I'm giving away another full album this month, and thinking again about the nature of music, why we musicians make art, and why we hope that someone will hear the art we make and make it their own in some small or significant way.  Like all good things, if you want to keep it, you gotta give it away.  It's become a family motto for us around here...so please go and

download GRAVITY | LOVE at NoiseTrade. 

Gravity | Love is one of my favorite records that I have made, because of the experience of writing and recording it.  We recorded it following "Best Laid Plans" in (2006) after I had made a record and partnered with Shell Records in London.  I had spent some time touring across the pond, performing lots of BBC 2 radio spots and sipping strong, English tea.   Gravity | Love was, in a way, bringing in the things I had learned from these experiences of making a more intentionally commercial record (Best Laid Plans) and also wanting to make a path forward that was mindful of these new insights but at the same time, deeply personal.  

I wrote Portadown Station on the train on my way between Belfast and Dublin. I wrote "All The Miles" pondering the mysteries of marriage, when we were 5 years in.  The bonus song on the download, "Sweet Amelia" was from the same year, written for my friends who were waiting on an international adoption. "Doubt (Speak It Plain)" was inspired by C.S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces (a must read if you haven't). 

All this to say, I believe in the connection between artist and listener.  I'm writing for my next record, which hopefully will be coming out later this year and am excited to share this free music with you to celebrate where we've been and to lean forward to what's ahead.  

Any time you share this music via NoiseTrade or make a "mix-tape" for your friends, I am grateful.  After you listen to the record, if you leave a tip on the "tip the artist" page, know that it will go right back into paying for the next record (and maybe a trip or two to the grocery).

Thank you THANK YOU, friends.  I couldn't do this without you.  

Craig Young, Peter Collins, Sandra McCracken, Derek Webb, Brady Blade, & Ray Kennedy at Room & Board Studios

(Photo - Jordan Hamlin)

For anybody who wants to sponsor a child, the first 10 people to email me with the name of their World Vision sponsored child (this is for new sponsorships only) and their own home address will receive hand written lyrics to my song 'Justice Will Roll Down,' suitable for framing, gifting, or keeping.  Beyond the first 10, anyone else signing up for new sponsorships during the month of December can email me this same information and receive a printed copy of these lyrics, with an autograph.

If you sign up this week, we should have plenty of time to get these out to you before Christmas.  So, please join me in supporting World Vision and caring for the world's poorest children!  See the details below for how to get started with your sponsorship.

Love,

Sandra

1. Visit world vision and sponsor a child with this link.

2. When you receive your confirmation, email the name of your sponsored child and your home address (or the address where you would like the lyrics sent) to sandra@sandramccracken.com

3.  I'll email you back letting you know if you are one of the first 10 and confirm your address for shipping. 

I just took advantage of the chance to buy 2 bags of cement to help clean water projects in Africa, (and for another week or so, they will bonus an additional bag for every 2 bags purchased). 

"Cement is the main component of most of our water and sanitation projects. In many of our communities, it's also one of the most expensive. Although not glamourous, this gift will help transform the lives for our neighbors in Africa." 

Celebrate.  Give.  Repeat the sounding joy.

www.bloodwatermission.com/blog

We had four "living room" shows in this first run...Chattanooga, Atlanta (Decatur), Birmingham and Huntsville.  Each was a completely different set list with audience participation by way of song requests, some lively Q&A, and warm hospitality along the way. My favorite part is being with folks after the show, and of course, getting the best seat in the house for all the "Derek Webb" songs, many of which I haven't heard in ages. 

Here's a video of "Thy Mercy" from the Chattanooga show...hosted at the Salvation Army chapel (Thanks to Joel for uploading your video)

And a pic from Caleb and Bryan's photography studio in Birmingham.  

Feel free to send me other bootleg videos or photos you'd like for me to link to.  Sincere thanks to you each of you for being part.  This format is my new favorite.  Looking forward to more house shows!

ADDED Links:

Here is a beautifully done video of "Chattanooga" at the Salvation Army Chapel show that Scott made. 
And a Facebook photo album he made of our afternoon in Chattangooa. (Thanks so much!)

It does my heart good to share correspondence with a sister across the world that is somehow, in some small way linked by these letters to my family here.  I think about all the clothes I am packing in my bag, all the things we "own" here in our house, and all the things I hope for my future, and hers. The life force that sustains me is the same life force that sustains her.  Grace. Generosity. Love. Action. Grace.

Sending a monthly deposit to her village is like a signpost for this outward, circular motion of growth.  We give because we have been given so much.  Each time, each month, giving opens my heart up like a flower to receive the warmth and nourishment from the sun.  And each time, when I resist self-sacrifice, the grace to give finds me out, and the triumph of generosity is even more sweet.

So I'm thinking about Rose as I pack my clothes.  And I thank God for her, and how she is teaching me a little more about what it all means.

As I've been pretty much overtaken with domestic bliss and other obstacles in recent months, I regret that I have not been faithfully updating you on my creative happenings like I should...

But I do have some good news in this department.  Derek Webb and I are putting the finishing touches on a new collection of songs, to follow up our 2008 release of Ampersand EP.  We are both really excited for you to hear it.  This batch of 7 songs includes a few covers, and several brand new songs we wrote together. This is our 10th year of marriage, and I do think that this project reflects a certain nuance of relationship and collaboration that shows more of who we are as partners in life and music.

We are aiming for a summer 2011 release, and hoping for a smattering of tour dates throughout the summer and fall dedicated to playing these new songs together.  So keep your ear to the ground, and we will send word out to you about news and updates as soon as we are able.  

Best to you all-

Sandra

"Conversation is a form of activism."
—Marilyn Chandler McEntyre, Caring For Words in a Culture of Lies

Social action begins with conversation. Action comes out of the words we speak with our family. Should I yell at my son to convince him to obey? Or could I appeal to him more creatively? Should I make time to ask about the needs of my neighbour? Or just stay inside? Who is my sister in Africa? Am I using my resources to bring awareness to her needs?

On a good day, I battle my ego. My constant inward gaze has caused spiritual cataracts that impair my ability to seek out love in action and conversation. It is easy to fight for my own rights. It's not so easy to fight for somebody else's.

My husband and I moved from the suburbs into the city in 2005, chasing down this idea of what it is to love your neighbour. One practical way I have found to combat self-protection is to get out there and mix up my "rights" with someone else's. To care about sidewalks and housing codes for the poor is to live among the poor, so that those sidewalks and housing codes become mine.

As a follower of Jesus, social justice is something I am called to do perfectly. I fail. But Jesus has accomplished social justice on my behalf. This reality, like a new birth, liberates me to engage with my neighbours in mercy and humility. In the words of John Bunyan, "Run and work, the law demands. But gives me neither feet nor hands. A better song the Gospel sings, It bids me fly, and gives me wings."

In word, song, and deed, may the Gospel elevate our conversation.

Link to article: http://www.cardus.ca/comment/article/2288/

But the secret truth is, there’s no such thing as an independent artist.  You can’t do this in a vacuum.  An artist needs support. NoiseTrade has given me (and 2500 other bands and artists) a platform to build a career on our own terms.  Since NoiseTrade launched 2 years ago, I have gathered an e-mail list of nearly 20,000 listeners.  By trading music for e-mail I can tour, promote, and connect.   

NoiseTrade is a free service (and an independent company), and hopes to keep it that way.  They are asking for financial support so they can make some major service upgrades. Make a DONATION and get 25 SONGS from artists like Katie Herzig, Matt Wertz, Derek Webb, The Civil Wars, David Mead, Bleu, Thad Cockrell and many more.  Included in this batch of songs is my new, exclusive song “Never Have Tonight Again.” 

Thank YOU for listening.  Thank you Derek, Brannon, Mark, David, and Joe, and Josh at NoiseTrade. Here’s to more people making honest music on their own terms...

Cheers, Sandra

When I was in my last year of college, and post-college I had a whole host of emotional baggage and a break up from my high school boyfriend which launched me into a personal, epistemological crisis.  I’m fairly certain that this experience with a high school boyfriend (that should not have also been a college boyfriend) taught me why elected officials need term limits.  And it also makes me feel better about Rory Gilmore eventually splitting ways with Logan.  But, I digress…

All this to say, at this point someone referred me to go talk to Nita Andrews, who is now known with her husband Al as “Porters Call,” a ministry of counseling and support for artists and their families.  Like my Dad taught me, I resisted and protested.  But I was finally won over by my own curiosity and desperation to find some stable ground. 

Upon walking into our first meeting, I’d considered myself pretty self-aware.  But let me confess, Nita blew the doors off my understanding of myself and the world around me.  Over some months, she gave me a hand that pulled me out of my over-extended adolescence (I was in my early 20’s) and she welcomed me into authentic faith and personhood.   There was no pretense in her counsel, no condescension in her friendship, and she was not shocked in hearing my confessions.  With imagination, candor, and insightfulness I found those meetings to be possibly the safest place I’d ever known.  For the first time, I could be myself.  And that was the beginning of something new.  Weak became honest.  Honest became truth.  And truth became strong. 

We all have both weakness and strength written into the fibers of our being.  We wear a lot of masks.  Jump into a lot of coffins.  We put our paintbrushes down for long naps while we go about our busy lives.  It’s all part of being human in this broken world.  But the more we bury the truth, or ourselves, or our secrets, the more we live in the dark.  Literally, it’s like burying ourselves one inch at a time, in the dirt.  Under the ground.  Where no light or movement or beauty that can get to us.   So grab a shovel, a pick axe or even a toothbrush.  And let somebody help you get free. 

I am thankful to God for Nita and Al Andrews, for the work of Porter’s Call, and for the way that they continue to make themselves available for the artists in our community.  They are hosting an auction this week (beginning Saturday September 11 at 10 AM) to help raise support for their counseling and creative ministry.  I’ve contributed 3 exclusive journals, with handwritten lyrics from “In Feast Or Fallow” to the auction.  I’ll post updates on Twitter and Facebook when the auction is live.  Find out more about the work they do, and how you can help or be helped:  www.porterscall.com

3 exclusive journals available here for auction