New Folk

What does it mean to win a Kerrville New Folk award at the Kerrville Folk Festival?

Well, for one thing, it puts you in the shoes of other performers who've gone on to much broader recognition: Steve Earl, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, David Wilcox, to name a few, have all appeared as finalists in the competition.

For another thing, it marks you as having really stood out in the crowd. A massive amount of entries come in, and each year the Festival only allows the first 800 entrants they receive to compete.

And what has that got to do with Worship Café?

Andrew Smith was a Kerrville New Folk award winner in 2006. It's a fitting accolade for someone who's written songs from the depth of his being for years. One of the songs Andrew played in the competition was "Rite of Passage", a song about his son's coming-of-age and heading off to university. Years earlier, that same son was the underlying current in Andrew's worship CD entitled Through My Emotions, which explored the darker side of faith: is it okay to question God when someone you love is deathly ill and no prayer seems to make a difference?

When I've heard Andrew's songs over the years, it seems to me that he's been on a real journey. I guess all of us are, but few are as candid about it as Andrew is. His songs serve as markers along the way, almost a roadmap for the pilgrimage.

His last few albums (the guy's got four or five solo recordings plus at least two other collaboration CDs) are logged as Folk, and some of his earlier ones would be considered Worship CDs. Yet no matter the genre, in each album you'll find honest writing that explores the human condition, wrestles with belief in the context of real life, and thoroughly celebrates being a man, a husband, and a father.

At Worship Café on May 9th it was sublime to hear Andrew doing songs from across that spectrum. The simplicity of some of his classic worship songs like I Come Undone were the perfect counterpoint for newer and more intricate numbers like Turning to Stone. Fans of Andrew know he's discovered the beauty of traditional songs, too, as evidenced by his version of Stephen Foster's Hard Times Come Again No More. Yeah, he's discovered the beauty, and he brings us along for the view.

I found it very refreshing.

If you missed the live worship time with Andrew, you can find the full session in our archives at worshipcafe.net - and, by the way, it makes great sonic wallpaper to have on while you're working away at your computer...