Stuart Townend's Blog

Well, it’s finally here – the project that began for me in January with a few ideas scribbled down in notebooks and hastily recorded on iPhone, has now miraculously turned into the CD in my hand. It’s been a fantastic experience: the process of co-writing with a whole range of people (many for the first time); the joy of working in studio with some amazing musicians; and the excitement of ‘pushing the boat out’ with producer and good friend Mark Edwards to explore some sounds and musical genres that don’t usually make an appearance on worship albums.

So the release comes with a great deal of anticipation - and a little bit of nervousness! I’m personally absolutely delighted with it, but I’m sure there will be some people who are a bit taken aback by the different musical directions.

I happened to read a very early review where the reviewer couldn’t work out whether it was a ‘folk album’ or a ‘worship album’ – as if it couldn’t be both! And in some ways this articulates exactly why I wanted to make an album like this. Whereas a few years ago some people objected to the use of drums, electric guitar and bass in worship, now it seems it’s not worship UNLESS it’s got drums, wall to wall electric guitars and an eighth-note driving bass!

So we’ve tried to revive the sound of fiddles, whistles, flutes, clarinets, string quartets, accordions, banjos and brass (not to mention dobro and mandocello courtesy of Bryn Haworth!) in worship, in the hope that at least some of these instruments will start making a reappearance in the worshipping life of churches everywhere (although I appreciate that many do already). And under the influence of everything from Kate Rusby to Bellowhead, Bombay Bicycle Club to Tom Waits, we’ve tried to break free from the 4 chord rock anthem while still presenting congregational tunes and theological truth that will inspire worship in the people of God.

There’s a broad range of content: a song about the wisdom of God, about faith, a song of intercession (“Kyrie Eleison”), a reworking of the hymn “It is well with my soul”, a couple of songs about God’s love (and our need for it to be reflected in our own lives), and there’s even a song about money, and the call to generosity and simple living.

I just want to close by saying what a privilege it has been to work with an amazing bunch of musicians. Some I have got to know by working with them live on tours; others have just been good friends for many years; still others are people I’ve only met very recently; but all gave their talents so graciously and liberally on this album, I feel so grateful to them. Most of all, I would like to thank Mark Edwards, who handles his phenomenal talent with such humility and enthusiasm, his contribution to this and many of my previous albums has been inestimable.

Stuart

I'm delighted to say that the new album, "The Journey", is now recorded, mixed and mastered, and is due for release on the 19th May (although keep watching the website - we'll be making it available as soon as we get copies!).

I know I'm biased, but I think it's sounding fantastic! Since I last blogged, we've added fiddle and whistles, brass, string quartet, clarinets and flutes, some fantastic slide guitar and mandolins (courtesy of Bryn Haworth), more acoustics and banjo, backing vocals and some amazing guest vocals from folk singer Ruth Notman.

I'm excited to get people's reactions - it definitely doesn't sound like your usual worship album! We've moved further along the folk line we started on with "Creation Sings" for some of the tracks, but with little twists and left-field musical influences that take it in unusual directions. On other tracks there are nods in the direction of artists that have impacted both Mark (the producer) and myself down the years - Tom Waits, that beautiful Joni Mitchell orchestral album "Both Sides Now", Rufus Wainwright, Bombay Bicycle Club, Kate Rusby, among others.

Thematically, again I've tried to write as broadly as I can: there's a song about with wisdom of God, a song about money and simple living, story songs, songs about faith and love, as well as songs of adoration and joy - but there's a recurring theme of God's constant faithfulness and strength through the joys and sorrows of life's journey. The older I get, the more I realise that the most important lessons I've learned in life have been through trials and suffering; that these things are just as important (perhaps even more important) in shaping me into the image of Christ as the times of blessing and joy.

My prayer is that people will be encouraged and strengthened by the honesty and 'earthiness' of the lyrics; that they will be surprised and delighted by the musical creativity that Mark Edwards and others have brought to the project; and that as a result churches will be inspired to broaden their own musical and thematic horizons in worship, that the multicoloured, passionate, creative praise of God will be being expressed in churches around the world.

Today is the final day of recording the band tracks for the new album. We have Terl Bryant on drums, Andy Hamill on double bass, Matt Weeks on electric bass (not at the same time!), Dan Wheeler on acoustics and dobro, myself on acoustic and banjo, and of course the amazing Mark Edwards on piano, piano accordion, glockenspiel, harmonium etc etc. It's been fantastic fun, and the band are sounding amazing!

We've kept things pretty acoustic throughout, with lots of room for whistles, fiddle, brass, string quartet and so on. But I think we've pushed it out beyond the mainly folk sound of "Creation Sings" to incorporate a lot more musical influences, so it's going to be distinctively different.

I have a few days off now before I go in and do vocals and guitars, and we start working on all the other overdubs. It looks like we have Ruth Notman doing some backing vocals which we're really excited about as well. Folk fans may know that name - she's definitely worth checking out.

All the songs on the album are co-written - not by design particularly - and it's been great working with others over the last couple of months. I’ve written with Keith Getty as usual, and also Gary Sadler in Nashville, Busbee from LA, Mark Edwards, Phil Baggeley (from Phil and John fame), and Simon Brading from Brighton.

I took a few photos while we were recording – take a look below.

My son Eden getting some tips of Andy Hamill

Terl Bryant on drums

Mark Edwards doing his stuff

Hi all... it's been a while since I've updated this blog - apologies for that - but I just wanted to catch up with the events of the autumn, and let you know about next year's plans...

UNITED STATES

I made a short trip to the US towards the end of September. My first stop was at Liberty University, Lynchburg, Virginia, where I did some teaching for the graduate worship program there, along with my good friend Aaron Keyes (many of you will know the song we co-wrote based on Psalm 62, "My soul finds rest" which is on the "There is a hope" album), and some of the team from Lifeway.

It was a really enjoyable trip, and it was great to meet some of the staff who are working so hard to equip students for ministry, not least Vernon Whaley, who heads up the program. There was also a real hunger among the students to learn and be challenged.

I then flew on to Nashville, where I did an interview with Mike Harland for Lifeway's website (you can view this by clicking here), and had lunch with some of their team. I really appreciate all they do to help provide resources for the church throughout the US and internationally. They have also been very supportive of my songs in the US, and have produced a number of recordings, octavos and sheet music of my songs (as you can see here).

During my time in Nashville I stayed with Gary and Debra Sadler, and I got some time to do some writing with Gary - he is such a gifted writer, it was a real privilege to work with him. I'm hoping that at least a couple of the ideas we had will end up as songs on my next album!


SOUTH AFRICA

October saw my first ever visit to South Africa! I had been invited to be part of a couple of conferences in Johannesburg with John Piper, so it was an opportunity not to turn down! I was also able to take some musicians with me, so it was really fun to share the experience with Mark Edwards, Julian Ferraretto and Matt Weeks. The conferences went great, it was very stimulating to work with John Piper again, and meet his family (right) we also visited Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg (here I am with Julian Ferraretto and Mark Edwards), and at the end of our trip actually went on a two day safari!













The conferences were actually run by a small church called Antioch Bible Church, headed up by Tim Cantrell. They did an amazing job, and I really want to commend them for their vision, their faith, and their hard work!

LEE ABBEY

Straight after the South Africa trip I spent a week at Lee Abbey in North Devon with the family. We are invited there more or less every year, and for all the Townend family it is one of our favourite places in the world! For those of you who don't know anything about it, it is a Christian community that hosts retreats, conferences and holidays throughout the year. The atmosphere is so relaxed, the scenery is so beautiful, and the team is so inspiring that it really is a privilege to be involved. Take a look for yourself. I spoke on the power of the cross to stand firm, to live and to worship in daily life. I also did a short solo concert on one of the evenings, which is always good fun!

OAK HILL COLLEGE

In early November I did a morning's teaching at Oak Hill Theological College. This was my second visit there, and I really value the opportunity to have input into people who are going on to be key church leaders in years to come. Oak Hill also has a nice family connection for me, as it was where my Dad did his training for ministry in the Anglican church three decades ago.

MISSION WORSHIP


Kingsway's annual worship event was as much fun as ever! In addition to the seminars, I got to bring the Creation Sings team to play at the Saturday evening celebration, and that seemed to be really well received. Mission Worship is also a fantastic opportunity to meet up with various people in music ministry, as it really is a unique bringing together of people from many different streams and movements, but with a great sense of unity and preferring one another.

Photo: Andy Colthart www.jharts.co.uk


REDEEM CITIES BELFAST

I was invited by Jeremy and Ann Simpkins to be part of this 2 day New Frontiers event with Mark Driscoll in mid-November, looking at strategies for reaching cities with the gospel. It was great to meet up with Mark again (albeit briefly), and he was his usual inspiring, down-to-earth, tell-it-like-it-is self! I also really enjoyed spending time with Dave Stroud (who heads up New Frontiers UK) and David Capener, who leads a church plant in Belfast. It was also a lovely surprise to see Trish and Malc Morgan at the event. Trish you may remember was for many years lead singer with Heartbeat at the time my brother Ian was in the band.

NEXT YEAR...

We are planning a number of solo and band events for 2011, but I have set aside part of January and February to focus on writing songs, with a view to recording a new album in March. Although we are still in the early stages of planning, I am looking for this to be in part a development of the more acoustic, folk sound we explored on the "Creation Sings" album (although not limited to that). And I would appreciate your prayers for some inspiration (and discipline!) to get enough songs written to make a strong album.

NOTE: This meditation originally appeared in Scripture Union’s “Closer To God” daily Bible reading series.

SCEPTIC OR CHILD?

READ Luke 1:26-56

EXPLORE

Another life is going to be turned upside down by the unexpected intervention of God: not in the ornate, reverent surroundings of the spiritual heart of the nation’s capital this time, but in a small, unimportant backwater; not to a man with important priestly status, but to a unmarried teenage girl.

The two encounters with the angel Gabriel are on one level very similar: both Mary and Zechariah’s initial reaction is fear, and both question how this seemingly impossible thing will come about. But closer inspection reveals a striking contrast. While Zechariah exhibits the kind of unbelief that so often masquerades as ‘mature’ scepticism, Mary demonstrates simple, childlike faith; she may not understand the details, but she is ready to go with God’s word to her (v38).

God’s choice of Mary to receive the greater blessing over Zechariah would have been shocking at the time, and perhaps still is now. But her faith-filled response reminds us that God’s priorities are not ours: “man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7).


RESPOND

Maturity is a noble aspiration – and a biblical calling (Col 1:28). But do our years of experience sometimes insulate us against becoming too excited, or taking risks for the gospel? Do we secretly resent the unbridled enthusiasm of those who are younger in the faith? If so, ask God to restore in you a childlike faith that takes Him at His word, believes for great things, and stirs in you a holy passion for God and His purposes.

I particularly enjoyed writing this song, as the melody really was a collaborative process. Usually I find with co-writes that someone comes with a melody idea that is almost complete, and it just needs a tweak here and there to be finished. In this case, my good friend Mark Edwards had come with a number of fantastic melodic lines, but they didn’t quite seem to flow together. So I found myself inserting little melodic ideas that linked them, and as we each sat in turn at the piano, the song acquired a flow and a shape that worked really well.

We also set ourselves a challenge – to make every musical phrase different from the others. It occurs in a handful of well-known hymns (Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, Jerusalem), but not many; and it certainly is very different from the kind of hymns Keith and I write. It also makes it a bit harder for congregations to learn! But I hope it is worth the effort…

Lyrically, I had wanted to write a song about hope for a long time, as I felt it was a much misunderstood aspect of the Christian life. Hope plays a huge part in all of our lives, but the sad fact is that many of the things we put our hope in, even as Christians, are insubstantial and uncertain – a better job, recovery from illness, success for our children, and so on. But none of them come with any guarantees.

Christian hope is different. It deals with things we haven’t received yet, but we can be absolutely certain we will get them! The hope that no matter how dark and difficult life gets, Christ will always be there with us; the hope that one day we will see Him face to face. These are future certainties that lift our heads and give us real hope and confidence in life.

In November 2000 I was at a worship conference in Eastbourne, and introduced through a mutual friend to Keith Getty, who I had heard was a terrific melody writer. We met up for a coffee, and he promised to send me a CD of song ideas.

I didn’t really think any more about it. Then a CD arrived in the post containing three song ideas played on a piano. I didn’t get past the first melody, because I was so taken with it – it was quite hymn-like, but with a beautiful celtic lilt - I immediately started writing down some lines on the life of Christ.

Often lyrics come in quite a haphazard way. You write loads of couplets, then re-write some, then gradually piece it together to give it continuity and shape. The process for “In Christ alone” was much more linear. Once I’d worked out the rhyming structure (it felt like the song had better shape if lines 1 and 3 rhymed as well as the more usual 2 and 4), I started working on the first verse, setting the scene with a fairly subjective exploration of what Christ means to the Christian. Then I as I worked through the life, death and resurrection of Christ, I was getting more and more excited and emotional, and verse 4 kind of spilled out as a declaration of the impact of these amazing events in our lives.

Within a couple of days I had the whole lyric, sent it to Keith, he suggested a couple of changes, and “In Christ alone” was finished.

I think maybe one of the reasons the song is so popular is that it can stir up our emotions (I still often cry like an old softie when I sing it) – but the emotion is not the central feature of the song. Because the lyrics stay fixed on the unchanging truths of our salvation, it not only provokes emotion, but engenders faith, strengthening our spirits, not just stirring our souls.