Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

suspended in her jar

Home
Catholic
Review of The Wineskins: Shut Me Up Sundance. Songs for Now and Then

Review of The Wineskins: Shut Me Up Sundance. Songs for Now and Then

Last updated on: July 21, 2018 at 11:59 pm by Rebecca Bratten Weiss

Review of The Wineskins: Shut Me Up Sundance. Songs for Now and Then 2018-07-21T23:59:34-04:00 Rebecca Bratten Weiss

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

W. Keith Moore is a friend of mine on Facebook. I don’t remember how we connected, but I do remember coming to appreciate his posts about training horses, working in gardens, and writing poems – all things I love to do, also. So it’s no surprise to me that the band he plays in, The Wineskins, also makes some great music I can appreciate.

The Wineskins’ album, Shut Me Up Sundance, sounds like summer time music to me. Maybe that’s because they’re down in Oxford, Mississippi that some theme evocative of the long slow mellow days of summer runs through their songs, even songs that mention snow, and rain, and November. Or maybe it’s because something in the unhurried tempo summons one back to the memory of a time when things were less rushed and hectic. For me, this means the 1970s, but it could be any remembered childhood with the sun in the grass.

Their song lyrics are more for the middle or later years, though – dealing with depression, the longing for home, feelings of unworthiness.

God’s not what we think,

No, she’s a mystery,

He is the strongest drink

In all of history.

Beneath the normal sky

Real love goes floating by

Good people only lie

When they have to.

That line there – good people only lie when they have to – is one of those rueful recognitions of middle age, or whenever it is that one learns that being a good person doesn’t always mean following the rules one is given. And as I get a sense for the Southern ethos in this music, this theme resonates, since “being good” in so many times and places has specifically meant breaking the rules.

Don’t think God’s at home is another line, in the song “Ouija,” that reminds me of that feeling of being lost and homeless. Other songs on the album touch on violence, the life of the worker, suicide, preachers preaching brimstone. You get a sense of the same kind of religious existentialism of red clay and back roads, that one finds in the great Southern writers. And it’s not without beauty or hope, either, even if it’s the kind of hope that finds grace to face forward through the magic of looking backward:

She loved horses and rain. Walking barefoot through the sunflower field. She called me her friend.

I was in love, what else could I feel…

Another reviewer wrote about this song that it reminded her of her youth in the 1960s. It reminded me of the 1980s, when I lived surrounded by horses, but maybe anyone could listen to it and be reminded of that elusive “back then.”

And then, this line:

…A horse will never lie to you.

This is a truth any decent trainer knows. And so in the quiet melody and the hint of bittersweet, in the questioning of God, teachers, and preachers, it’s nice to know that there are these currents of truth running through creation.

My immediate impulse after listening to Shut Me Up Sundance was to go ride my horse, seek a little truth for the day, in the midst of these crazed and uncertain times when people daily are proven to fail us.

If music takes you places, I’d say that out to a horse, or a field of sunflowers, or simply to a memory of love, is as good a place as any to be taken.

So, check them out.

publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=30918&picture=sunflower

Previous Post

July 17, 2018

In Our Outrage Over Trump and Putin, Don't Forget Immigrant Families

Next Post

July 23, 2018 Of Blackberries, Summer, and the Frailty of Time

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion anti-semitism art Atwood Betrothed church clergy abuse coronavirus culture economics education environmentalism ethics faith family feminism gardening gun violence immigration Judaism literature MaddAddam New Pro Life Movement news pandemic personalism poem politics politics blue Pope Francis racism religion salvation sexuality social justice spirituality Station eleven Stephen King The Stand Trump Uncategorized war World Health Organization

Select a Month March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

To where did Jesus' family flee from Bethlehem?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Greece Samaria Egypt Nazareth

Support this
Column