Summer Soundtracks

Hey y’all,

It’s hard to believe August is here already! I hope your summers have been filled with good things. Our family has spent as much time as possible outside this summer. Whether we’ve been eating dinner outside on our picnic table, going on a walk or hike, seeing animals at the zoo, swimming in a pool or the ocean, we’ve loved it! We’ve loved feeling the sunshine on our skin and delighting in our first PNW summer with our daughter.

It’s likely no surprise to y’all that our family often has a soundtrack for the summer. Sometimes it’s a playlist Keith creates and other times it’s albums that have recently been released that we love. We love to sit around our picnic table in the evenings, listen to music, and play a game of cribbage after our daughter has gone to sleep for the night.

This summer, I have listened to one album over and over again: Heirloom by Nathan Evans Fox. I came upon this artist through a friend on Instagram who posted about one of the singles released before the album. He’s not a big name. This is his first full-length album. The album is about beginnings, endings, grief, joy, and everything in between. It’s about the birth of his daughter and the death of his father who were born and died within the same year. It’s a country album. It makes me miss the South and feel like I’m back home there all at once. He sings a lot about his grandmother, which makes me feel connected to my own grandmother who died several years ago.

One song in particular has lived in my head and my imagination. It has become a prayer of hope. It has become a song I sing in praise and commitment to working toward the kingdom of God here on earth. The song is called “Hillbilly Hymn (Okra and Cigarettes).” In the song, Nathan Evans Fox paints a picture of the liberation of the coming kingdom of God. I am tempted to put all of the lyrics here, but I will resist the temptation and only put some of them trusting you all will go and give the song a listen.

When Kingdom come, we’ll want for nothing
Just a long table, a mess of beans and honey buns
The trucks are small, the trains are late
The men pick up their dinner plates
Nobody sees that the debts are paid
The guns are all for shooting clays

It’s a beautiful image of a world where everyone has enough, no one is burdened by debt, and guns can’t hurt anyone. Nathan Evans Fox calls his style of music “Comrade Country.” Comrade country doesn’t create nostalgia about a South where people were enslaved or segregated. Comrade country doesn’t engage in resentment or the glorification of Empire. Comrade country embraces abundance and justice.

I wonder what y’all are listening to this summer, if you have a summer soundtrack, if it’s bringing you joy, if it makes you hopeful, if it makes you feel at home. If you do, I’d love to hear what you’ve been listening to. If you don’t, it’s not too late!

However you’ve spent this summer, I hope it has been good to you. I hope you have been able to love God and other people, embrace the beauty all around you, and live your lives to the fullest.

Peace,

Rev. Leigh