Morning and Night

Too Good (Live)

2018-01-23T04:03:01+00:00By Joel|In The Margin, Morning and Night, Music|

This song, as part of my Morning and Night songs, and it's a fun one. I wrote it on my cigar box guitar that was made for me. As I wrote it, I just kind of heard a bluesy, almost primitive, slide driven melody. So, I wrote this song, and when it came time to perform it, I was thinking "I have no idea how to arrange accompaniment for this song," but the guys in the band did an awesome job at bringing out textures for this song. Lyrically, this song is based around one of my favorite Buechner books, and excerpts. In his book Telling the Truth: the Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale. He [...]

The renewal of listening

2020-04-20T00:51:39+00:00By Joel|Create, Morning and Night, Music, Nomad Chronicles, prayer|

There are moments where everything changes, because you can hear so clearly. I remember in my exuberant teen piety, I would pray time and time again, "Lord, I give you everything I am. I am fully Yours." I would burn my 'secular' music in bonfires, and anything else that I felt separated me from God. I went on a mission trip to South America where I came face to face with real poverty, and it turned my world upside-down. I returned to the states with a flipped worldview: I couldn't go back to the way things were. A couple of months later I was helping to lead a youth lock-in at my church, and with little [...]

Telling Truths and other things that linger

2018-01-17T23:59:20+00:00By Joel|Morning and Night, Music|

So, haunting my short-term memories has been the second song in my Morning and Night series. Telling Truths is based on the book, Telling the Truth: the Gospel as tragedy, comedy, and fairy tale. This was actually the first Buechner book that I picked up years ago. It's a short book with pretty simple themes - which hold great depth. I read through the book in one sitting while visiting my parents (where I found the book). Then, I sat and pondered what I just experienced. Then I opened the book back up and savored ever word. Buechner does such a masterful job at not only conveying truths, but in drawing you into landscapes and conversations, and familiar [...]

Morning and Night: Part 1 (Coffee Song)

2018-01-17T23:57:49+00:00By Joel|Featured, Morning and Night, Music|

I've been writing more music lately and it's been a lot of fun. I decided I need music to drink my coffee to in the morning; music that draws my attention to some of the underlying themes that I often think about: grace, mercy, and what that means to my day. I also need contemplative music for nighttime to drink my tea to, to put the day to rest. So, here you go. This is my first song. It's called "Coffee Song" (clever title, I know). As I wrote this first song, I was contemplating this excerpt from one of my favorite authors, Frederick Buechner (I think most of my morning songs will be based on [...]