music: where are we going?

As we (Jeff and I) near the completion of our first album, we get a lot of questions about where we're going from here. Will we do this full-time? Order physical copies or just sell online? Travel and play? Play more locally? What are our goals?

These are great questions, ones we're exploring as we go. But if you're reading (and listening to the music), it's probably helpful to keep you in the loop as we go along!

We should have the album in our hands - hopefully! - no later than September 1. We will order physical copies (I'm still a purchaser of CDs!), and there will be full lyrics.

Beyond that we are looking into playing in living rooms in Hattiesburg, Miss. and Vermont; coffee shops in Minneapolis; universities in Georgia and churches in Mobile, Ala. and Jackson, Miss.

I'm also a storyteller, once who is not always graceful in delivery; I'll work on that. I'll be crafting my stories in a way that are more accessible, easier to listen to, more clearly communicated.

And I'll be writing. 

If there's one thing the album process has done, it's helped me find my voice, find my style, my rhythm. Matthew calls album-making, at least in my case, "closing the chapter," getting these songs out there so I clear the way for new songs and stories.

This is where we are. We do want to travel more; we do want to grow.

We're on the way; join us!

(Another thing we want down the road is a good website! This will have to do for now: www.abbyewestpates.com.)

gifts of other artists: a thank you

I am sitting at the stage, maybe two rows in, and Sara or Andrew or Don start this story, the one about growing up as a preacher's kid with rebellion in his heart or what it felt like to sit at mom's side in the hospital, just before death visited. There isn't another voice in this room; every ear is listening. Their stories become ours for a moment. We are in that sanctuary with the boombox and the piano when the flash of grace comes, in that white-walled room when everyone is praying, but everyone knows hows it ends.

And I wonder can I hold such sorrow in my heart!

Then we are taken into their marriages, their children's imaginations, their awakenings. We hear when love washed over a multitude of things gone wrong, when promises were kept. We're allowed to see what beauty struck them when this song became a song, when thought turned into lyric turned into melody.

And I wonder can I hold such joy in my heart!

Sometimes I am overwhelmed with gratitutde at the gifts of these artists, whose work matters so much. I want to look them in the eyes, write them a letter, somehow let them know.

So, here is my thank you to a few of my favorites, for letting us in...

To you, Sara Groves, thank you for the simplicity and depth of your songs, for making your music accessible to all of us, with college degrees, with difficult pasts, with happy marriages, with failing ones. Thank you for following that call years ago from full-time, "sure of a paycheck" work - valuable teaching work -  into work that is giving us these gifts of word and song. I met your music in 2003 and never turned back.

To Andrew Peterson, thank you for that concert last night, in that beautiful North Carolina valley of Lake Junaluska. Thanks for giving yourself to us; you are a gifted storyteller. You made us laugh and cry. You introduced yourself to my family for the first time... and it was a good meeting. You are so very real and approachable; we feel human when we're listening to you.

To Don and Lori Chaffer (Waterdeep). Thank you for writing about everything - grief, loss, and how hard it is to love anybody down here. For making us laugh from the stage. For reading poetry. For being so vulnerable. For getting married. I, too, met your music in 2003, alongside Sara Groves and have been supporting and purchasing your work ever since. Your albums, both together and solo, have stirred me at the core of my being. Oh, and your music is the best canning-tomatoes, chopping-vegetables, all-around-kitchen music.

Thank you.

Operation Broken Silence: a benefit show

"Human Trafficking" or "Sex Trafficking"... phrases we hear and think of war-torn places, countries where women are openly mistreated, etc. When I sat down with an OBS (Operation Broken Silence) staff member this week, I told her I'd heard these terms plenty of times throughout college, especially with the trafficking of child soldiers, made to fight ugly wars and develop lifelong wounds, on the inside and out.


And though I can't say images of my own city, Memphis, Tenn., come to mind when I think of trafficking, this reality is here with us.


When a teenager runs away from a bad situation at home and is given an offer to make money giving his or her body away, this is trafficking. Though only one example of many, when a person is a "good" to be sold, earning profit for someone else, we speak of trafficking. 


This Friday, June 29, at 8pm, Jeff and I will be joined by our friend Brian von Shulz of Hattiesburg, Miss., to show up and play tunes to raise awareness and funds for Operation Broken Silence and Tennessee's first shelter for trafficking victims, right here in Memphis!


The most immediate need is for an emergency shelter, a place where a trafficked person can be brought to escape imminent danger, receive care and have access to other resources.


The long-term plan is for a residential shelter, for recovery, education, protection and nurturing, and a host of other things to bring wholeness back to those living there.


Check out the OBS Blog to see the latest and COME TO THE SHOW! They'll be there with more information, and you'll get to hear some good music, too!

June 29: Porch Concert and Benefit Show!

Stay tuned here at the blog for details AND more shows in the near future!

(Check out Brian's website and learn more about Operation Broken Silence)

Public Library: Top 10 Reasons To Go

If you live in Memphis, and you've yet to visit the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library (the big one on Poplar Avenue), then you're missing out!

Since I can only live in one city at a time (though, trust me, if I could live in multiple cities at once, I would), I'm only speaking directly to the Memphis Library. But know that this post is for you, wherever you are, whatever the size of your library.

Just today, I returned 3 books, renewed 1, and kept 3 more, one of which I'm going nuts over (The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan)! I spent an hour inside using the Internet, on my own laptop, doing some work for an upcoming worship-leading commitment.

I love the library; I use the library. Here's why you should to:

1. You pay for it. Don't ask me for the city's budget to see just how much, but trust me, your tax dollars in some way, shape or form are paying for the library.
2. The books are free. Did you realize this? Have you been missing out on free books all this time?
3. You can try out a book/author without dropping $20 on a book. That's right, you can stop buying books that you're never going to read.
4. Free WiFi. Yep. Save your money and hit up the library instead of the coffee shop!
5. It's got great bathrooms. Hey, how many times are you working at Starbucks (for the free WiFi, of course) and there's ONE BATHROOM? Not at Benjamin L. Hooks, no sir. 
6. Lots of tables and chairs. You can go to any floor of the library and find small tables, big tables, individual desks. 
7. The view. From the aforementioned tables and chairs, you can park it in front of the wall of windows.
8. Outlets aplenty. There are tables with little "doors" you open, filled with outlets! Perfect for that laptop with 5% battery life. No more fighting for the outlet seat at Starbucks.
9. People. It's a great way to see and meet the diverse population of Memphis.
10. Used Bookstore. When you do get ready to buy books, check out the used bookstore on the 1st floor. I've purchased some of my favorite books from here, for $1.50-$3.00. A STEAL!

If I've not convinced you yet, go anyway! Prove me wrong.

There are [much smaller] library branches all over the city. They don't all have walls of windows, but they do have free books and Internet. You can even use the online catalog to look up books ahead of time to see if they have it before you go!

Libraries rock.

poetry: on the man and his boy

On the Man and His Boy

Who taught you not to look at me?

As you walk over cracks

careful not to break your back

while I uneasily take notice

from the front porch.

Who told you I was

to be feared or so respected?

Who planted those seeds,

roots grown deep?

Who, I wonder,

and did they make you to fear

or make you to hate

never go too near.

Who, I wonder.

Threatening, privileged,

intimidating, [invisible],

strange, different.

I probably stare too much.

But who told you I was?

Who taught you not to look at me?

I won't take what you have.

Neighbors.

I might need you 

one day;

today, just to look.

Who told you I was?

The boy, through you,

is learning me, too.

work: what it is (unanswered questions)

Several weeks ago, I posted this entry about work, which has been at the forefront of conversation in our community for many months now. Check it out before reading this.

___________________________

We've strayed very far, in so many ways.

Neighbor, to be mistrusted. Employee, to be exploited. Spouse, children, to be tolerated. Time, to be spent, used efficiently, quantified by mere numbers. Leaving byproducts of exhaustion, human suffering, conversations cut short - no matter; they are necessary for the end result.

Our work suffers, too, of this we can be sure. Hours of busyness, with the tap of the keys, swipe of the screen, negotiation for bottom dollar. The mind will be tired; the hands will be restless. Extracted from home, from family, work is "there", never "here". We will go to work, not stay to work. Vacation time, where family fits in.

What work is this?

We once heard that we should work for what does not spoil. Isn't all set to spoil? Fruit of the earth and fruit of the business deal? What, then, shall we work for? For these answers, I still search.

May the means become as important as the end. Every person, of more worth than the price they can offer. Every meal, longer than is necessary to strike a deal. Every decision, more important than its reflection on a pay stub, but its reflection of character.

And no matter your title, no matter your corner office, may you know the deep joy and reward in planting a seed and watching it grow and bringing its fruit to the table.