by Matt Wheeler
The Rabbit Room community is brimming with people of faith who have fascinating stories and who are doing generative, creative work. The subject of this conversation, North Carolina-based singer-songwriter Hope Newman Kemp, and the backstory that culminates in her new album Facing Eden are compelling examples of this, and we’re pleased to spotlight her and this project. In this dialogue, you’ll be introduced to her long path to this redemptive work, the heart behind her jazz-infused style, and her encouragement to those seeking to craft an artist identity by the intense work in merging the two strong calls of creativity and domesticity.
Matt Wheeler: I want to ask about your new album project, Facing Eden, but first, for context: what has your journey been like up to this point, and what role has music played?
Hope Newman Kemp: I grew up making music in a home immersed in Jesus Folk culture during the soul-sonic 70’s.
At 20, I married a cute non-musician future Army dentist, and children came right after–requiring every ounce of creative collateral I could muster.
I am a piano-driven songwriter, singer, and psalmist, so church worship service was a natural fit while also moving around the world and homeschooling.
In 1998 and 2005, I self-produced 2 CDs of original songs that were not great, some of them not even good, but the creative collaboration proved exhilarating. In 2007, I joined Elon University’s Recording Arts program for a live analog recording of Christmas music called “Unto Us.”
Then, in 2017, I wrote and recorded “Hoping for Real: Songs Inspired by The Velveteen Rabbit” (produced by Ben Hardesty of The Last Bison), which we developed into a musical reading show. During the pandemic, I contributed vocals as part of a quartet with UNC jazz studies professors for an album called “Carolina Bluebird Jazz Project.”
What looked like productive artistry on paper felt more like a futile (and very expensive) jumping up and down in one spot.
Meanwhile, our family began expanding to include grandchildren and our home, an intergenerational hub. I told myself, “You can figure this out after the kids are grown!”; a vision I should not have adopted.
Because when that day arrived, I discovered “No Room for Older Women” the prevailing banner anywhere I sought to enter.
After 35 years, I had mastered domesticity yet had not blazed trails for making music with other artists or ministries.
One might say, “Ok, but now you have the good life: happy marriage, established home, a bit of artistic expression–so what’s the problem exactly?” The problem was a paralyzation in creative forward motion I did not expect.
As a final blow, church worship music began culturally shifting in ways I could not affect, which made it necessary to remove myself from that sphere. This disabled me completely.
MW: Sounds like you were stymied—feeling the pull to use your giftings in music in God’s service, but not sure where to point them or where to start. Not sure where “your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet”, as Frederick Buechner put it. How did that start to change?
HNK: My stymied state was strangling immediate relationships: my marriage, my friendships, and my own inner life also began to suffer. By divine intervention, I met renowned artist Babbie Mason, and she became my private songwriting coach for a year.
However, with her, I also learned I had been writing the kind of song meant for a Sunday morning church singer—a path I wholly did not want. Inadvertently, I was painting my own artistic output into a corner!
In ridiculous irony, the Lord was giving songs, but I found it too painful to work them out.
Then, a few years ago, I met Melanie Waldman at a songwriter’s workshop. She introduced me to The Rabbit Room and the Jesus-loving artists there.
The Lord also separately directed me to Stephen Roach (Makers and Mystics), Rachel Wilhem (United Adoration), and Michael Minkoff (Renew the Arts) as counselors.
Sitting in new, trusted company and learning of their artistic laments, was a reorientation that helped me repent of self-pity and see myself as an artist loved by God, created for good works–particularly while amid artistic desolation.
Even so, I was not making fast progress out of my whirlpool. This was my state when Jeremy Casella and I met.
MW: Jeremy Casella—who I understand produced your new album “Facing Eden.” How did that collaboration come together, and what did he have in mind for the project?
HNK: At that point, I had grown so cynical about my artistic identity that I let Jeremy’s message sit for two solid months before replying. He stated that he felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to reach out.
He didn’t know, but that’s the part that caught my attention.
Eventually, I tossed two songs to him that didn’t fit inside the same collection in my mind, but Jeremy heard things he was excited about. He is well-respected, his Nashville relationships are stellar, and he wanted to share them with me. This resonated profoundly.
Historically, I’ve had to pursue artistic collaborations—they don’t usually come my way. I finally accepted that this was an invitation from the Lord Jesus Himself via Jeremy Casella.
MW: And the project that emerged from this collaboration is called “Facing Eden.” What is the significance of that title?
HNK: One of my literary character heroes is “Sarah Smith of Golders Green” in C.S. Lewis’s The Great Divorce.
The image I have of her is the one I want for myself: A woman so enamored with the God of Love that she walks face-forward into the barren place as if it is her road sign. She does not consult her fruitful footsteps for compass; rather attention is focused ahead on Love Himself.
Behind her flows the fantastical continuance of nature in seraphim, dancing nymphs, butterflies, waterfalls– as if enfolded in the train of her robes.
I adopted this elevation and commissioned Sarah Haddox (Sincerely Sarah Studios) to produce the portrait (cover art designed by Nicole Anosen, 28 Lions).
She visualizes the variety of song genres as strands of multi-colored hair, picturing what Jeremy has synergized: 11 different songs on one album—love songs, Gospel, jazz, bluesy folk, and a nod to my Jesus People roots (featuring Phil Keaggy, so he’s present in the roots AND fruits!)
The idea for the name, FACING EDEN, is two-fold: what happened there needs to be faced: we—the image bearers of the Creator—were once housed inside but now are exiled to the field. Even so, the misty outline of Eden is always present behind the person/the task/the work before us as the way to bring about that reunion of “on Earth as it is in Heaven.”
I’m in the youth of my old age. The window is Now. So, two songs evolved into three, then an EP, and then “Let’s finish this out into an album!”—something my cheerleading husband also said. In the end, I made this album for me. It is an added delight to share it with the world.
MW: The lead single, “Keep on Going,” is especially upbeat and, well, hopeful. What is the story behind that song?
HNK: The phrase “Keep on Going” is a line Pete Peterson sent to me in response to a message.
The song was written while driving home from a Hutchmoot conference. I visualized myself standing on a cliff overlooking a vast cavern where another me was scrambling to find the secret door out of it. I called, “I see you! Keep on going!”
The song doesn’t follow a traditional songwriting structure. It moves along verse after verse after verse, drawing inspiration from the many good works in the lives of the people I had just met.
Jeremy produced the song to resound its origin story: the chorus revs up to a near-chaotic constitution of voices and instruments while simply fading away (keeps on going).
The other songs on the album were written during long prayer walks around our 100-acre property.
MW: What advice would you give to a person in a similar season of life who is looking to venture into a new or renewed, creative pursuit?
HNK: I get it. I get that the “recipes” don’t fit when you reach a certain stage in life. Reality is real.
But DON’T do as I did and sit ruminating: DO instead ask the Lord to help you find wise counselors to help you see what you might be missing.
I’ve lived this contention long enough to have finally learned: The talent He has placed within you—along with the whole of your history—is purposed for His glory and your good. It is His investment as a ready means (for you first!) to enter His presence. Can you accept its existence could be for no other reason than to keep you hidden in Him? His Spirit has whispered this question to me, releasing greater happiness for my primary work as Overseer of People and Place, like Sarah Smith of Golders Green. Like Jesus.
Your artist identity in Jesus is worth the fight it feels like it’s in. So:
Ask Him for vision, then walk in the Light you've been given.
And keep on going!
A troubadour, poet with a guitar, & stage banter-conversationalist, Matt Wheeler lives in Lancaster County, PA with his wife & teenage son. He specializes in songs based on classic works of literature - his 2021 album "Wonder of It All", featuring songs & stories based on books including "The Horse & His Boy" & "Watership Down" is an example. His new album, "A Hard History of Love" is inspired by a series of Wendell Berry's short stories & released in September 2023. You can read and listen to more of his work at www.mattwheeleronline.com.
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