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Prologue: A Blog:
Monday, March 22, 2004

Thanks to the year we lived in San Ramon, California, outside of San Francisco/Oakland, I was introduced to a lot of great music through a tremendous radio station, KFOG. One artist that really caught my attention was the Old 97’s. This was 1999, the year the band released Fight Songs.
 
The Old 97’s are deep from the heart Texas, with full-country twang­except that it is tempered by a lot of rock ‘n’ roll. This is Alt.Country at its finest. Sure, you could label them as country, but why would you? If you are like me, calling it country music leaves the wrong impression when trying to talk about a band that can jam, that rocks, and that moves beyond the twang to incorporate distortion.
 
After moving to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, I got the chance to see the Old 97’s in concert at Shank Hall in Milwaukee. It was April 11, 2001. Yeah, it was Wednesday night of Holy Week. Sure, that’s the busiest week in the church for a pastor, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from seeing a great show.
 
I ended up using the story of that night’s concert as a sermon. You can click over to my sermon site to read the story. Even if you’re not into sermons and all of that, you might get a kick out the story which is the first part of the story. This sermon may also help some who have asked how a pastor could be into some of this music, music that you wouldn’t guess a pastor listens to.
 
(Ben Squires sent an email to the band telling them about the sermon and Murry Hammond (bassist and vocalist) wrote back.)­editor.
 
Murry Hammond’s email to Ben Squires:
I clicked over to your sermon that incorporated your experience of seeing the band in Milwaukee. I read it aloud to my wife who enjoyed it as well.
 
Ya know, my wife and I are devout Christians, fairly non-denominational in our choice of church, which is the Disciples of Christ. Best we can figure, we're a couple houses down from the Baptists and we're a few neighborhoods over from the Pentecostals. :)
 
If you do ever hear from Jake, have him shoot me an e-mail. I'd be glad to back up everything you were telling him at the show. Especially from someone who has cleaned up his own life a good bit, and has dealt true guilt with the mechanics forgiveness, i.e. what Jesus was trying to get across us so many times.
 
Come up and say hi sometime, and God bless.
 
Murry
 
Murry Hammond also agreed to do an email interview about his music and faith. Here is what he had to say to Music Spectrum, Ben Squire’s blog.
 
Music Spectrum: Who are the top 5 artists that influence your music?

Murry Hammond (MH): Beatles, Hank Williams, Carter Family, and Johnny Cash. The fifth would be the artists and sounds of the early decades of recorded music, the '20s and '30s for hillbilly and what they call old-time music, and '50s and '60s for rock 'n' roll and country music.
 
Spectrum: Knowing how important music is as teenagers, what was your favorite album when you were fifteen? How does that album rank in your collection today?

Hammond: I was obsessed with The Cars’ first album, and I’m pretty sure I wore that album out. Today, I don’t even own a copy of it, and I don’t think I’ve heard the whole thing since the early '80s. I still love The Cars when I hear them on someone else’s player, though. Philip had a good Cars Greatest Hits on rotation when we cut Too Far to Care.
 
Spectrum: I organize my music in a spectrum of sound, trying to place artists near others who have a similar style, influences, etc. I've put the Old 97s in the Alt.Country category. What artist should be to your left on the spectrum, which is more to the traditional country side? What artist should be to your right on the spectrum, which is more to the rock side?

Hammond: I imagine we’d have the ,'50s country various section on one side, and some '60s beat music or '80s punk-ish indie music on the rock ‘n’ roll side. Our songs are often products of our 80s indie years when we were first forming bands with each other and with other people. And our childhoods were full of the rock ‘n’ roll and country sounds of the '50s, '60s and '70s. Go ahead and put Johnny Cash on the left, and The Clash on the right.
 
Spectrum: Many Christians would react strongly against many of the topics in Old 97s songs (sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll). How do you see your Christian faith fitting together with your music? Where are there signs of grace in your songs (The need for God's unconditional love or examples of people showing that love to one another)?

Hammond: These are good questions, too, and are going to require a longish answer, so bear with me. I like talking about this stuff, so I’m just going to note down my thoughts as they come. But first I want to say that I’m happy to have the opportunity to talk about all this in this forum. In general, I’m not asked about songwriting in any meaningful way in interviews, so I’m happy to oblige the question. There are going be a lot of people who are non-Christian people, or are on the fence, who will be reading this so before I begin, let me say a couple of things. First, if I call God He or Him I do it out of habit, and out of needing a handy way to talk, in a way that people are used to reading. That includes the capital H’s on the He’s and Him’s I use that because of my deep reverence for who I’ll be discussing. I don’t think God is male in nature, and I don’t think there is gender where He resides. I understand God to have characteristics that are equally feminine and masculine. Also, if it helps you to substitute the word Goodness for God then go right ahead. God is my personification of all goodness, love and life, and in my experience, i.e. as it has been revealed to me, Jesus was the human face of that divine source of goodness, and I believe Jesus was who He said He was.
 
My faith is the most significant thing in my life. It’s the main thing that fuels my engines, so to speak. While I am most definitely still a work-in-progress, I think I’m kinder to people because of my pursuit of God, I know my marriage is better for it, and I think I’m a more honest songwriter because of it. How some writers can discuss their craft without getting into their most important influence is beyond me. Creativity is one of the fundamental elements of God’s character, so how can you separate the faith of the writer from his or her writing?
 
Personally, I tend to write the same song, every time. I write about redemption. I got a pile of them! My life has been a cycle of moving toward God, then moving away, then toward Him again, so redemption plays itself out over and over again in my life. In every song I write, I illuminate some part of that ongoing dialogue between the Almighty and myself, of being restless, or injuring myself then being healed by God, of feeling alienated or disenfranchised in some way, then finding connection and hope in the upward reach.
 
Song-wise, this might flesh itself out in a general light hobo tale of regret and longing, such as in “West Texas Teardrops.” Or some more lonesome place as in “Old Familiar Steam,” where redemption exists only as a small point of light that could either grow or extinguish altogether. I don’t resolve it by the end of that song, instead, the character moves the bigger questions on down the line, and the train rolls on with no pilot.
 
But what happens most in my writing, is I’ll put a microscope on a specific part of the redemption story, such as with the character in “Up the Devils Pay,” who is struggling with his dark and light sides. Imagine that the act of crying out to God can be shown as a strip of film, say, a scene where a man realizes his need for God, reaches upwards, God meets him and the man is transformed. I tend to not write so much about the entire sequence, such as Hank Williams did with “I Saw the Light,” but rather, I will zero in on a portion or even a single frame and describe where that character lives and what he is feeling. As much as I ponder writing about the portion of the sequence where God lives to give grace to the hurting world, I tend to write my songs back toward the beginning of the film, where the man first realizes and struggles over his need to be redeemed. How can you tell the whole story of redemption without telling about the poor creature that needed it in the first place? That human end of redemption is not often written about in a way which attempts to really move the listener, at least not in modern Christian music, but this is what I most often attempt to do. I feel that I hit occasional bulls-eyes there, and people respond instinctually, at a soul level, and they get it. And grace is illuminated in some way. I just feel most strongly in my heart for the regular person who is hurting, and is searching for a home.
 
Speaking of Hank Williams, I think it’s worth taking a look at some of the greatest writers we’ve seen this century - my favorites - Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and the Carter Family. They all had a spooky ability to connect with us in an absolutely direct way, in a deeply personal way, and thus in a universal way. And they all shared a deep faith in God. That faith lays interwoven in all their most personal music, from the gospel hymns of redemption and celebration, to the emotional depth and tenderness they convey when they write about all us outlaws. They are my example of the ideal songwriter: fearless, unashamed, champions of raw humanity, and longing deeply for a better world to come.
 
If you can name it, I’ve done it, short of killing someone, I suppose. Or, if I’ve ever helped put someone into office who has ever ordered military action or approved an execution, perhaps I have murder on my hands, too. For the sake of my own soul, my faith directs me to shine a light into all that was formerly dark. I’m fortunate that songwriting is an outlet for me. Everyday I reach out of the dark towards the light, and I struggle to fight the good fight. I’m on the winning side only when I lean on God instead of my own strength. So I’m going to sing about that, in my way.
 
All people take music very, very personally, and Christians are no different. Some might ask why would a musician of faith write and sing about anything else but God? Why would anything other than a song of praise escape the lips of a follower of Christ? To me, it’s much like a calling to ministry: Why aren’t these children of God plunging themselves into ministry? Because some are given talents that call them to step up on the pulpit, while most of us are called according to our other talents. We are called to put our light up where we live in our homes, among our neighbors, in the office buildings, in the schools, in the coal mines, as writers, as truck drivers, as artists, railroaders, country-rock bands.
 
Depending on the denomination, I’m either a fine warrior of our Lord for confessing the things of my very human heart, or I’m going straight to hell for ever singing about anything else but praise songs. In this world, our compass points toward Jesus but that’s where the commonality between us Christians ends and dissolves into debate. I guarantee you, it will all line up on the other side. 
 
Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll­that’s a bumper sticker. Jesus didn’t speak or act that way He rolled up his sleeves and helped people. He healed the sick, comforted the lonely, fed the hungry, healed our hearts, and commanded to us to do the same for each other. He demonstrated by example and by words in his parables. But no catchy phrases, just memorable words meaningful enough to paint on your bumper forever.
 
Spectrum: Going back to my sermon about Jake at your show, what would you tell Jake if he asked you about your faith?

Hammond: Well, if you’re like me, you want to start simple, then work out from there! My favorite Bible story relates to your conversation with Ben, and what he wanted to get across to you about the nature, and character of Gods love for us. This story moves me every time I read it, or repeat it, and goes like this:
 
First the backdrop and you out there may already know this but - Jesus revealed to some people that He was sent from God to be the great healer of the world. Word spread fast, and this news was received with mixed reaction. Some people felt like He was telling the truth about Himself, that He was who He said He was, and they followed Him throughout his brief ministry. Many people witnessed miracles and heard many wonderful discussions explaining Gods law and love for us. They would write about their experiences later, which is why we know this story. But there were many that didn’t believe Him, and wanted to show Him up for the imposter they felt He was. Jesus preached a new covenant, i.e. a new agreement between God and man. Many of the laws of the Old Testament had been interpreted still are interpreted to this day to be license for revenge, violence and oppression against others, and in Gods name. Jesus said He came to clarify the law of the Old Testament, to show that the true character of God was one of compassion, forgiveness and love, and that we should do the same for each other. His enemies felt strongly that these teachings contradicted the old laws, and saw Jesus as a revolutionary seed, that would destroy their culture from the foundation up.
 
Well, Jesus was in the temple one day praying, and talking with people. Those that were against Him brought before Him a woman who they said had been caught red-handed in the very act of adultery, which in those days might have meant she was cheating on her husband, or simply having pre-marital sex
 
They asked Jesus what should be done with her. Because the Jewish law said that this woman should be stoned, they felt that any answer Jesus gave was the wrong answer. If He said forgive this woman, He was in violation of the Jewish law which people believed was handed directly from God; If He said stone this woman He was contradicting his own teachings of forgiveness and compassion.
Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.”
 
We read that one by one, the crowd of people filed out of the temple, and that the woman was not stoned that day.
 
When there was only Jesus and the woman left in the temple, Jesus asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers?”
 
She said, “No man here, Lord.”
 
Jesus said, “Neither do I accuse you. Go, and sin no more.”
 
Jake, this grace and forgiveness was what Ben wanted to leave with you that night at our show. Not from man, but from God, comes peace, redemption, forgiveness, and grace. It’s between you and Him. None of us have any say in it. We're in the same boat as you. It was not in the power of that crowd at the temple to forgive that woman. Jesus dethroned those people from their self-appointed position of judgment, and they left that temple with their hypocrisy placed directly in front of them. Hopefully at least some of them chewed on it, and came to have a greater understanding of Gods grace and forgiveness, just as that woman surely did when her life was spared by life-saving grace.
 
Spectrum: How do the other band members respond to your Christian faith? Is it something shared? Is it a source of tension or respect?

Hammond: Never has been a source of tension. Everyone in this band has, at some gut or skin level, some notion and relationship with God, so they respect that I pursue Him in the open. Like many people, they are trying to extract out of all the noise just what real evidence of a loving God they can take to heart. And there is a lot of noise out there. The only Christians that ever seem to get spotlighted on television or in the papers are the televangelists, the scandalized, the misguided believers who let worldly fears warp their walk into extremism, racism, sexism, of the worst order, all under the banner of Christianity.
 
But you know how the real heroes of Christianity are they don’t show up on the news. They are rarely documented outside their own families or communities or home churches. They do their work quietly, with the sort of love that is tested by time and perseverance. Some of them can’t even read and don’t hardly have a cent to their name, but they change whole neighborhoods and communities. The South is full of them, and I imagine the North and the West is full of them, too. They are never raised up before man, but they inspire deep changes in the people around them. They don’t seek to control or dominate or oppress anyone. They take to heart the commandment that Jesus gave us to love each other fearlessly, period. These children of God plant seeds that grow over a lifetime and bear much fruit. Ultimately, the light that is in them shines in a way that is hard to deny, even among those with deep doubts.
 
I’m not one of these great warriors, no sir. But I have figured out one good thing I can do for my band mates, and that is to simply to give them a safe place to bring that most private part of themselves to, without judgment or ridicule. They know they can open up to me about God, and occasionally we’ll visit that place together, in different ways for each guy. It has been a positive experience between my band mates and my self. They are pretty good guys.
 
You know what they say, Some plant seeds, some tend seeds, some harvest. We’re just tending seeds around here.
 
Thanks to Murry for his time and sharing his thoughts. Go to www.old97s.com for info about their new release, Drag It Up, due out on July 27. Murrys wife, Grey Delise, has released her album, Graceful Ghost, on www.Sugar Hill Records.com. Her husband says: “If you enjoy old-time music with a good gospel lean played on old autoharps and whatnot, you'll like it very much.”