by Andrew Peterson
Hey, folks! As of today you can pre-order the Deluxe Edition 2 CD set of Resurrection Letters, Vol. 1 (which includes Prologue). And because the Rabbit Room is awesome, if you pre-order here you’ll get a special, exclusive 60 page eBook called Resurrection Letters: Annotated Edition. Sixty pages of what, you ask? It includes all the lyrics, along with footnotes and scripture references, for all the songs from all three Resurrection Letters records. The idea is that you can listen to the albums while following along with the lyrics and reading all the scriptures that undergird the songs. The eBook was designed by our friend Ned Bustard, who did the artwork and design for Every Moment Holy, and it looks lovely. Thanks, Ned!
I’m also excited to finally share the music video we made for “Is He Worthy?” (directed by Max Hsu). Max (who took the cover photo for The Burning Edge of Dawn) and his film crew worked for days to make this deceptively simple video a one-camera-shot deal. We had members of the Nashville Youth Choir (who also sang on the record), a group of string players, and an audience of good people who answered our casting call a few weeks back, all running around like crazy for hours while I just sort of sat there at the piano. I was lip-synching and playing as serenely as possible while I tried to ignore the director yelling for lights to be turned up or down, the shuffling of feet while the congregation rushed in from the wings, the setting up of chairs while string players got into position just before the camera swung around—and the cameraman lithely moving through it all, aiming the lens and focusing on just the right things at just the right time.
It took several hours and about ten takes with the whole gang before we finally nailed it, and what you see is the final take. I have to say, there’s one moment where the camera moves in close to the piano, blacking everything out, just in case we needed to splice two of the takes together, but in the end we didn’t need to. What you see is one continuous take. Pretty awesome, methinks. Many thanks to Max and the crew, as well as all the extras, for hanging in there for hours until we got it right.
As fun as it was to make the video, though, the real hope is that it draws attention to the song, which is meant to draw attention to Jesus. We have sheet music available for “Is He Worthy?” (as well as the rest of the songs) in the Rabbit Room store in case you want to use this song during Easter (and I hope you do!).
I can’t wait for you guys to hear the record when it releases on Good Friday.
You can now pre-order Resurrection Letters: Volume I here. All pre-orders include an instant download of “Is He Worthy?” as well as the annotated PDF booklet.
And while you’re at it, check out the sheet music here.