Just after leaving Nashville and moving back to the east coast, I was asked to stage manage a major Passion Play production. This meant that I was home during the days, and working on the play at night.
I'd known people in Nashville who were starting to really get into putting new music to the lyrically rich old hymns. I knew that this was a trend that would take off, and it most certainly did. God wants those who worship in SPIRIT and also in TRUTH. Having songs that contain truly thought provoking lyrics lead you to worship in Truth. Putting that Truth to music that actually MOVES you, leads you to worship in Spirit as well. It's a recipe for great worship music.
But nothing was coming to me when I was in Nashville. So I hadn't written any hymn arrangements while I still lived there. But during that Passion Play season it came to me. I walked down to the church I'd grown up in. They all knew me, so I knew I could just walk in, grab a hymnal and start making photo copies.
I just started reading. I can't write (or at least I woudn't want to write) about something that doesn't move me. It must grab my heart, my attention, my mind, and then have something reletive to say to me. So I just read through the hymnal.
I found and photo copied 11 hymns and took them home with me. These 11 had sucessfully moved me.
I believe it was all within an afternoon that I was able to put music to 8 of them! The inspiration for rewriting hymns has never visited me again since. So I'm grateful for the afternoon that it did.
lyrics
O Love that wilt not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in the ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.
credits
from Welcome To My Living Room,
track released June 15, 1998
Words: George Matheson 1882
Music by Kate Rockey 1997
All tracks performed and recorded by Kate Walsh
A hushed and low-lit EP from this Melbourne musician, where dreamlike melodies drift across a bed of tender guitar. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 19, 2023
Recorded on the Grecian isle of Hydra, this is blissed-out psych pop with stacked falsetto harmonies and luscious arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 9, 2023
Two dozen 12-string acoustic improvisations that feel undeniably haunting, like lost transmissions from ancient Appalachia, rediscovered. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 17, 2022
Beautiful and mysterious folk-adjacent songs from this UK outfit that wreathe delicate acoustic guitar in mist-like synths. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 10, 2021
Tender indie pop songs that sound like whirring clockwork—bright bells and rhythmic clicks adorn gentle, soothing melodies. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 27, 2021
