a live music retrospective

[via my iPhone -- click to see Andrew Osenga bigger]

I have a new article up on The Curator today:

"A Live Music Retrospective"

Speaking of live music, if you live in Houston (or nearby), don't miss Sandra McCracken next Wednesday, May 12th.

The details:
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Church of the Holy Trinity
211 Byrne St.
Houston, TX 77009

You can purchase tickets for $15 here, which includes a free copy of Sandra's new CD, In Feast or Fallow. Also, due to the tragic flooding in Nashville, we'll be collecting gift cards at the will call table to send to Graceworks Ministries, if you're able.

There will be Antidote Coffee to sip beforehand, and Derek Webb and a few other special guests will join Sandra on stage. There is limited seating, so buy your tickets soon!

If you haven't had a chance to hear In Feast or Fallow yet, you can sample the album on Sandra's new site, New Old Hymns. It will be a very special show, I assure you.

Something I wrote recently:

For the past three years, I've been harrowed health-wise with a famine of joy. When I first heard In Feast or Fallow, it struck an emotional nerve from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Tears cornered my eyes as these new/old hymns implanted what is good, beautiful, and most of all, true, into my brain and upon my lips. Sandra McCracken's new record rallies our thirsty culture to the Gospel with art so honest that whether folks are faithful or in disbelief, they are drawn to her songs and Derek Webb's modern, intuitive production. It's hard to decipher which old hymns Sandra renewed, and which hymns are her originals, but let the mystery be. My grandchildren will sing these timeless hymns.