Music

Our “summer of song” is off to a strong start

Noah Kahan at the Alaska State fair last summer

Dear Friend,

Does music move you? Do you have a soundtrack to your life always playing in your mind? Is it part of everything you do? The answers to those questions, for me, really for our family, are yes. Yes to all of the above. Music is so important to us. So much so that we built our summer travel plans around concerts and festivals that we wanted to attend. I can’t wait to share about all the places we go and bands we see.

Last night, we felt like we got our “Summer of Song” as we’re calling it off to a fantastic start when we stayed at a Harvest Host close to where Clay’s parents live. They graciously took the kids for the night and Clay and I got to sit out on a patio and share a bottle of rose while listening to a surprisingly good local band. They played so many classics that I knew from listening to the seventies channel on the radio with my dad when he drove me to piano lessons. We sang along and danced in our seats, noting that we were among the youngest people there. It didn’t matter, it was pure fun.

I love the way that music unites people, the way it can make everyone in a room feel something. The way that everyone in the crowd will shout or sing along at the same part. It can be a shared language when we feel so far from our neighbors.

When I was little I thought the way music made me feel was the Holy Spirit. I thought that the emotional rollercoaster of a worship service was God. I thought the goosebumps I got from signing along with a bunch of people were a purely religious experience. 

Then I went to concerts that had nothing to do with church or sang in school choirs and I felt very much the same way. I started to think it was just the music, that maybe some of what was happening at church was manipulation of that.

But now I’m not so sure. I think we all experience God (or spirituality or higher power) in different ways and I do think music is one of them for a lot of people. I think the goosebumps when everyone sings along to a moving song at a concert are God, are grace and beauty and a piece of what is right in the world. Music connects our souls on a level mere words have a difficult time reaching.

I am excited to see the bands we are seeing this summer. But I am most excited about singing along with the people next to me. About crying with thousands of my closest friends. About feeling that connection, that movement deep in my spirit. In a world of chaos, disappointment, and things that often seem hopeless, a few hours of uninterrupted music can work wonders for the soul, in church or otherwise. 

And while we’re talking about it, please go stream Hind’s Hall and sit with it and let it move you. Music is so powerful - it can change minds and inspire action. Please let it.

This summer, let’s sing and cry and get goosebumps and do something great.

See you down the road,

Jamie