Watching it come together.
We started tracking the rhythm section of the musical Friday night at Randy Poole's brand new studio in Franklin. We literally the had the best session players in Nashville there. Dave Cleveland on guitars, Scott Williamson on Drums, Craig Nelson on Bass, and Jason Webb on keys. There is no way to describe what it feels like for musician of this caliber to play your songs.
The musical title is "Sovereign Lord" The theme focuses on Christ as the risen, exalted, and coming King. It has been a thrill watching Dave Williamson produce his arrangement. When he turned to me in the session and said "Phil, I so want these songs to get out there. I fell in love with them." Those words were so significant to me because I had been praying that exact prayer...that whoever did the arranging would fall in love with the songs like they were their own. I've never had such an intense day processing what was going on musically. The level of musicianship and creativity in that room was so inspiring and yet it wore me out trying to track everything that was going on.
One of the really fun parts was seeing the enthusiasm and smiles and hearing the comments of the musicians about the songs as they first heard them...then to see them lay them down in one take like they had played them 100 times. Dave Clark said to me after all these years this part of the process never loses the wow factor for him. I am waking up at 4 am every morning due to the adrenaline so I walk down the streets and pray about what is going on that day.
Today we recorded the string and brass parts. There were moments I fought back the tears at the beauty of what Dave has orchestrated. What a gift. I just sit there wondering when the next wave will come. I will never take this for granted! What a priviledge this is. At one time Gary Jordan who came with me to watch the process was moving to let the assistant engineer throught and said "let me get out of the way so you can work, I am just a spectator here" and Dave Clark responded "We are all spectators" meaning God is doing something here that none of us could pull off by ourselves. It is the conjunction of rivers of gifts given by the Lord. His ideas flowing into songs, arranged and copied, passing through the hands of musicians and the voices of singers, captured by an engineer under the direction of a producer. From there it will be printed, distributed to church choir directors, choirs, and orchestras and shared with worshippers who offer it to the Lord. We all watch. We all are a part of it somewhere.
I put some videos and pictures of the process on my facebook page if you would like to watch.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=664691276