Re-Recording of a Classic
Posted October 27, 2019
By BPence,
Behold the Lamb of God (BTLOG) is a brand-new recording of Andrew Peterson’s 1999 Christmas album, produced by Ben Shive. This year marks the 20th anniversary of his annual BTLOG tour, which I’ve been fortunate to attend twice. In Chapter 4 “Behold the Lamb” of his new book Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling and Mystery of Making, (which Peterson read in his breakout session at the 2019 Sing! Getty Worship Conference), Peterson writes about the history of the album and tour. He writes:
“What if there was a Christmas concert that was only about Jesus? What if it told a story? And what if it didn’t sound like your usual Christmas songs, but like the music I listened to the rest of the year? In other words, what if it sounded like Nashville, with dobros and hammered dulcimers and fiddles and folk singers, instead of Bing Crosby?”
BTLOG would be a Christmas tour, initially booked before all of the songs for the album were even written. They would not be singing traditional Christmas songs. The songs would tell a story but there wouldn’t be any speaking parts.
BTLOG is a creative concept album telling the Christmas story from both the Old and New Testaments. It was only a few years ago that I heard the original 1999 edition, which was packaged with a live version of the concert in a 2009 10th Anniversary edition.
The new recording is well produced and much like the original, features excellent players, and Peterson sharing the spotlight in community with a few different artists. Peterson indicated that that album was recorded in just two days with about twenty old friends. A few of those friends were:
- Jess Ray, a singer-songwriter from North Carolina, who sings lead on “Passover Us”.
- Scott Mulvahill, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who I remember playing an incredible upright bass on the 2018 BTLOG tour, sings lead on “Deliver Us”.
- Andy Gullahorn, a singer-songwriter and guitarist sings lead on “It Came to Pass”
- Jill Phillips, a Nashville based singer-songwriter, who is married to Gullahorn, sings lead on “Labor of Love”.
Not many artists go back and completely re-record one of their classic albums. I’m glad that Andrew Peterson has. Check out this new recording and try to catch one of the shows on his BTLOG tour. You won’t regret it. View All Music And Book Reviews By BPence | View BPence's Profile
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