Today I travel to Vermont to begin recording the new album “A Thousand Years,” inspired by Psalm 90:4. It’s hard to believe this will be my 7th recording, and my 4th with Windham Hill Records Founder Will Ackerman producing. There is nothing like his Imaginary Road Studio. It will be a much needed refuge over the next 10 days, as I create and record new music. I discovered in my thesaurus that another word for refuge is sanctuary. What a beautiful word picture for the simplicity, silence, solitude and surrender that is so vital for peace and rest in this hurried and noisy world.

Horatio Spafford wrote the hymn “It Is Well With My Soul” in 1873 following the news that his four daughters had died in a shipwreck. His wife Anna survived and sent him a telegram that said, “Saved alone.” Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died. “When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.” I have been working on a new piece of music that combines Mozart’s “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” theme with this hymn to symbolize the child-like faith and trust God wants us to have in life. Horatio Spafford’s story is a great example of this.

Liner notes from The Voice CD . . . It seems like we each have a favorite physical place that quiets our spirit the most . . . the mountains . . . the beach . . . a farm . . . an open field . . . a walk in the woods . . . a special room. I hope this piece helps you close your eyes and imagine that you are in this place so close to your heart. “He said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’ So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.” (Mark 6:31-32)