountain.
i have two of the cds and they encourage my heart so much. sometimes they make me want to fly...
i said this just last week in my blog:
"i love hot tea and hymns.
today i was just happy and peaceful riding home. having my tea and listening to my new cd. i am glad that i bought it. its hymns and harmonicas and i love harmonica. love love love. and there are these parts where people sing together and it makes me wish that i could fly. right out of the sunroof of my car.
i dont ever fly, but i do put my hand out the window.
but yeah its that good."
i appreciate you.

Anonymous said...

matt - that is awesome. you have no idea how happy it makes us when churches are able to sing our songs in a meaningfl way.

mandi - your comment was fantastic. Thank you for buying the cds. If our music can inspire levitation then I think we may be doing something right.

Daniel Hames said...

Clint/BTM,

Which songs go down really well at RMC? Do you have any "favourites" as a congregation?

I'd like to get more of your songs, and IG songs in and I'm wondering where a good place to start is for a church that is pretty hymn-lite!

Dan

Anonymous said...

Daniel

The ones from our records that have gone over really well at RMC and that we do often are the following:

Streams of Living Water (Heaven)
Pearly Gates (Heaven)
King of Saints (TGP)
Friend of Sinners (TGP)
Depth of Mercy (DOM)
Will the Lord Indeed Appear (TGP)
Jesus' Precious Blood (TGP)
Jesus Thou Joy (DOM)
Jesus Lover of My Soul (DOM)

That should be a good start.