The Far Country
Andrew Peterson
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On his latest album, The Far Country, independent singer/songwriter Andrew Peterson sings about death and heaven. The songs range from the story of a woman dying of AIDS, to his sons, to a trip to Alaska. One might expect an album infused with references to the ultimate mortality of humankind to be depressing. However, Peterson's latest effort glows with joy and conviction.
How can listening to a song about a woman dying of AIDS possibly end up being an uplifting experience? Well, first you put the creation of the song in the hands of Peterson and his God-given gifts for song writing. What results is The Queen of Iowa, which tells the story of Peterson and the album's producer, Ben Shive, playing a concert in the living room of an AIDS patient.
The lyrics are honest and unflinching regarding the Queen's condition: "She was dying on her couch in the suburbs." At the same time they are infused with profound hope, which comes from faith in God, "I bowed down low and I kissed her hand/And we raised a toast to the Promised Land."
Next, you get an insanely talented group of musicians together and they manage to make the surprisingly light melody gambol along on the sound of acoustic instruments. In the end, Peterson's lyric "I will never be the same," seems to apply not only to his experience of playing for the Queen, but also to the experience of those listening to the song.
In another stand-out song, Peterson mixes together images of the imaginative games his sons play with references to the Narnia Chronicles by C.S. Lewis and the Gospels. What he comes up with is a song that affirms the adventure and mystery of the Christian journey: "Feel the beat of a distant thunder/It's the sound of an ancient song/This is the Kingdom calling/Come now, and tread the dawn." It's the type of song you want to listen to as you drive down a country road on a clear autumn day.
Peterson refers to All Shall Be Well as his favourite song from the album. Here he records his experiences from a trip to Alaska. The purpose of the trip was to encourage those ministering to native villages in the extreme conditions — day-long night, long winters, isolation — of the far north. In this part of the world, where sex offence and suicide are rampant, ministers do not tend to last long. Again, Peterson does not shy away from the darkness he sees. Instead he sees it with what a friend of mine calls a "baptized imagination" — that is, one that acknowledges misery but sees it as an opportunity for Christ to be triumphant. He sings, "There is a wilderness inside them / It is dark and thick and deep / And beside the fire at the heart of that wood/Is a precious missing sheep / So go on in, hold your torch, let it shine." When he follows these lyrics up with the line "Cause all shall be well, all shall be well," the result is not a flippant dismissal of the problems of Native Americans in Alaska, but a word of solace to a people in pain.
