spikenard

there was a time when I was somewhat obsessed with the mandolin. we used to play folksy/bluegrassy songs with our friends, and even attempted to form a little band, briefly calling ourselves "The Railway Children." our biggest splash was doing the music for our award-winning claymation, I'll Fly Away.

but health and schedules and such took priority, so we never got very far. yet I still continued to noodle, thanks mostly to having the instruments close at hand on the string swings.

then not too long ago, Joe invited me to accompany him while playing the "preparatory music" for church (which is the transition between announcements and the worship service). thankfully it was well-received, so we worked on some songs from the RUF Hymnbook (which I learned from listening to Indelible Grace). we'd play maybe once a month, and somewhere along the way Mark joined us too. or maybe it was me who joined Joe and Mark? I don't remember.

when Tom came back into town and joined us things really started coming together. he's excellent at the lead vocals (both Joe and I prefer singing backup, and Mark abstains) and got the nifty finger-picking stuff going on. and recently we've been joined by Jim on bass too, which I find especially cool, since the bass is my first musical love.

of course not everyone can make it to every "gig," so we're a loose federation, but we do enjoy making music together, and helping to lead our church family in worship. I'm thinking of recruiting a certain accordian player to join us. we shall see. anyone else who may care to join in, please let me know.

the music guy at church was wondering what to call us (as the other regular group was called "the quartet"). a few of us were at a Bible study together, and we read John 12, where Mary annoints Jesus with spikenard. someone mentioned in passing that that sounds like a pretty cool name for band. so, with tounges somewhat in cheek, that's what we call ourselves. I could get into the potential symbolism and such, but that might be a bit much.

this week we're going to get a little old-timey, doing "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" with a bit of "When the Roll..." thrown in for good measure. I'm always a little nervous when I'm doing the lead vocals, but being backed by Joe and Jim always makes it sound pretty good. it's a struggle to battle the "look at me" thoughts when I'm up there, but I hope the songs we do help the church and those with us see Jesus a bit more.