Dec 24 | Panagia Track #7: O Come all ye faithful

Here’s the final track of Panagia!

I’ve probably been singing this hymn at Christmas since before I could walk. As a child who grew up mostly in Cathedrals and churches with robust music programs, it’s always a huge, bombastic affair with organ, full choir, and often a brass quintet. As I sat down to choose a hymn to close out this project, I wondered what it would be like to imagine the shepherds singing this one to each other immediately after seeing the angels. They would not have had brass or organ or skilled voices, and if they had had any instruments at all, they would have to be small enough to fit on their backs…like my ukulele and my father’s mandolin. I began to imagine them huddled together in the night, full of awe and fear. Then the song begins: just one voice at first, then more and more, and finally a babble of excited voices as they begin to make the journey to Bethlehem to see the child. At first it felt a bit cheesy, but the more I worked, the more moving I found the process to be as I painted the scene for myself. I hope you find that sense of wonder as well.

Thanks for joining me for this year’s Advent project! With no small amount of regret, I will be taking a break from yearly offerings of music, so there will be no Lenten album in 2020. However, this year I am hoping to create an album of devotional music with a professional sound engineer! The working title is “Hallowed Be,” and it will contain six brand new songs and one remastered one, as well as friends lending their instruments and voices. Stay tuned for sneak peeks and updates, and don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or my blog!