[caedmonscall.net]

This is the end of the liveblog. In fact, it’s the very end of the LiveBlog.

It’s the 50th post that I’ve filed from the road. Seems like a good number to end on.

Thanks so much to everyone for following along and taking part in the liveblog. Knowing that you guys and gals were reading this stuff kept me going when i was ready to fall asleep in Cliff’s lap.

Thanks to INO and to Caedmon’s Call for letting me tag along and be a part of the family for a few days, it was an amazing time.

And thanks most of all to my lovely wife and wonderful kids for letting me sneak away for a few days to do this. I am so grateful for the opportunity. I can’t wait to see you guys in a few hours.

Signing off…bryan

what you probably already knew…

Track Number: 13
Author(s): Andrew Osenga and Randall Goodgame

what you probably didn’t know…

…Randall wrote most of this song, except for the outtro, which Andy wrote.

…Andy said that they had about 65 different bridges for this song before they ended up on the one that is on the record

what you already knew…

Track Number: 14
Author(s): Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken

what you probably didn’t know…

…this song is another one that Sandra wrote years ago. She actually wrote it and performed it for a friend’s wedding.

…the band was originally going to record this song with Danielle singing lead, but they ended up wanting to keep Derek’s recording of it on the record, despite it being in a higher key than Derek usually sings in.

what you probably already knew…

Track Number: 12
Author(s): Andrew Osenga and Randall Goodgame

what you probably didn’t know…

…Andy said that the idea for the song came from a mentor of his who always is talking about the need for emotion and hope in situations where things look bleak.

…Andy originally had a very “wordy” chorus that Randall helped him trim down.

…Andy wrote the line “I have a constant need for motion” about himself, but when the band thought Cliff was going to be the one singing this song, the line took on a whole different meaning (if you know Cliff, he literally never stands still). In the end, it was Andy that recorded the song on the album.

what you already knew…

Track Number: 10
Author(s): Andrew Osenga and Randall Goodgame

what you probably didn’t know…

…according to Andy, this was an attempt at a gospel song that “went a different way”.

…Randall and Andy went back and forth on the chorus of this one, chopping it up numerous times before finally settling on the finished lines.

…They also spent about 6 hours writing in the studio one day searching for the second verse of the song. Andy said that finally finding what they were looking for was one of the high points of making the record for him.

So Cliff’s been on the phone in our hotel room for the past hour and a half doing “phoners”. Andy Osenga has been busy doing some as well. Some of the interviews are live, others are taped, and that’s about all you can say about phoners.

I had to get out of the room and do something before Cliff’s repetition drove me to hurl myself out of our second floor window. (It’s not Cliff’s fault, he just keeps getting ask the same questions). I went for a run in the fitness center, which was amazing. (first “pro-health” thing I’ve done all week.) To Cliff’s credit, he’s using the same voice on the phone that he does normally, so I guess that’s a good thing.

I tried to distract him earlier by brushing my teeth in front of him in a “not-so-Overdressed” state, but he was as solid as gibraltar. (for the record, i did have more than a fig leaf on me.)

Schedule today includes two hours at Daystar Television to record 3 songs and a short interview. Then we’ll head over to KLTY and do some more stuff. Not sure if we’ll be live on the air or just recording stuff, but once we’re done with that, WE’RE DONE.

From there the band will part ways with Derek heading back home to his wife and baby Rhodes and the rest of the band headed up to a show in Canada. I’ll be headed over to my friend Buddy and Chelle’s house to decompress for a night before i fly back home.

My goal today is to get up at least one video and one picture set of what’s going on. I’ll try to throw in some more updates as well if the WiFi allows. Thanks so much everyone for following along, this has been a pretty cool experience for me on a lot of levels, and the feedback from y’all has been a big part of that.

more to come…

what you already knew…

Track Number: 10
Author(s): Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken

what you probably didn’t know…

…Sandra had written most of this song a few years ago and had all but scrapped it because she didn’t think she liked it. Derek loved the melody of the chorus, specifically how it ends, and he encouraged her to finish the song for the record, so they wrote the rest of it together.

…the acoustic guitar part you hear in the song is actually 4 acoustic guitars playing together around the same mic.

…the greek mythology woven into the song was coincidentally some of the same stuff that Aaron Tate had written into songs like “Not Enough” over 10 years ago for the band.

what you already knew…

Track Number: 9
Author(s): Andrew Osenga

what you probably didn’t know…

…as you might have guessed, this is the story of Cliff and Danielle.

…”put on a happy face” refers to the musical that Cliff was in when they met.

…”your handwriting on a bible page” refers to when Danielle borrowed Cliff’s bible and noticed that he had written something in the liner about Danielle in reference to a specific passage.

…Andy said that he built the bridge specifically for the intricate harmonies that it has.

what you already knew…

Track Number: 8
Author(s): Andrew Osenga

what you probably didn’t know…

…Andy says: “The song is about missions trips overseas, and how we can get ramped up on feeling super-Spiritual, but it’s a feeling that passes all too quickly. Meanwhile, God is doing great things in other places, even if we aren’t responsible, or we’ve forgotten about it. The reality is that God is doing the good things despite us, but we can have those opportunities to see it and in a tiny way be a part of it.”

…Andy also says “…the song is deceptively upbeat because it probably has some of the darkest moments of the record.”

…The “village in Malawi” line originally was about another country, but Andy got some info from bass player Aaron Sands (who works for Blood:Water Mission) that a clean water well was recently built in Malawi, so Andy used that country instead.

…The song was recorded in two different sessions. The 2nd recording session worked much better than the first, so it’s the version they used.

what you already knew…

Track Number: 7
Author(s): Andrew Osenga and Randall Goodgame

what you probably didn’t know…

…Andy has had this chorus for 9 years, but never found a record that it felt right on. The song almost made it on to 2 Normals records and onto Share the Well.

…The “standing at a willow weeping” line came from an actual experience he had recently with members of a small group of friends that planted a tree to mourn a loss that one of them had recently experienced.

…During a show in Langhorne, PA on February 24, 2008, Andy mentioned on stage that the loss the couple experienced was a miscarried baby boy. The community planted a willow tree for the boy. The reason he mentioned it that night was that the couple had since adopted a child and that child was baptized/dedicated on the morning of February 24, 2008 with the song “Hold the Light” playing in the background. Andy then proceeded to play the song and absolutely kill it (in a good way) on the ending solo.