: CHRIST : COMMUNITY Since then we have dealt with a rash of strange illnesses like shingles, gout and blown out backs (gosh, we sound like a nursing home band). Since then, finances have threatened to steal our joy, we said good-bye to our drummer of five years, wives have gotten pregnant, babies have grown-up, mistakes have been made, parents have gotten sick and we started off the spring tour with a fire on our rented RV. We lost almost everything we owned. Since we started this album, we have experienced so many trials and new beginnings that we hardly feel like the same people. In the midst of writing this album… life happened. The honeybee stopped and dawdled at the most curious, often painful, little flowers. And while the idea of God’s color is still true, we became personally aware of a much bigger theme in scripture over the past two years: the redemption of all things. God’s ultimate story of taking what is broken and less than holy and His process of restoring it. We were reminded that really, our story is just a tiny part of God’s story. His story is about making all things new. He never leaves His people. He doesn’t give up, turn around, or quit. He calls people to remember how He has been faithful in the past; to live each day as an act of worship; and to long for the day when Jesus will restore all that has been broken in this world. God promises to be the author and finisher of our faith. That is the story of scripture. A God who is making all things new. And that is where this album truly began… realizing we are a part of God’s story of redemption. When Addison Road began making plans for their latest album, they had no idea that God would bring about a birth, a loss, a fire and more of… life. Now, lead vocalist, Jenny Chisolm, shares her heart about the stories God has helped them rewrite. Writing an album is like following a honey bee. At least I think that is how Annie Dillard would see it. In her book, The Writing Life, Dillard describes the writing process as following a honey bee who seems to stop and dawdle in the strangest places, and then with almost no warning, takes off with so much intensity that you can’t quite follow it. That’s what writing our new album, Stories, sort of felt like. Almost two years ago, we sat down and began praying through this project. Before we played any notes on a guitar or scribbled out any lyrics, we wanted to have a clear direction. What do we want our music to say? We decided, with intensity, that it should be about God’s color. The beauty of hope and the different colors God brings out of people. We would call the album “Color.” But that was almost two years ago. Since then, my husband and I have had a baby girl, spent nine foggy months begging God for mercy during sleepless nights and now we have a strong-willed (beautiful-in-every-way) one-year-old. Since then we have had our van, trailer, instruments, gear and merchandise stolen twice. The police recovered that van and we promptly had a head-on collision. Now we are van-less. Storytelling 10 CCM