WELCOME FROM ANDREW

The year was 1993. I was sitting in an Old Testament survey class during my freshman year of Bible college. The professor, Doc Smith, a wonderfully cantankerous old guy with Coke bottle glasses that made his eyes look tiny, would hunch over the podium and read passages aloud with booming pleasure. I can't remember a specific moment of revelation, but that class was when I began to realize that Jesus was central to the whole Bible, not just the New Testament. It's common in the church now to talk about the Bible as one big story, the main character of which is Jesus (Sally Lloyd-Jones's The Jesus Storybook Bible is one of the best examples I know), but back in the early nineties, it wasn't. This preacher's kid, at least, grew up reading the Bible and going to church camp and never had a sense of the epic scope and story arc of the scriptural narrative. But Doc Smith pointed out (with relish) the moments when Jesus showed up in the Old Testament, whether in prophecy, theophany, theme, or type, and I felt my brain tingle. It was as if my parents and church had been stringing up a Christmas tree with all the hymns, Bible stories, and memory verses, and then Doc Smith plugged in the lights and I saw the tree in its glory. That was when I first started paying attention to phrases like "redemptive history.”

Fast-forward a few years, to 1997. I graduated Bible college (barely), moved to Nashville with my sweet wife, and promptly got a job at the Olive Garden on Bell Road. My buddy Gabe Scott moved up soon thereafter and the three of us were doing a steady stream of concerts. Rich Mullins had just died. Clinton was president. There were no iPhones, let alone iPods, no GPS, and the only Internet was an AOL dial-up connection. At some point, Gabe and I got free tickets to Amy Grant's big Christmas show at the arena. I was pumped, because I loved Amy, and her Christmas records were always a big part of our holiday season. (I maintain that "Breath of Heaven" is one of the best Christmas songs ever, and her delivery of it is heartbreaking.) Now, don't get me wrong: I loved the concert –but at the same time I wished there was also another kind of Christmas show that was only about Jesus, one that would make crusty old Doc Smith happy. If I had grown up in the church and never realized how vast and beautiful and central the story of the Incarnation was, maybe there were a lot of other people out there who needed that story. I remember telling Gabe that night, "I've got an idea," and thinking that it would be cool to do the show someday at a place like the Ryman Auditorium.

It took a few years. We toured with Caedmon's Call in 1997-1998, in 1999 I signed a record deal, released my first album, and then did a tour with Fernando Ortega in early 2000. It was on that tour, listening to Fernando's tasteful awesomeness night after night, that I finally got busy working on the first Behold the Lamb songs. The first one was "Gather 'Round, Ye Children, Come." I played it for Fernando in the green room one afternoon and he liked it, making one little phrasing suggestion in verse three that I think about with gratitude every single time I sing it. "Passover Us" came second, and Gabe was the sounding board (as he was for everything I wrote back then). That year I met the band Silers Bald, which at the time included the great and indescribable Laura Story on bass, Marcus Myers on fiddle and hammered dulcimer, and Shane and Warren (now a successful duo called Finnegan Bell). They were also big Rich Mullins fans, and we became fast friends.

I forget how it all went down, but at some point in 2000 I decided to do the tour before all the songs had been written. I had just hired the intrepid Christie Bragg to be my manager—one of the best decisions of my musical life and she miraculously made that first shoestring tour happen. (Side note: she's been making it happen every year since.) Silers Bald agreed hesitantly, I remember, and I'm still amazed at the level of trust they showed by driving all the way from Columbia, South Carolina, to Nashville to learn a bunch of new Christmas songs for a tour that wasn't really a musical but wasn't really a regular concert either and wasn't about Christmas as much as it was about Jesus and the Old Testament. Oh, and the songs hadn't been recorded or arranged or even written yet.

In November of 2000, we rehearsed at First Christian Church of Nashville (in a building now owned by Franklin Road Academy). My brother showed up and listened from the back, and I saw his eyes fill with tears. That was my first clue that we were on to something. Randall Goodgame came to listen, and he told me the same thing: "This is something special." The funny thing is, I don't really remember much about writing the songs. That isn't to say that I didn't work hard on them. It just means that it didn't feel any different than anything else I wrote. All I was doing was transcribing what Scripture was already saying. God is the great storyteller. The rest of us are just rehearsing what he’s already done, what he’s already doing, and what he’s going to do. We left for tour–Silers in one RV and a big, ugly, converted Heilig Myers furniture truck; and Jamie, my two toddler sons, and Gabe in another RV–without having any idea what was about to happen. I think the very first show was at Wellesley College, and while there was some confusion, and maybe some disappointment, that it wasn’t a traditional Christmas concert, I also got the sense that the format and structure of the show was effective. I could see on their faces that they were working out what they were hearing. 

The songs weren’t all written yet, so on the first tour there was no “Labor of Love,” “So Long Moses,” or “Behold the Lamb of God.” That meant the show was really short. It’s also why we stumbled on the two-part format, which is to use the first half as a way to introduce the singers, songwriters, and players to the audience by doing several songs in the round. The second half was always meant to be without banter. We wanted to cast a spell, so the audience would feel caught up in something: this is a bunch of songs, but it’s one piece –just as Scripture is a bunch of books, but one story. There were plenty of hijinks on that tour (like when the gear truck broke down in Queens), but in the end, it was a success. Not financially, but in the sense that we have tried to tell the story, and the feedback we got was that it worked. For some people, at least, we had plugged in the Christmas tree.

The next year was 2001. Remember 2001? It was a bad year in America, and a bad year for me in general. Clear to Venus, my sophomore release, hit the shelves on 9/11. The 9/11. Needless to say, the album tanked. Jamie and I, along with our kids and Gabe, found ourselves on a release tour for an album that, understandably, nobody even knew had been released. The country truly had more important things to think about. Meanwhile I, understandably, had two babies and a wife, and a struggling music career to think about. I was at the end of my rope –exhausted, disappointed, scared to death, unsure how I was going to provide for my young family. But I knew that as soon as that miserable fall release tour ended that we were going on another Christmas tour. Maybe people would show up to that. And they did. I finished the last three songs, with help from Laura Story on the melody for "Behold the Lamb of God," and we hit the road again. 

I really wanted to record the album, but the label wasn't convinced. But maybe if I planned a concert in Nashville, and invited some famous friends to perform at it, and we sold it out, and the label came, they'd catch the vision for it and let me record it for my third album. So that's what we did. I invited Phil Keaggy, Fernando Ortega, and Ron Block to sit in with us, and a young Belmont grad named Ben Shive agreed to come up with an arrangement for a string quartet. Jill Phillips agreed, at eight months pregnant, to sing "Labor of Love" with her hubby Andy Gullahorn. Sure enough, the Nashville show sold out. The label folks came up to me afterward with tears in their eyes. That night I asked Ben to tour with me as my sideman. Things were looking up –until I heard from the label a few weeks later that they didn't think a narrative album of non-traditional Christmas songs would sell (can you blame them? Especially after such a dismal sophomore release?). Back to the drawing board.

The next December (2002) we didn't tour, but we did two sold-out shows at the Belcourt Theater, with Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, among others. Yet again, the label came, said they dug it, and then told me it didn't make sense to record it under my contract. So I went into the studio and made a record called Love & Thunder instead. (For the record, this isn't me bashing the label–they were good people, and it was gracious for them to sign a nasally singer-songwriter like me in the first place. And the fact that they let me do a third record when all indications were that my career was fizzling was a great kindness.) After that album was released, the label allowed me to record Behold the Lamb at last, though it would be outside of my contract and I'd have to come up with the money on my own. It was during the recording process, literally when I was at Osenga's studio doing vocals for Behold the Lamb, that I took a call from the head of the label and stepped outside. He was calling for two reasons: first, to inform me that they were dropping me; second, to put me in touch with a literary agent, because he'd heard that I was trying my hand at a fantasy novel. It was pretty obvious that he was throwing me a bone after the crushing news, but I knew even then that he didn't have to throw me anything. He was genuinely trying to help me out. And, as it turned out, that agent went on to get me a book deal for The Wingfeather Saga.

Anyway, after the call I walked into the studio, fighting back tears. I had failed.

Somewhere in a conference room, some people decided I was no longer worth their trouble. Ben and Osenga were sad with me for a few minutes, then said, "Well, are you ready to sing your next vocal? We have work to do." And thus, the Lord reminded me that, when it comes to his purposes, record deals are irrelevant. There was work to do, and that work was about bringing attention to his goodness, bringing him glory, not wallowing in self-pity.

In hindsight, not only do I not at all blame the label for being wary of the project, I'm extremely grateful for the fact that we toured the album for four years before recording it –which amounts to four years of preproduction with the help of a community of tremendous musicians –not just Gabe and the Silers Bald guys, but also Andrew Osenga and Ben Shive, who co-produced the record. Sandra McCracken, Eric Peters, Jeremy Casella, Jonathan and Amanda Noël, Fernando Ortega, Finnegan Bell, Jill Phillips, Andy Gullahorn, and more all contributed to the recording, and have been a part of the tour over the years. This is most definitely not one man's show. 

A few years back we realized we were sneaking up on the 20th anniversary, so we took advantage of the milestone to release a brand new recording of the whole album, with Ben Shive at the helm. We didn’t change much—lowered the keys to a couple of songs because I’m getting old, and also invited a few new voices to the mix, like the Jess Ray, The Arcadian Wild, Skye Peterson, and Scott Mulvahill. Newbies and alumni alike gathered at the legendary studio Sound Emporium and did something exceedingly rare: we tracked the same record again, this time with two decades of practice, experience, and wisdom under our belts. It was a joyful week, indeed. My favorite thing about the new recording is the fact that Ben wrote verses for the title track, which means that at last, the song is finished. No question, twenty years is the longest I’ve ever taken to record a song, but the new verses are perfect and it was so worth the wait. Now the crowd sings them back to us every night and I can hardly keep it together. Community, you see, nourishes art.

And art nourishes community. I can't get into all the ways this tour has affected us over the years. It's too personal, and in some cases too painful. But I want you to know that if the Gospel weren't true, this show wouldn't be happening. Any long relationship requires growth, and growth requires pain. This is how it works, like it or not. The friendships represented on the stage are some of the most precious and rich relationships I've ever had, partly because of the pain we've walked through together. Yet each year for twenty-five years these songs, born in community, have brought a community together in joy to sing about Jesus putting on flesh to redeem us and make us into more than mere community, but into a church, which is his bride. 

So there you go. The short and oversimplified version of how we ended up here. I’m so thankful that Behold the Lamb of God has been a part of my life, a part of the rhythm of my years here in Nashville. Every tour I wonder if it’s the last one. I wonder if people will finally get sick of it, or if the band will stage an intervention and tell me it's time to see what it’s like to stay home in December. But until then, how can I keep myself from singing? There’s no story I’d rather be true, no story I’d rather tell. If you don’t believe it yet, I hope you will. I hope you’ll remember what it’s like to be a kid, face aglow with the tree lights, with that sublime flutter in your stomach as you ache for the coming of dawn, willing to believe the unbelievable. There is a God, and he loves you.

The stories are true.

- AP

BTLOG MERCHANDISE

Official Merchandise from the 25th Anniversary Tour will be shipped after Christmas.

THE SHOW

TODD BRAGG
percussion
Todd Bragg is the drummer/percussionist for Crowder, which is why he has a long and magnificent beard. He’s also been the drummer for Caedmon’s Call since the beginning, which is how he and Andrew met in 1997. He’s a husband, father, woodworker, and dear friend of the tour.

ERIK COVENEY
bass
There are many wonderful things about Erik Coveney. He’s played bass for a host of wonderful musicians, not the least of which are The Arcadian Wild and, most recently, the great Sierra Hull. He’s a filmmaker and composer, too. If that weren’t enough, he and his wife are also adventurers, and occasionally climb mountains in the far reaches of the globe. But Andrew believes the most wonderful thing about Erik is the fact that he’s Swedish (at least, he’s about as Swedish as Andrew is. Which is partly.)

ANDY GULLAHORN
vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki
For years, Andy has been our official BTLOG P.E. teacher and activities director. But he’s also one of Nashville's best talents. As a songwriter and performer, Andy has been described as “a surgeon who uses laughing gas to deaden the pain before he cuts you open.” When he’s not writing amazing songs, Andy likes to bowl, play badminton and disc golf, write haikus, and hang out with his wife (Jill Phillips) and three kids. AndyGullahorn.com

BRANDON HAYS
drums
Louisiana-born, Brandon can make a mean jambalaya. When Brandon isn’t being funny, enjoying the glorious thing that is dessert, road managing, or playing drums for Andrew, he’s hanging at home with his wife, daughter, and twins whom Andrew insists on calling “Luke” and “Leia.”

CLAIRE NUNN
cello
Claire has been a part of the tour off and on for many years. She’s a wife, mother, and one of the finest cellists in Nashville, who has played with more artists than we have room to list. We’re so glad she’s back this year!

ANDREW OSENGA
guitar
Andrew Osenga has been a part of BTLOG for many years. He co-produced the original record with Ben Shive, and has been a dear friend since the early years of music-making when Andrew (Peterson) spent hours in Andrew (Osenga)’s basement studio in Nashville’s Crieve Hall neighborhood. His newest record, Headwaters, came out  this fall. AndrewOsenga.com

ANDREW PETERSON
vocals, guitar, mandolin
Andrew has been married to Jamie for twenty-eight years. His bestselling fantasy series The Wingfeather Saga has been adapted into an animated series, with season two releasing earlier this year on Angel.com. His new Wingfeather Saga picture book, The Prince of Yorsha Doon, is out now. He’s also the founder of the Rabbit Room (www.RabbitRoom.com), a non-profit ministry dedicated to cultivating and curating stories, art, and music to nourish Christ-centered communities for the life of the world. Andrew-Peterson.com

THE BAND

SKYE PETERSON
vocals
Skye Peterson has been writing, recording and touring hard for the last few years and is a part of the amazing hymn writing team at Getty Music, writing or co-writing songs like “I Am Not My Own,” “Take Shelter,” and “Keep The Feast.” Skye also released her second full-length independent album, All the Difference, earlier this year. We’re honored to have her. (She’s also a little bit Swedish.) SkyePetersonMusic.com

JILL PHILLIPS
vocals
Jill Phillips has sung “Labor of Love” every year since 2001, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Beyond that, Jill is a loving wife and mother and somehow manages to release album after album of excellent, thoughtful songs. Her latest album, Deeper Into Love, is her best yet. JillPhillips.com

JESS RAY
vocals
Jess Ray is a singer/songwriter and producer from North Carolina, the land of ocean, woods, rolling hills, and mountains. Jess’s voice and writing are in their own category and we’re so thrilled to have her for the entire tour and as a featured voice on the BTLOG record. Her newest project, MATIN, has been releasing throughout the fall. JessRayMusic.com

GABE SCOTT
dobro, banjo, hammered dulcimer, guitar
Gabe has been a crucial member of this tour since its inception in the Year of Our Lord 2000. He’s a songwriter, record producer (including AP’s The Burning Edge of Dawn), and breakfast taco connoisseur of the highest order. On that subject, Gabe owns a breakfast taco restaurant of his very own in Nashville’s 12 South and East Nashville  neighborhoods and it’s awesome. It’s called Ladybird Taco, and you’re going to want to put it on your list of Nashville favorites.  ladybirdtaco.com

BEN SHIVE
piano, organ, lap dulcimer, hammered dulcimer, guitar
Ben is a Dove Award-winning producer, songwriter, and session player whose first album, The Ill-Tempered Klavier, was listed as one of Christianity Today’s top ten albums of the year. His second album, The Cymbal Crashing Clouds, released in 2011 and is just as poetic, lush, and moving. In addition to producing seven of Andrew's albums, including the newest BTLOG record, he’s produced artists like JJ Heller, Eric Peters, The Gray Havens, Melanie Penn, Colony House, Brandon Heath, and Ellie Holcomb.  BenShive.com

THE ARCADIAN WILD
As The Arcadian Wild, bandmates Isaac Horn (guitar), Lincoln Mick (mandolin), and Bailey Warren (violin) confidently inhabit and explore an intersection of genre, blending the traditional with the contemporary in order to create a unique acoustic sound that is simultaneously unified and diverse. With one foot planted firmly in choral and formal vocal music, and the other in progressive folk and bluegrass, the band offers up a song of invitation: calls to come and see, to find refuge and rest, or to journey and wonder. Currently, The Arcadian Wild is touring in support of their newest albums, Welcome and Happy Golden Days.  TheArcadianWild.com

Ryman Show Only -

STRINGS:

Emily Nelson
Bethany Bordeaux
Cara Fox
Elenore Denig
Cassie Shudak

SPECIAL GUESTS:

Sally Loyd Jones
Ron Block
Buddy Greene
Stuart Duncan
Jeff Taylor

A LITURGY TO MARK THE START OF THE
CHRISTMAS SEASON

Liturgy from the book Every Moment Holy, Volume 1. Download PDF here.
Find books online at store.rabbitroom.com

LEADER:
As we prepare our house for the coming Christmas season, we would also prepare our hearts for the returning Christ.

PEOPLE:
You came once for your people, O Lord, and you will come for us again.

Though there was no room at the inn
to receive you upon your first arrival,

We would prepare you room
here in our hearts
and here in our home,
Lord Christ.

As we decorate and celebrate, we do so to mark the memory of your redemptive movement into our broken world, O God.
Our glittering ornaments and 
Christmas trees,
Our festive carols, our sumptuous feasts—
By these small tokens we affirm
that something amazing has happened
in time and space—
that God, on a particular night, 
in a particular place, so many years ago,
was born to us, an infant King, 
our Prince of Peace.

Our wreaths and ribbons and colored lights, our giving of gifts, our parties with friends—these have never been ends in themselves.
They are but small ways in which we repeat that sounding joy first proclaimed by angels in the skies near Bethlehem.
In view of such great tidings of love announced to us, and to all people, how can we not be moved to praise and celebration in this Christmas season?

As we decorate our tree, and as we 
feast and laugh and sing together, 
we are rehearsing our coming joy!
We are making ready to receive the one
who has already, with open arms, received us!
We would prepare you room
here in our hearts
and here in our home,
Lord Christ.

Now we celebrate your first coming,
Immanuel, even as we long for your return.
O Prince of Peace, our elder brother,
return soon. We miss you so!

Amen.

Get email updates from Andrew

Exclusive deals, news about Andrew's music, tours, writing and more!

CREDITS

LIVE SHOW AND TOUR:
Executive Producer: Christie Bragg
Produced by Bragg Management
Tour Manager: Brandon Hays
Road Manager: Ken Leggett
Production Manager: Harold Rubens
Monitors: Quinn Redmond
Assistant Tech: Kyle Langdon
Lighting: Dayne DeHaven
Video: John Taylor
Merch Manager: Tom Anderson

LIVESTREAM PRODUCTION:
Jonathan Lindsay
Joel Cosand
Ben Martin
Andrew Adams
Mark Jarsen
Paul Mojonnier
Nic Dugger
Livestream Experience, Program Creative Director and Web Design:  Mary Eveleen Brown

SPECIAL THANKS

Christie Bragg, Bragg Management, Kate Hays, Audrey Griffith, Sophie Byard, Mary Eveleen Brown, Ryan Elizabeth Fluke, International Justice Mission, Kyser Musical, Second Half Stewardship, Angel Studios, ShowIt, Centricity Music, 25 Artist Agency, Pete Peterson, Stephen Crotts