From The Valley To The Golden Shore, the debut full-length from cult newcomers The Wood Drake Sessions, is available now
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You have many collaborators highlighted on this project. How do you think collaboration improves sound/quality?
Paul: Our goal has been to curate these songs as best we can, and inviting collaborators creates an embodied vision for the wonderful variety of God’s people in these tunes. Our churches are beautifully diverse, and so it’s great to have men and women of different races and artists from all over the country singing these songs. We believe this makes the project much stronger and provides insight into the multi-generational, transnational heavenly Kingdom of God.
This project is the first full-length film from The Wood Drake Sessions. How did the experience of writing this project surprise you the most, perhaps even exceeding your expectations?
Kirk: The biggest surprise was discovering that songwriting via Zoom was actually possible! We live on opposite ends of the country — Paul is in Colorado and I’m in South Carolina — and we both thought writing over Zoom might be awkward and untenable. But over time, we learned to use the tool well and we even discovered big advantages.
Another thing that surprised us was how our growing collection of songs continued to point toward the central theme of “Hope.” We can look back on these songs and trace how God was stirring in our hearts as we traveled and wrote much of this album in 2020 and 2021.
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How would you define the success of this collection?
Kirk: It’s tempting to measure success by numbers since it’s the most tangible rule. But success for us is faithfully stewarding these songs so that they can bring God’s hope to the world. In many ways, this collection is already a success. We regularly hear stories of churches singing our songs and individuals finding God’s hope in the midst of tragic loss or grueling despair. We hope these stories continue to spread, but we sleep well knowing we handled the songs the best we could, and we trust the rest in the Lord’s hands.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
Kirk: We hope this album will serve the Church well this year and for years to come. Whether it’s churches learning and singing these songs together in worship, or individuals discovering the album and streaming songs throughout their week, we expect the Holy Spirit to do his work encouraging and lifting up hearts to hope in Christ.
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The post office Exclusive: Paul Ranheim and Kirk Sauers Reflect on Wood Drake Sessions’ Debut Album appeared first on TCA.
Author: Jessie Clarks
