Almost Behind Us.

A busy week of interviews is almost behind us!  This has been somewhat new territory, and it’s been both exciting and exhausting.  The week began Monday with a meeting at a radio station in St. Mary’s, GA, a quaint little coastal town we hope to have more time to explore in the future.  From there, we headed to Valdosta, GA for a radio interview taped on Tuesday.  Following that interview, we headed to the Atlanta area where we spent the night at the Family Net studio in preparation for a live TV appearance on Wednesday morning.  Nathan performed one song and was interviewed for the show EveryDay With Marcus and Lisa.  They took a brief commercial break and the camera crew and hosts came running out to the motor home with Nathan where they asked the children and me a couple of questions.  I have no idea what they asked or what I replied!  Since it aired live, I haven’t seen it, though we hope to get a tape sometime. 

We parked at the studio for WATC for a few hours, and Nathan did another live appearance that evening.  Yesterday, he taped two more interviews, and tonight we are headed to a state park.  Nathan is providing music for a men’s retreat, then we’ll head to Milledville, GA to play on Sunday morning before heading back to the Atlanta area for a Sunday evening concert.  Whew!  We have a couple of weeks worth of concerts scheduled in the Atlanta area, and we’re looking forward to some good fellowship while we are there.

Songwriting

I found a little time over the last couple days to do a little songwriting!  These are precious moments for me these days in between all the driving, coiling up of hoses and cables, hooking up the van and trying my hand at a little scheduling.  Many days I feel one part musician, and ninety-nine parts driver/mechanic/cook/secretary/booking guy/etc…  However, here and there I find some repose and just enough quiet to strum and hum, which is my normal approach to song writing.  

Today I worked on a tune for Psalm 67.  In some ways it feels a bit to poppy for me, but the Psalm lends itself to some repetition both musically and lyrically.  We’ll see how it works over time, but I’m going to try it out this Lord’s day in Punta Gorda, FL!

I also finished up a tune called Comfort Me Again, which is a prayer for for strength in weakness.  It turned out to be a sort of groovy fingerpicked tune with some very fun instrumental sections.  Perhaps I’ll post some rough versions soon.   

Can’t wait for the next precious moment to arrive, but I’m sure that won’t be for a few weeks as the next couple look packed with TV, radio, and concert dates!  This is a wild time….

Jonathan Being Interviewed

We just finished up filming the on-the-road portion for an upcoming documentary to be released by Franklin Springs Family Media later this year!  It was actually a lot of fun having two camera men trail us for several days.  In addition to shooting life on the road, they conducted several interviews.  Since they didn’t prep us, we are eager to see what happens in the final edit!  In October, they plan to film a live concert, and the final product will weave all the footage together.  In the meantime, here is a picture of Jonathan’s interview – can’t wait to see that one!  His comment when it was finished:  “I always wanted to wear one of those little microphones, and I finally got to!”

Interview with Kevin Swanson

Kevin Swanson called and we were able to do a 30 minute interview!  Check it out here: 

Glorieta 2007

We recently had the privilege of participating in the Renewing the Family Camp for the third year. This is always a wonderful time of fellowship for our whole family. Sponsored by Reformation Church in Castle Rock, CO, the camp is held at Glorieta, NM, and this year featured Gary DeMar, Scott Brown, and Kevin Swanson as speakers. Jonathan was sick this week, but still managed to participate in Family Olympics (pic below) and the paper airplane contest. Elaine and Patsy enjoyed attending a tea with several other ladies. I presented music before each morning session, as well as a concert in the park one afternoon. Another of the highlights was learning to sing some of the great hymns and Psalms in harmony with 400 others! 

  

Horn Creek

From the heat and humidity of the midwest, we headed for the glorious, cool mountains of Colorado! This year we spent 7 weeks at Horn Creek Conference Center where I led worship for family camps. It was a fun, refreshing time for us all. Our children always look forward to the various camp activities, as well as the opportunity to visit with friends and family across the street at Sangre de Cristo Seminary. The Lord was very gracious in His provision to us, especially in the area of health and safety. Elaine received a mild concussion after hitting her head on the water slides, and we are so grateful for His healing hand! Below are some pictures to give you a taste of camp life… As you can see, we kept ourselves quite busy. If you would like to check out a great place to take a family vacation just head to the Horn Creek web site. We look forward to 2008!

The Year of the Guitar

It’s been the Year of the Guitar.Last year I traveled to over 85 concerts with one instrument that had a cracked neck, and a $125 guitar that really did not play well or sound good at all. To say the least I spent too many hours thinking about either fixing an old guitar, or finding some way to come up with a new one. Well….Upon hearing about my cracking Guild at our annual winter concert in Murphysboro, IL this past December, a very generous person called me up and wanted to give me a new guitar, and so I worked with Clayship Guitars and found a very nice Alhambre with lots of low end growl that makes all those wacky tunings really fun! This was incredibly encouraging.Secondly, as many of you know, I received the Acoustic Artist of the Year Award from Indieheaven, which included a new Taylor guitar! This was a special honor that you made possible by your votes – thank you.If this is not enough, one of my brothers, who likes guitars and recently bought an old Gibson, said I could take it on the road with me. This is a particular treat! It sounds amazing.So over the past several weeks I’ve been up to my neck in guitars, and having lots of fun getting used to the feel of different shaped necks, and of course the new tones. I say all this just to let you know what a encouraging year this has been. Last year was somewhat tough. This year I’m toting along several very decent guitars – and I was able to stop that crack from spreading….nathanPics: The Gibson, the Alhambre, the Taylor, the Guild.…By the way if you have a old guitar you don’t want or need – just pass it my way to keep the trend going, and I’ll try to put it to good use…