For some people life is best understood through metaphors, through stories from the past or visions of things the world has yet to see. M. Ward seems to communicate best this way. The accomplished auteur-songwriter emits a laid-back passion for creating space, pockets to reflect on truths he believes posses timeless qualities. M. invites his listeners inside his mellow creative mind and asks them to linger while his tranquil acoustic conceptions play warmly in the background as if methodically pulling against the needle of a record player—his newest release, Hold Time, is no exception.


“For me,” Ward says, “I wanted to take the big sounds of the record and make them larger and the subtle sounds subtler to see if I could put them in the same song, the same record, to create a new balance. I learned a lot on making the Post War record and learned even more making this one.”

M. Ward and his suitcase full of Americana licks and tricks travel light with a simple endeavor: to create songs that last. At the core of every serious songwriter is the desire to impart anthems of a timeless quality, works of art that stand on their own and beg the question, “When were these created?” Many of these artists point to the wax libraries they grew up with, vinyl contributions that still communicate powerfully amidst the noise of modern culture.

“I think my biggest inspiration is old records,” affirms M. “What’s ingested is always going to come out in some way. I’ve been lucky to grow up in this big family where there was a lot of music going on.”

M. Ward might be considered a leader in “the timeless campaign” with a body of work that most recently includes the critically acclaimed 50’s soul-pop collaboration with Zooey Deschanel, She & Him (which M. reveals is “currently in the demo stages of Volume 2”) as well as a knack for blending the new with the old.  Ward reflects, “A lot of my favorite records… you’re not sure exactly what time they were made or how old these ideas are and I think that’s a good goal for me.”

His latest installment, Hold Time, merges some of the biggest sounds ever heard from M. alongside some of the subtlest as well, oftentimes juxtaposed against each other within the same song. “The background is just as important as the foreground,” says Ward. “I spend a lot of time creating both elements in the studio.”

Perhaps it’s his deep affection for crafting timeless standards that causes M. to often saturate his songs with biblical themes and motifs that have long since accompanied traditional folk music throughout history.  When Ward posted the lyrics to “Hold Time” on his Myspace blog, a debate between fans ensued as to whether his rich use of spiritual metaphor and story was oppressive or liberating.  

One fan complained, “I love the tunes. But am I the only long-time, every-album M. Ward fan who’s finding all the biblical/Christian references in the lyrics on this one to be…oppressive?”  

Another retorted, “Oppressive?! To me biblical themes have always been deeply rooted in American music. They make M. Ward’s songs even more timeless. I love how [he] is not afraid to sing what he feels. Am I the only agnostic every-album fan who finds his lyrics liberating?!”


It’s a viable discussion. Hold Time imparts lyrics like:

He Put His Name in my Chorus like the Dark before the Dawn
So that in my Hour of Weakness: I’d Remember It’s His Song

and

He Shifts in His Sleep and the Earth Begins to Quake
So How Much Difference Could it Possibly Make
To Save Me from sinking over the edge?


Ward joins a list of growing indie personas (My Morning Jacket comes to mind) that seem to enjoy seeping blatant theological themes into their albums while publicly smirking them off leaving them up to interpretation. Tracks off the new album like “To Save Me” and “Fisher of Men” possess strong attributes of the Christian God while the teachings of both Jesus and St. Paul are referenced in “Epistemology” and “For Beginners.”

While his lyrics are far from ambiguous, his commentary on them is. Like his contemporaries, Ward is cleverly quiet when asked to discuss some of his choices. Trying to explain his desire as a lyricist, he offers, “A good song is like a good movie or a book; times when you laugh; times when you cry; shadows in the light. A durable song for me has a long life; it somehow speaks to people’s lives. People’s lives aren’t all happy all the time and they aren’t all bad all the time. They’re both. I think that’s how my life is.”

A brilliant storyteller, thoughtful producer, and laudable guitarist with a warm crooner voice made that much more interesting by the mystical truths that accompany it at times, M. Ward has undoubtedly left  a one-of-a-kind footprint on the music industry. With  seven albums under his belt, not to mention several noteworthy collaborations, M. Ward continues to show off his creativity and ingenuity for throwing sounds and stories from different eras into the atmosphere, somehow stringing them together to deliver songs that are both unique and tangible, nostalgic yet timely.

Download M. Ward’s new single, “Never Had Nobody Like You,” free from ConversantLife.com

Fiction Family, the culmination of two of our generation’s most prolific and respected songwriters, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot and Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek, debuted in January as a masterful collection of tales about murder, adventure, lost love, and war highlighting each contributor’s strengths and personalities while managing to defy perceived expectations. The best news? It’s only the beginning.

There’s a beautiful carelessness to what is now Fiction Family (originally named “The Real SeanJon” with a goal of being sued by Puffy) – a creative endeavor birthed out of rest, friendship, and unabashed innovation. With no immediate deadlines, rules, or formats to follow, Foreman and Watkins decided to embark on a musical journey of the purist, most unadulterated kind.

“We just started writing stuff we wanted to write about,” says Watkins from the porch of his San Diego home. “It was never going to be a record either. There were a lot of conversations that never happened. All that happened was having fun playing music and writing songs.”

“One of the endearing things about this record is that because we were doing it in our bedrooms, we were literally just screwing around,” adds Foreman. “I mixed the whole thing at my folks’ house in a couple of days just to get it done and shop it around to people. Those mixes ended up being the record. The demo became the final thing. I like to think that added a little bit to the charm. “

The result is a perfect union: two notable songwriters strapping each other’s strengths to their own songwriting utility belt, each coming out of the process even more equipped then they were before.

“One of the things I love about bluegrass music and where it’s coming from is the simplicity,” says Jon like an eager new student of the genre. “[Bluegrass] makes every note count. I think that’s one of the things I’ve been trying to learn more and more…trying to say one thing well. I’m captivated by the way melodies intertwine, and many times I end up trying to say too many things melodically. Sean is really good at pressing the mute button. It was a really freeing thing to have him there playing the producer role saying things like ‘yeah, that’s kind of endearing but it’s not needed.’”

Watkins feels equally appreciative: “A lot of times I’d bring [Jon] a verse and chorus of something and he’d say ‘that’s really cool but can we make this part bigger?’ or ‘Can there be a change in the middle that really departs from where you were?’ Those are things I think about now when I write songs. That’s the good part about working with someone. You get to collect pieces of who they are musically. You get to pick and choose what you want to add to your collection of songwriting tools.”


There’s an idea that the farther one departs from the traditional pop format, the less tangible their work becomes to the average listener. Not so with Fiction Family. Wildly inventive and spontaneous, the two recording artists who once enjoyed the luxury of major record labels now stand in victorious defiance against a crumbling conventional music industry. “This year has marked our first year of our independence from Sony,” explains Foreman speaking of Switchfoot’s long time relationship with the label. “It was the chance to let loose some projects that have been bottled up for a long time.”

An outpouring of that pent-up creativity, Fiction Family reflects a strong sense of musical maturity from both its contributors.  It’s the stories and raw emotion embedded into that music, however, that give the project a sense of profound timelessness. “At the end of any given record you’re left with the question of whether you believe it or not,” says Foreman. “Part of what you’re investing in that question is whether or not that singer/songwriter is putting a piece of him on the line. Voices like Johnny Cash and Bob Dylan do that. Whether they’re singing their own song or someone else’s, you can hear a piece of them when they’re singing it. It’s a matter of vulnerability. That’s something I try to put into all my songs … which is kind of nerve-racking sometimes.”


Part of that vulnerability means wrestling with the deep spiritual complexities of human nature, familiar territory for both the Switchfoot and Nickel Creek members. On “Closer Than You Think,” a track from their album debut, Watkins muses over the widely held notion of heaven as a distant and out of reach destination, suggesting it may be “right under your feet.”


Watkins explains, “I felt like there are a whole lot of people putting all their eggs into a basket of after-lives while completely overlooking what we’ve been given today. I’ve seen so many people sell this life short of possibilities saying ‘man, someday it’s going to be great, but it’s just going to suck until then’ and that’s not the attitude we’re supposed to have. That isn’t to say the concept of heaven isn’t an amazing thing and shouldn’t be kept as a paramount in our mind, but we’ve also been put on this earth to do something, to live in the here and now.”

Along with focusing on “the here and now” Fiction Family is looking forward to the future. So what’s next for the duo? What once began as two friends jamming over coffee on their days off is now considered by both an adventure too fun to stop.

“We had a blast on this tour with Aaron Redfield playing the drums and Tyler Chester playing the bass,” says Jon. “It felt like a really natural fit. I’d love to make a record as a four piece.”

Watkins agrees, “We’ve been working on some new songs on this last tour and have a list we think would be good for the next record. During the course of this tour we really started feeling like a band so when we record we’ll record it more like that.”


With Nickel Creek on indefinite hiatus and Switchfoot adjusting to life apart from a major label, the continuation of Fiction Family sounds like an excellent way for these two songwriters to experiment, explore, and continue to learn from each other. In the meantime we’ll be anxiously awaiting the results.

Download the single, “When She’s Near Me,” free on ConversantLife.com

Ok, so that was just a provactive title to get you here. I’d like to start off saying I don’t have all the answers. I’m only 23, I don’t have a masters in theology, and I’m not a youth pastor. I have been in youth ministry leadership for a number of years, have had the opportunity to meet and dialogue with some forward thinking and innovative Christian leaders, and have been a “youth group kid” since puberty first reeled its awkward head in my life.

In my conversations with people who are thinking about ways to aid and engage the next generation, the same theme always seems to permeate our dialogue:

We need to move away from creating systems and events and begin seeing people more as individuals. In short, mentorship is a much more effective way to foster and grow young Christians….but it’s also a greater sacrifice.

Think about someone you know who’s just a stellar Christian. They’re passionate, live a life of integrity, and allow that life to spill generously to others. Maybe that’s you. I’ll bet you anything they attribute their lifestyle to someone that once stepped outside their busy schedule and personally invested in them, someone they could tell anything to (even their deepest, darkest junk). I have a friend who told me with a straight face once that she felt so comfortable around her mentor that she could tell her something as horrible as she just murdered someone without feeling judged or condemned.

So after all these conversations, here’s a summary of what I’m starting to believe:

Perhaps the reason why youth ministry can often be ineffective is that it emphasizes “the event” far more than it understands the importance of mentorship. We go to Christian camps, host Christian concerts, invest in Christian coffee houses… all safe alternatives to the drug and alcohol driven events most high schoolers attend on the weekends. The tendency is to create this safe playpen for churched teenagers that doesn’t allow them to realistically engage the outside world with their faith (the world they have to live in the majority of the time they’re not sitting in youth group).

I’ve  grown so tired of the “just try harder” talk from speakers at youth camp. “You know, last year at camp you probably decided to get right with God, but I’m guessing you’ve done some backsliding since. Well, now it’s time to get right again. As the worship band comes up….etc, etc.”

Of course they’ve “done some backsliding!” Have you been to high school lately?! You got to be Rambo to survive. David Kinnaman calls it “the fractured generation.” Kids are cutting themselves, killing themselves, having casual sex in the bathroom, throwing up in the bathroom so they can look attractive enough for the causal sex they’re going to have later, taking advantage of the porn available to them on their cell phones, experimenting, tormenting, struggling, abusing, all the while desperately hanging on without a seatbelt to a chaotic hormonal rollercoaster.

We can’t keep spending money on blow-up games and new wings in our churches for coffee houses cleverly titled “Higher Grounds” without backing it all up with some serious substance. We all need people in our lives older and wiser than us: people who won’t BS us, people who will kick our butts when we need it (never when we’re down),  people who refuse to give up on us, and people who will constantly point us toward Jesus.

…And that takes effort, investment, sacrifice, space, and time… .all those things we love to hear we need more of.   

Those of you who know me know I’m REALLY good at doing all that above stuff.
But I’m going to start making this a priority. Maybe you’re thinking you can’t mentor someone because you don’t have your own stuff together. I used to think that for a long time, but then I look at every leader in the Bible (Moses, David, Peter, Paul to name a few) and all their screw-ups and I’m encouraged.

A pretty successful author/speaker/pastor recently told me that on a particular day, he had the opportunity to either speak to 1,000 people about his new book or hang out with a couple of young guys at Starbucks just to talk and be available….he chose the latter….We need more guys like that… a lot more.

People and Organizations Committed to Mentoring the Next Generation:

Donald Miller: The Mentorship Project
Deadly Viper Character Assassins
Project Hangout

I had a chance to hang with Mike Foster, author, speaker, and co-founder of Deadly VIper Character Assassins, XXX Church, and a bunch of other projects aimed at resurrecting radical integrity within leadership in and outside the Church . We talk about vipers, ninjas, pandas, integrity, grace, second chances, technology, the social media generation and finally wrap up by playing the game, Chuck Norris vs. Billy Graham: Who Said it?

Interview with Mike Foster from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

Chuck Norris vs. Billy Graham with Mike Foster from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

A while back I wrote a blog called American Idol: Good for TV, Bad for Church which came to the attention of MTV Senior Writer, Gil Kauffman. Gil wanted to know why so many Christians were not only tuning into “Idol” this year, but also performing on the show. He took a couple of quotes from our conversation and put them into his story for MTV.com. Here’s an excerpt:

Just as this season kicked off, freelance writer CJ Casciotta penned an essay for faith site ConversantLife.com titled “American Idol — Good for TV. Bad for Church,” in which he questioned whether the show’s shunning of the “awkward, the socially inept, the ugly, the difficult” during the often cruel early rounds shouldn’t be a call to action for the rest of us to embrace those whose lives are a struggle.

Casciotta’s interest was piqued when he heard “Shout to the Lord” on “Idol” last season, and he suspects that the inclusion was an overt attempt to court Christian viewers. “The people at ‘American Idol’ are not idiots. They realize that there’s this huge percentage of America that watches TV as a family, and a lot of families go to church. … [The viewers] know worship leaders and musicians in church, and why not bring that aspect to the show?” he said.

He suspected that the inclusion of so many people of faith on “Idol” this year is part of a trend Christian music has been undergoing over the past decade, growing out of its cloistered corner and going more mainstream without losing its core values. “People who are Christians have a platform through ‘American Idol’ to write their songs and share their stories, and it doesn’t have to fit in with the traditional Christian or worship genre,” he said.

In fact, Casciotta said, he thinks Christian voters could end up being the deciding factor in this year’s finals. “I would hope for people of faith that they would judge solely by talent,” he said. “But if it came down to it, and the two [finalists] were equally talented and one was Christian, people would vote for that person who shares our faith.”

To read the full article click here.

I also mentioned to Gil when we talked that I believe the church has had it backwards for a few decades now. Instead of creating culture, we instead settle for copying it. Centuries ago it was quite the opposite. The church was the epicenter for culture creators. Everything from music, to art, to architecture was birthed from it. Perhaps one of the reasons so many Christ Followers are auditioning for American Idol is, in a small way, due to this new renaissance of artistic expression erupting from within the church walls and overflowing to the “outside world.” Perhaps, and hopefully, Christians are sensing the freedom to use their unique gifts and talents in and for a culture where every circumstance carries some kind of spiritual significance to it.

I’m interested, what are your thoughts? Do you see this shift happening too? If so, where? Do you agree that this is a good thing? Does anything concern you?

A great video featuring one of my heros, Craig Detweiler, that hits on my point exactly about halfway through:

Here’s a growing list of bands/artist I think deserve a special shout out for the hard work and ingenuity. In additon, they all excell at covering great songs too (each video is a cover of a song they do). Enjoy!

Best Live Band: Dawes

Unfortunately their studio album does them little justice. They’re a classic example of a band you listen to live and go “wow,” then buy their CD and go “ohh.” I’m confident their next project will correct the lack of energy on their first. In the meantime, if you get a chance to check out their live show, you won’t be sorry. Explosive americana southern rock is their specialty backed by four part “eagles-like” harmonies that catapult you back to the 70’s with the aid of tasteful tele licks and hammond drones. They’re playing South by South West March 19th & 20th.

Best Hipster Band: Glare of Rockets

Emerging from LA’s underground hipster music scene is Glare of Rockets fronted by high school senior, Mariah McManus with her brother Aaron and friend Matt Mugford. There’s a big voice coming from this little lady… not your standard American Idol kind, but a unique, confident one that folks who listen to the likes of Tegan & Sara and Paramore might thoroughly enjoy. Whether acoustic or with a full blown band, Glare of Rockets is young, talented and extremely marketable with a glowing, bright future ahead.

Best “Christian” Band: The Fragrance

The Fragrance is the future of the Christian music industry. Where else can you get the hymn-like magnitude of Sufjan Stevens with the post-rock of Future Forestry? Leeland almost had it, then crossed over to the more comfortable waters of contemporary pop. The Fragrance, a collection of college music majors making their mark at kid’s camps and youth groups are anything but juvenial. No video but check out their undiscovered page.

Best Singer/Songwriter: Amy Kuney

Don’t let Amy’s mysteriously, sometimes hauntingly melodic stories fool you. The fact that you’ve probably heard her before is no mystery. Her songs have been played everywhere from Gilmore Girls to One Tree Hill, to Holiday ommercials for Macy’s, and of course, Undiscovered. Quoted by People Magazine as “an amazing lyricist,” listening to Amy perform is like catching a glimpse of honesty and vulnerability often found in people only without an audience present. Sometimes sarcastic, always soulful, and never mediocre, her words, compositions, and presence will leave you both entertained and intrigued at what she’ll do next.

Best “Christian” Band: The Fragrance

The Fragrance is the future of the Christian music industry. Where else can you get the hymn-like magnitude of Sufjan Stevens with the post-rock of Future Forestry? Leeland almost had it, then crossed over to the more comfortable waters of contemporary pop. The Fragrance, a collection of college music majors making their mark at kid’s camps and youth groups are anything but juvenial. No video but check out their undiscovered page.

Who am I missing???

A lifelong fan of music and the music business, Joe Kirk left his suit and tie behind in 2003 and joined Paste Media Group, best known for Paste Magazine. As the VP of Business Development, he drove Paste’s business strategy, raising the funding to significantly grow the distribution of the magazine and extend the Paste brand. As Associate Publisher, he was responsible for magazine production and distribution. He launched and managed an independent label, Paste Records and a retail listening station program, Paste Recommends and also launched and produced the successful weekly Paste Culture Club podcast. He served as executive producer, producer or mastering engineer for Manchester Orchestra, Bill Mallonee, Mark Heard, Brindley Brothers, F/Stop and 21 Paste magazine samplers. After a brief stint at the music download card startup, DiscRevolt, he left Atlanta and moved to Nashville in 2007 and helped develop what is now NoiseTrade.com. Joe and his wife Betsy are passionate about adoption and have raised seven daughters.

Interview with Joe Kirk from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

Concerts I’ve got to see before I die (or in some cases before they die) :

5. Anyone playing in a pub in Ireland

4. B.B. King

3. Billy Joel

2. The Black Crowes

1. U2

What’s your list?

I’m taking what I am calling an “after-work vacation” (I know, pretty creative…any other suggestions?).

A few weeks ago I realized life was getting too crammed with “stuff” during the week. My natural tendancy is to fill it with so much “stuff”  that I block out the things God really has to say and what he really wants from me. It’s a lot easier to focus my time on acheiving, succeeding, pushing, furthering, and progressing, then to sit still, rest, shut up, and listen.

So I called my weekly commitments  and apologized that I would not be joining them this week. It’s been two days since this experiment began (an experiment I should say I didn’t have very high expectations for) and…man…wow…”Hey God, whats up? Didn’t realize you had so much to say.”

Here’s the overarching message. I share this because I don’t think I’m the only one who needs to hear this.:

I’m a leader. I’m a Christian. I’m a creative thinker with a passion for people and the gospel. As a result, I’ve admired, followed, respected, and sought out people who share these same passions and are making a profound impact on the church and culture. Whether they’re pastors, authors, worship leaders, or bloggers, I often find myself studying them, learning their strategies, listening to their podcasts, gleaning from their wisdom.

Nothing wrong with that instinctively, right? But lately I’ve been discouraged at the realization that every one of these leaders isn’t perfect. They actually say things I don’t agree with sometimes. They make decisions once in a while that aren’t ethical. Sometimes their words and ministries seem contrived.

What’s that all about?  And another thought:  If I can see the faults in these guys I wonder if other people see all the jacked up crap in my life as “a leader in training.” Who should I follow? Who  should I model my life after? Whose theology am I going to line up with?

This internal dialogue is all happening inside my head on my way home from work when suddenly “Jesus takes the wheel.”

…sorry.

But seriously, after a few days of slowing down and listening a little closer I could hear God’s voice say very clearly…”Just try to live like Jesus. His leadership.  His characteristics. His theology.

Draw near.

Draw near.

Draw near.

Just one of those father-son “keep your eye on the ball” conversations. You were probably looking for something a little more profound from a guy who’s been following Christ for 18 years, but the truth is everytime I feel like I’ve made it to the majors, God takes a week like this and  puts me back in Little League.

And I’m ok with that.

Hold Time, the seventh solo album from singer/songwriter/producer M. Ward, releases today. The new collection of songs from the Portland resident who creates with the likes of Jim James, Zooey Deschanel, Jenny Lewis, and Cat Power, plays a guessing game with the listener, creating sounds and spaces that span across decades.

Hold Time is a case study for what I hear from most artists today. At the core of most serious songwriters is the desire to create something timeless, a piece that stands alone and begs the question, “When was this created?” Many of these artists point to the wax libraries they grew up with, vinyl contributions that still communicate powerfully amidst the noise of modern culture.   M. Ward might be considered a leader in “the timeless campaign” with a body of work that most recently includes “the 50’s soul-pop collaboration, “She & Him” featuring the vocals of Zooey Deschanel, as well as a knack for blending the new with the old.  His latest installment blends some of the biggest sounds ever heard from M. alongside some of the subtlest, oftentimes juxtaposed against each other within the same song. “Never Had Nobody Like You” (featuring Deschanel) debuts with a Ringo-like cadence coupled with McCartney fuzz. The title track employs Ward’s trademark (boomy, quiet room tones on vocals and guitars) set against huge, lush string arrangements creating a pleasant anomaly.

When it comes to words, M. tells the usual stories of love, heartbreak, and self-realization, a few sticking out like “Jailbird” and “Oh Lonesome Me” featuring a felicitous performance by Lucinda Williams. Ward doesn’t shy away from spirituality on Hold Time but joins a list of growing indie personas (My Morning Jacket comes to mind) that seem to enjoy seeping blatant theological themes into their albums while publicly smirking them off as songs meant to be left up to interpretation.  Tracks like “To Save Me” and “Fisher of Men” possess strong attributes of the Christian God while the teachings of both Jesus and St. Paul are referenced in “Epistemology” and “For Beginners.”

A brilliant storyteller, thoughtful producer, and laudable guitarist with a smooth crooner voice made that much more nostalgic by heavy reverb and raw tracking, M. Ward continues to leave his one-of-a-kind footprint on the music industry. Perhaps not as timely as his last album, Post War, Hold Time still manages to show off M’s creativity and ingenuity for throwing random sounds and stories into the atmosphere, somehow stringing them together to deliver something unique and tangible.

To download the single from Hold Time    from Undiscovered for free, click here.

I don’t have one friend who graduated college in the last year or two who isn’t struggling financially right now. These are bright, driven, visionary people too, people who spent thousands to acquire a quality education and worked hard to achieve the grades they did, people who were told all their lives that if they applied themselves and were responsible, they could achieve anything.

Now, Starbucks won’t even hire them. There is a tremendous and overwhelming feeling of failure, regret, frustration, and hopelessness. Thoughts like “I’m not good enough,” “I’m worthless to society,” and “What were the past four years for?” penetrate the restless and weary minds of many.  People who enrolled in universities with the dream of educating future generations are seeing door after door closed in their face. Creative minds with media degrees in film and radio are being rejected by Bestbuys and Blockbusters.

So what should we do?

Do we move back home with our parents and slip into a state of apathy? Come to think of it, our little league trophy shrine and emo mix CD-R’s do miss us. And after all,  society seems to understand this notion.  There’s less shame in it now then there was in years past.

Do we flee to the mission field? Maybe 6 months in Brazil will make us feel better about ourselves. South American Starbucks have to brew way better coffee than US ones anyway.

Do we go back to school? Ah, college.. life was AWESOME then. No worries, less responsibilities… a cafeteria!  How hard would it be to take out a few more loans and just ride this recession wave out?

Here are some other ideas:

I was thinking of inserting some scripture here and then following it up with something like “See? God is just telling us to hang in there, keep on keeping on, it’s gonna be alright.” But honestly, that would have been forced. Obviously, our daily bread is Christ and His word and all of scripture is full of radical and relevant hope. Staying in God’s word, no matter how difficult it seems sometimes, is vital.

Another idea is to get involved in the local church. During this time where food is short, gas is expensive, and jobs are scarce, what if our age demographic chose to do something completely ridiculous and counter cultural like give ourselves away out of the little we have to offer? Serve at your local church and allow the church to invest in you as well. While money may be tight, there is something profoundly powerful and effective about the family of Christ sticking together and helping each other through rough times. It’s biblical.

Lastly, take a deep breath and step outside yourself for a moment. If you’re walking with Christ, thoughts like “I’m not good enough,” “I’m worthless to society,” and “What were the past four years for?” are classic torpedo launches from the enemy. Seriously, they have his name written all over them. Walk boldly in the confidence of Christ in you and everything that truth entails: the truth that He made you a creative, passionate, talented, and unique human being who possesses a sacred honor and dignity. You’re worth doesn’t come from what you do or what you accomplish but your adoption into the royal family of a matchless King. It doesn’t make sense in human society, I know, but it’s a truth worth hanging onto.

And by all means keep dreaming, creating, seeking, and listening. God is far from done here. Greater things have yet to come.

Maybe it was because Jon Foreman and Sean Watkins are two of my favorite modern songwriters or maybe it was because my last concert was OAR at the  House of Blues crammed between a brigade of unappreciative, drunk frat boys   and sorority girls, but I’m pretty sure that this weekend’s Fiction Family concert was the best I’ve been to in years. Fiction Family wrapped up their debut tour at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles this Saturday. Surrounded by their family and friends, as well as fans old and new, Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek and Jon Foreman of Switchfoot played a set of originals, collaborations, and covers that lasted over 90 minutes.

Largo was the perfect venue to feel welcomed by this fictional family. A historic landmark, the small movie theatre-style venue has been a home for the Watkins family where they’ve maintained a residency every Thursday night for years. What made the night so uniquely enjoyable was the addition of Sara Watkins on violin and breathtaking background vocals. I couldn’t imagine the rest of the tour without her.
Sara performs with so much passion, energy, and confidence and yet manages to maintain a humble, not-to-be-taken-so-seriously persona while on stage. It’s a package one wishes every artist could deliver.

The renowned piano accompanist, Benmont Tench (Johnny Cash, U2), sat in on many of the songs delivering just the right color to each piece between casual sips of coffee, showing off his incredible solo skills only when asked. Jon’s celloist, Keith Tutt, also joined with his brilliant arrangements that struck well against Sara’s fiddle licks.

Foreman continues to impress me with his songwriting. The group did a number of his that has yet to be recorded called Rob Me, a foot stomping hillbilly tune that  Dylan would be honored to cover. Molly Jenson, a new friend of Conversant and Undiscovered, opened the evening up with her honest stories accompanied by her charming wit and personality that manages to shrink a room so that you feel you’re sitting across the table from her in a coffee shop. Her duets with Jon and Sean fit like a glove. Look for more on her in this blog soon as her new album, “Maybe Tomorrow” releases in March.

Whether it was hushing the room for a cover of Radiohead’s I Dio Teque (with three out of the four vocalists sharing the same microphone in traditional bluegrass style) or a version of Foreman’s stirring Your Love is Strong (based on the Lord’s Prayer) with Sara adding original harmony, or an instrumental bluegrass duet between the Watkins siblings, it was an unforgettable night that wasn’t about Fiction Family at all…it was about friends getting together to appreciate, celebrate, and share, stories and songs together.

The set ended with Foreman and Watkins thanking us for letting them be our fictional family for the evening and “if we wanted to hear some more songs we would have to sing a chorus of Hey Jude before they came back.” We complied. Soon each member strapped on their instruments to meet us on the chorus in the key we were all singing, followed by a long list of encore numbers. It was a night to remember.

To download Fiction Family’s single, When She’s Near Me,  for free on Undiscovered, click here.