CC - Houston

I'm down in Houston today, or just North of it, I should say, and we're getting ready to do a Caedmon's show. A guy named Harold was our sound engineer when I joined the band, he's one of the best I've ever worked with, and he's now on staff at this church. He picked us up from the airport and it's been fun to catch up with him again.

I had a day off in Nashville yesterday and it was wonderful. I played with Ella a ton, we went to the library and Target, a trip that is fast becoming a Tuesday evening tradition. Our goal is to get home by 8 so we can put Ella to bed before The Office comes on. Last night did not disappoint. Gotta love a good Christmas party episode. We decorated our tree and got to walk down memory lane looking at our old ornaments and such.

Monday night was our fifth Andrew Peterson Christmas show. It was in Chattanooga and Alison and Ella came out for it. That was great. Going on five days away from my family was rough and it meant a lot to me that they came out. Ben's wife, Beth, and their two kids hopped in Andy's 15-passenger van with Jamie, Andy's wife, and their three kids, with another lady from our church and her son and they all rode out together. Six car seats in one van. Holy cow. Andy's two boys rode the bus back to Nashville that night and Ben and I rode back with our families. Oh, the hedonistic life of a rock and roll band on the road...

The AP shows have thus far all been really amazing. I really respect and admire Andy for the work he did writing those songs and having them tell the story that way that they do. It's an incredible work of art and few songwriters, I think, could pull something like that off. Being a part of it for most of its existence has not really clouded my judgment of just how good it actually is. I'm so honored to get to be a part of it. I don't play with them again until Saturday, which is a bummer. They have to do one show without Garett and I, due to a Caedmon's show that was already scheduled, but Paul Eckberg is going to fill in on drums, so all shall be well.

I guess that's about it for me today. I'm going to try and find some a wireless code or something so I can post this, and then I'll see if I can find a couch somewhere to take a little nap before soundcheck. Oh, the hedonistic life of a... wait, I already said that...

Oh, also, if you, like me, love the show Arrested Development and don't want to see it cancelled, sign this

AP Christmas Tour - Iowa

It's a little after midnight in Iowa. We're on the bus going from tonight's show in Iowa to tomorrow's in Midland, MI, and sitting in the front lounge watching "The Big Lebowski". One of the weirdest and funniest movies of all time.

Our show tonight went pretty well. The room we played in was so cold my fingers were not feeling as loose as I would have liked. My two songs tonight were "If I had wings..." off of 'Souvenirs and Postcards' and "early in the morning" from my new record. I led off the round tonight and felt I maybe shouldn't have started with a slow song, but Jill said I was being too hard on my self. I probably am. Still, I won't open with something so slow tomorrow. I'm thinking I may pull out a Normals tune or something.

Every tour seems to have some game that everybody gets into. With Jars we played marbles, on last year's Christmas tour it was Super Text Twist, which I was very good at. Forgive me for bragging. Cason decided this tour's fascination was going to be dominoes, and we've been playing every day. Sandra and I have been a pretty good team today. We killed Cason and Andy Gullahorn. Yesterday we played dodgeball in a gym at the venue. We are all out of shape. It was fun, though.

Well, that's about it for tonight. I'm going to post this and then head to bed, read a little and try to get some good sleep. I've been reading "The Bourne Identity" which is a good read, but set way earlier than I imagined from the movies. It's placed back in 1975. Weird.

Oh, also, I think this is really funny.

AP christmas tour - Nebraska

We just finished the second Christmas show here in Nebraska and it is going incredibly well. For those of you who haven't heard Andrew Peterson's Christmas album "Behold the Lamb of God", you are severely missing out. I can honestly say that playing through that record is the musical highlight of my year, and has been for the past few. We play it from start to finish without stopping and it is incredibly moving.

I get to play a smorgasbord of instruments which is really fun. A lot of guitar, both electric and acoustic, a little mandolin, 12-string mando-guitar and upright bass. I just have a blast going from one to another.

The playing of the album is the second half of the show, after the intermission. Beforehand Andrew, I and the four special guests each do two songs in a round. Derek and Sandra Webb (and/or McCracken) and Andy and Jill Gullahorn (and/or Phillips) are the guests. That's a powerhouse of great songwriting right there and it's an real thrill sit there and hear everybody share their songs one after another.

It's always a bit intimidating to have to follow one of them, even though we all know it's not a competition or anything. You just don't want to play a lame song after hearing one of their great ones, you know?? Maybe you don't, but you can imagine! It's great for me, though, very inspiring. I've played the usual, High School Band and Early in the Morning the past two nights, but I sold out of Photographs tonight so I'm going to whip something else out tomorrow. Don't want to get in a rut!

Well, we've got to hurry up and get on the bus to head to Iowa tonight, and I want to call my wife before I get on a loud, crowded bus. I hope you guys get to check out this tour, and if you can't, the DVD of last year's Ryman performance just came out. If you have seen a show, feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you thought.

All right, that's all for me tonight. Take care and I'll write more soon.

christian radio, part deux

Thanks everybody for jumping into the discussion from last night's post. The comments section is strong right there, and I love that. There have been some good thoughts and it's keeping me thinking. It's good for me.

So here's a continuation of the question based on a lot of your comments. Many of you said that you've stopped listening to christian radio, if you ever did. For the record, I am squarely in your camp there. So how do you find out about music from believers trapped in this industry? You found me, so you heard about us somewhere. Are there good alternate ways of finding music to encourage your faith? Are there places that could be good? To further dive in: do you look to resources outside of your community for development and encouragement in your faith, and if so, where and why? Sheer curiosity is asking, so feel free to take this wherever you desire.

Two quick side notes:

1. I am playing upright bass on Andy P's christmas tour for a song or two, something I haven't done since college, and I'm loving it. The tour starts Thursday, dates are over here <---, and you need to come see the show. Rehearsal was AMAZING today. I love playing these songs.

2. Jeff Irwin, who played bass on AP's Far Country tour as well as the bulk of my new record, just had a baby Saturday, a month earlier than due. Their baby boy, Israel, is healthy but tiny (4 lbs, 9 ozs) and his wife Amy is recovering well. He's having to travel a bit this season, and there is still healing and much rest needed, so you can keep them in your prayers.

So, yeah, feel free to keep the discussion going, and let me know your thoughts on this subject. It's great to hear from people who don't deal with this stuff for their livelihood, and I'm learning a lot from you guys. Take care, sleep well and I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Lost on Christian Radio

Ok, so I'm sitting here watching the end of Conan, Brad Paisley's on and I was in orchestra in college with a couple of his band guys so I always like to watch him, and he's a great guitar player, and a commercial comes on. It's for "chat now with local singles." Totally lame and I always tune them out, but the girl on it was the girl from Lost, the one who plays Kate. How weird. Bet she's glad that one's still on.

All right, so this is something I've wanted to write about for a while, and now seems like as good a time as any. I was running a couple errands tonight and I decided to check out ol' Christian radio while I was driving around. The station here calls itself listener-supported, as do many christian stations around the country. These are the ones who do those call-in "share-a-thon's." And that's fine. I'm ok with that. Here's my thing.

This station plays commercials. But there's a catch. They call them "sponsorships," not "commercials." Companies, tonight's were a Lexus dealership, a mortgage lender, the doctor that delivered Ella, (that was weird) and one other I forgot, "donate" money to the station, then they do a "sponsor acknowledgement" where they talk about the business, give their phone number and address and what deals they're doing. They also make sure everybody knows that this business honors people with "values" and that their business has "values" too. Since Christianity is all about family values...

Listener-supported stations are tax-exempt, AND they don't have to pay nearly as much in artist royalties, some don't have to at all. Just in case you're wondering, this does mean that christian artists don't get paid when their songs are played on these stations as they would if it were any other station.

A few years ago I heard this stuff on the radio, got ticked off and called their 1-800 number livid. "I just heard a bunch of commercials!" I told the poor lady who answered, "you said you're commercial-free and listener-supported!" She's the one who told me that they consider them sponsorships. She said the difference is that on their station they don't tell you to go shop there, but just tell you about their services.

Honestly, I've thought about this for years, and my opinion on the necessity of christian radio has changed somewhat, but on this topic, I really disagree with her statement. I think this is dishonest and unfair, and it seems they are definitely taking advantage of a loophole in the system.

In all fairness, NPR does this too. Not nearly as much, but Nashville's christian radio is not the only place that does this. Still, just because it's legal doesn't mean it's right.

The stations are making money selling airtime to businesses who want to talk about their products. Because they play religious music AND take donations, they are able to not pay taxes or pay the artists whose product they operate with. To do this they have to bend the rules AND it sets these businesses up to try and sell themselves on their Christianity, not their product.

I just don't understand why this doesn't seem to rub anyone else the wrong way. Has anybody else ever heard this stuff and wondered about it? Am I over-reacting or just plain wrong? I'm open to changing my mind about this, but as I see it, the ends justify the means to the people involved so they ignore the fact that they're lying to the people they intend to be serving.

It used to make me really mad, and in a lot of ways it still does, but it also makes me sad for the people who do listen. I feel like they're being taken advantage of. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. I probably am. I get easily over-riled up about this kind of stuff. I just hate our culture's intermingling of God and money and how it has infiltrated so much of our Church. Even if stuff isn't wrong, it's hard for it to feel right sometimes.

So those have been some of my thoughts tonight, and it's something I've wanted to see what you guys think about. Feel free to leave a comment with any thoughts or reactions you may have, negative or positive. And honestly, I'm hoping for some positive views on this. It would do my heart good. If I offended anyone by this post, I apologize, and I hope I'm not wagging a finger but talking about change for the better. It is my hope and prayer that any media that promotes the name of Jesus would be above reproach, and that's why I'm so hard on this, and TBN and crazy Pat. (Robertson) These stations publicly stand for Christ and I want them to be honest and loving in all they do, as Christ did, but I need to allow that they're run by humans and not God, something I often fail to take into account.

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading and for supporting me and my music. Please leave a comment or a note hello, and I'll try and write again tomorrow. Good night.