Scattershot Symphony #26

The Best Of Julia Wade — Volume 1

Welcome to:

Scattershot Symphony

The Music of Peter Link

(That’s me.)

This week being the twenty-sixth episode of this podcast, 

I prefer to let the music do the talkin’.  However, if you need to know more about me, please visit Wikipedia.com – Peter Link.   

This episode is entitled

“The Best Of Julia Wade — Volume 1”

With special Guest Artist, Julia Wade

I have been wanting to release a Best of … album of Julia Wade now for about 5 years. Unfortunately, life has been so busy that we just never got around to it. But with 15 albums under her belt and over 200 Sacred, or at least inspirational, songs recorded and an ever changing audience, it finally seemed that it was just something that had to be done. So one day, a couple of months ago, I sat down with all 15 albums and gave them all a listen. This tremendous body of work actually took 3 days, because I enjoyed the experience so much that I had to listen to many of the songs twice.

How to whittle all this material down to one album seemed an impossible task. Painfully, I finally ended up eliminating one beautiful performance after another and ended up with a top 40. Now everyone knows that ya’ can’t put 40 songs on one album, so I figured that we could do a Volume ONE and a Volume TWO. This would still mean that there were 20 songs per album … still too many. So, I went on and on listening and cutting and most of all, regretting all the cuts I would have to make. I also did not want the Volume TWO to be in any way second choices, so I worked to have each abuum be equal in fulfilling expectations and decided to release  the first in the Spring and the second in the Fall.

OK, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and stick my neck out and say that I believe that these are the best two albums we have ever released at Watchfire Music. Oh brother, I can just hear ya’ll sayin, “ Well, of course you think that! You wrote most of the songs and on top of that, Julia is your wife!”  Very true, but I shall counter and say that, as an artist, ya’ better believe in your own work. If ya’ don’t, you’re in a pretty sorry state. Truth is, I’m proud as punch of the work Julia and I have done together over these last two decades.

She’s been our best selling artist for years now and sometimes has sold better than all the rest of our recording artists put together. She is, as President of Watchfire Music, the heart and soul of our company.

We’ll hear from her a little later in this podcast.

Suffice it to say that if you’re a lover of sacred music, this album’s a must for your library. How fortunate it was that Julia was able to develop such a world-wide following during her seven year tenure as the sole soloist at The Christian Science Mother Church in Boston where she was broadcast every Sunday around the world. We built this company on her success and she has devoted her life to the spreading forth of Inspirational music around the world.

Today we’re going to take an inside look at some of the songs from the album. Time dictates the fact that we cannot play each one in its entirety, but know that the album is now available in both CD and digital download for your complete experience.

Our first offering today is from a poem by MBE. Of all of Mrs Eddy’s poetry, this one is one that has probably been composed the most different ways.   Watchfire Music composer, Greg Granoff, one of our most talented composers, composed the music and when I first heard it, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and orchestrate it. It is, among all others, including my own rendition, my favorite. It sets the table beautifully for the entire album. Its first lyrical lines also sets the theme for the entire album as well. “It matters not what be thy lot, so love doth guide.” Let’s play the entire song …

Julia Wade

Satisfied

I wrote this next song to submit for a Hymnal project. It was turned down because someone on the final judging committee disagreed with the concept of a person finding the Christ within themselves. Simply put, if I could find a better sense of the Christ within myself, I would be a better man. The song, as sung by Julia and countless others went on to become one of the three biggest selling singles and sheet music in the history of Watchfire Music. Here’s a taster …

Julia Wade

Finding The Christ In Me

I’ve always loved the story in the Bible of Jesus in the boat with some of his disciples. A storm comes up threatening to capsize the boat.The disciples are frightened and wake Jesus who seems to be sleeping. He solves their fears, not by calming their nerves, but rather by changing the material world around them and eradicating the storm — by taking the material picture and negating the winds and storm. What a mind! What a wondrous understanding of the Truth of Being! I had a great experience writing the song and an even better experience hearing Julia perform it.

Peace Be Still

Julia and I spent 3 glorious weeks in a rented house with a cook and a butler in a very private cove on the beach in Dunn’s River Falls, Jamaica. The mornings were out of this world. The sun would rise from out of the ocean. I would get up every morning and sit out on the veranda of our bedroom with my guitar and play the sunrise. Three of these mornings were spent writing this next song. The colors evolving from black to blue to pink to rouge to scarlet were the best light show I’ve ever witnessed. The utter peace of each sunrise a moment of perfection. I’ve always thought that King David must have had the same kind of experience as he wrote possibly the most beautiful lyric ever written. 

So sad that Dave’s music wasn’t passed down from generation to generation as well. Perhaps it sounded something like this.

Psalm

From Psalm 139 in the Bible

Easter Suite is comprised of three songs — The Palms, Were You There and Song Of Easter. The suite itself runs over 16 minutes and if you’re one who thinks that Easter might be a bit more than bunnies, candy and egg hunts, you’re in for a treat. I also think that Julia’s rendition of the classic song Were You There is one of the best performances of any spiritual I’ve ever heard. Also, when you purchase the album, listen for Margaret Dorn’s wondrous choir and background work on the first and third song and also Shelton Beckton’s inspired piano arrangement of Were You There. Here’s the first song of the Suite as a taster. The rest is up to you.

Easter Suite

The Palms, Were You There and Song Of Easter

The lyrics of the next song are not really lyrics at all, but prose set to music. The prose is from a book I’ve studied all my life and is a paragraph I’ve read so many times that it is burned into my memory. It is the Truth that every artist, no matter what the art, strives to understand and demonstrate in their work. It is a recipe for great success and consequently great art.     [Beauty]

Beauty

The song, “Nothing” is one of my favorite lyrics I’ve written. And to handle the subject that matter is just a bunch of nothing, the usage of an Irish jig seemed somehow appropriate. Also, uptempo sacred songs are often few and far between unless they are Praise songs (which I often find to be at first exciting, but soon boring in their repetitiveness). 

I’ve often thought that one of the most important aspects of music in a Sunday morning church service was to actually wake up an early morning, post Saturday night audience. It’s why most churches have their congregations stand up to sing the hymns. Of course, the main purpose is to inspire, but to awaken has to be close behind. My hope is that both can be accomplished with the song, Nothing, which besides the great Truth that it aspires to, it can even elicit a smile or two of humor into the proceedings.

It’s short, so we’ll play the whole song … possibly to wake us all up.

Nothing

With us today is the real star of our show, Julia Wade. Julia, thanks for joining us today in the studio! 

Julia

Thank you Peter. It’s taken a couple of decades getting here and finally just a walk down the stairs.

Peter

Well it would be folly to try to do this without you. Actually, you’ve arrived at the perfect moment. Our next song is a very different approach to MBE’s most famous poem. It begins with the lines, “Shepherd, show me how to go / o’er the hillside steep …”

Julia

Ahh, Apaciento Mis Ovejas!

Peter

And that is …?

Julia

Spanish. It’s from my Spanish Album — Alabado sea Dios. It’s been one of my favorite projects in all these years.

Peter

Why?

Julia 

It was a joy to sing to a Spanish-speaking audience all over the world for 4 years when soloing at TMC.  I discovered one more time the power of music as a communicator of inspiration thru language, music, rhythm, feeling and emotion – and your amazing orchestrations give clarity of message and intention.  Here is a quote we received that best sums it up for me:  “I think music is a universal language and Julia’s ‘Alabado sea Dios’ speaks to me very deeply … I received this CD when my country Kenya was undergoing a very unharmonious and unhappy time. I believe her voice echoing over the seeming chaos has been, and continues to be a most healing effect to this city just as it has soothed and healed me.”

—Joseph Kamenju, Kenya

Peter

Thank you for that. I’ve always thought that the Spanish Album was a very joyous and profound healing album even if one did not understand one word of Spanish.  Here, give a listen and you’ll understand what I mean.

Julia

Apaciento Mis Ovejas — Feed my sheep

Peter

One of my favorite parts of what you just heard was the gorgeous violin work of James Graseck. I always thought he brought a wonderful elegance to one of my favorite songs I’ve ever written.

When you were the soloist at the Christian Science World Headquarters in Boston those 7 years, our weekends, as a married couple were non-existent because you traveled by train from NYC to Boston every weekend without fail. For part of that time I worked on a very special project taking many of the prose passages from Mrs. Eddy’s book, Science and Health, and setting them to music. Certainly not an easy task, but one whose challenges demanded a deep understanding of her teachings. Beauty, which you heard earlier was one such song and the next song is another. Creation. Any inside light to shed on the making of that as well?

Julia

Just this:  you had me at the opening chords the first time I listened to the piano track … and then to get to vocally be one with the piano track literally set the premise of the song, that creation is one with its Maker.  And once again, you caught that inspiration, from those beginning chords.  /just incredible.

Peter

Thank you. Let’s hear those opening chords …

Creation

Peter

Another of my favorite Wade projects was your Christmas Album, Julia Wade and Friends. I have to admit loving every single song on that album. I thought we caught a real great balance between Jesus and Santa Claus allowing the true spirit of Christmas to evolve in music and lyrics. You really knocked it out of the box with, on the Santa Claus side, The Night I Met St. Nick, but Your approach to the classic, “What Child Is This”, I think, shows us the power of your great gift, your instrument, your voice. This performance would easily make my Top 10 if I were limited to that.

Julia

Well, your truly inspired arrangement and new rhythms set me free to see this ancient nativity story with fresh eyes and to tell its tale from a very specific point of view. It was, for me, an exciting journey of discovery!

Peter

Thank you. And Merry Christmas to all …

What Child Is This

Peter

Julia, in this second to last song on your new album you play a character in an imagined moment overlooking an historically significant Biblical story of the morning meal when Jesus, post crucifixion, returns to tell his disciples who are unsuccessfully fishing in the Sea of Gallilee, to cast their net on the right side. They do as are told and their nets become so full that they can hardly lift the catch into the boat. Of course, Jesus is not teaching them how to fish, but rather, how to be better disciples. It is the last reporting in the Bible of Jesus’ time spent with his disciples. Imagine Julia, in her character, standing on a cliff above the beach and the sea overlooking the story.

Julia

I have long been fascinated by Mary Magdalene and her place in Jesus’ life.  I did a lot of research and came to my own sense of who she was and thus I built my character of her to sing this song from her point of view.  

That set the stage for me to always find the story, the character and the point of view in each sacred song. Why?  Because each song is an opportunity for connection, discovery, and then realization … and consequently, healing for the listener. 

And on that note, I hope this discussion and song samples will inspire listeners today to go to watchfiremusic.com and get the album!  We think you’re gonna love it!

Peter

Thank you, Julia. So, how do you close an album like this? With a classic, of course! We need no introduction.

(Play song from top — no slate)

So there ya’ have it. Episode 26: The Best Of Julia Wade. Next? Episode 27: The River. The River, a Concert/Musical, a collage of rock, rap and pop gospel, extolling water in spiritual and metaphorical terms and paralleling the cycle of water and the life cycle of man, officially opened in New York City at the Promenade Theater in January of 1988. It received a rave review from Mel Gussow of the NY Times plus another 22 rave reviews from various entertainment outlets.

The River won a number of the off-Broadway TOR Awards (Theater Of Renewal) not only for Best Musical, but also won for Mr. Link Best Director and BestComposer/Lyricist.

Also, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts … etc.

A grateful nod goes to all the musicians, singers, arrangers and writers who have supported Julia for all these years. If I were to name them all now, we’d be here for the next half hour. Know that both Julia and I are eternally grateful for each of your considerable talents.

A very special thanks also to Stuart Barefoot, our Associate Producer for all your invaluable knowledge and good vibes.

And a posthumous thanks to Ludwig Van Beethoven for your opening 4 bars.

Julia

(over playout music)

This podcast is presented with loving care by the staff at Watchfire Music. If you liked what you heard, we got lots more where that came from. In the meantime, you can find the songs you just heard on watchfiremusic.com. There you can purchase the singles or albums and have access to all the lyrics. Also, there you will find all previous podcasts and future scheduling.

If you just became a Scattershot fan,

tell your friends and Stay tuned!