This title is one big casserole of song titles. This track includes:
Just a Closer Walk with Thee
Mansion over the Hilltop
Dwelling in Beulah Land
When the Roll is Called Up Yonder
They all have a clear theme of Heaven, but that wasn't the motivating factor for putting them together.
On my first album, there is a track with two songs that were my grandfather's favorite. He liked many songs, but I knew he would sing or hum along if I played either one of those, and even when he forgot the names of the songs, I knew those were the two songs he wanted to hear. He passed in 2013, the same year I published my first album.
Fast forward a little and it crossed my mind to ask my grandmother what her favorite song was, to which she replied "Just a Closer Walk with Thee."
Now, this song is undoubtedly a good song, however it was one of her favorites because in senior ballroom dancing circles, this is actually a song that bands would play for people to dance to. And when the band would start to play it, my grandfather would remind my grandmother that it was hymn time - and time to dance.
Other favorite hymns of my grandmother's were almost any that were sung in Canada, where my grandfather's family was from. On a few summer vacations, I too would visit the homestead in Canada where I learned "Green, Green Grass of Home" and that "playing the spoons" was a real thing. Some of the other songs in this medley were other songs sung by the old cousins in Canada, on the slightly out of tune piano in the hallway off the kitchen.
10 years after my grandfather passed in 2013, my grandmother passed in 2023.
10 years after I published my first album in 2013, I published my second album in 2023.
10 years after I shared my grandfather's favorite songs, I shared my grandmother's favorites.
Sometimes seasons aren't that definitive, but in this case, there is something comforting in the 10 year difference.
Comments