All Sons & Daughters – A History Of Poets And Saints

image: Robby Klein

Coming Home
When the adventures were over and the crew returned to the States, George got to work on his biography and travel memoir, while Jordan and Leonard faced a very different task…taking so many moments and memories and the history they studied, and condensing them into beautiful, meaningful songs. And a project as ambitious as Poets And Saints called for a unique approach. “We knew what we were writing about, but we were trying to figure out how to make it into an album,” explains David, “We have a studio, so we would go in every day from nine to five and literally just start making music.”

“We wanted it to sound like ultimate creativity and ultimate freedom,” adds Leslie. And this creativity is evident all over the record. Though it still takes the gentle, folksy approach All Sons & Daughters is known for, Poets And Saints isn’t afraid to experiment a little bit. “Heaven Meets Earth,” inspired by C. S. Lewis, opens with an ambient, mysterious atmosphere. “My Roving Heart” marries a lesser-known John Newton lyric with a modern pub vibe, partly to pay homage to Newton’s use of familiar pub tunes, and mostly to commemorate the fun of their first day in Olney. And, as the songs took shape in the studio, some pieces of Europe literally made their way into the record, via sounds Leonard recorded while abroad.

“In William Cowper’s house there were these brushes,” says Jordan, “so [David] started recording the sound of these brushes against the table, and the lock on the door locking…” Even the waves of Normandy Beach and a lighter found on the ground make their way into the record.

Past Meets Present
Of course, it’s impossible to pick one greatest moment from such an adventure, but Jordan does recall a discovery that sums up the spirit of the project. Their tour of London introduced them to the work of fantasy author and hymn writer George MacDonald, someone who, though unsuccessful in his lifetime, has an influence reaching into the work of L’Engle and Lewis, and still affecting the landscape of faith and fantasy fiction today.

That’s why, while sitting under a tree in Hyde Park, Jordan had a sort of epiphany about the lineage they were chasing: “George MacDonald might be the reason we’re here! Because his work influenced Madeleine L’Engle, who we read, and that’s where the whole idea started.” And that’s the spirit of Poets And Saints: tracing these unlikely, ordinary people through history, across London, Geneva, Paris, and Rome, all the way to a couple of songwriters in Nashville.

For Jordan, this sort of human connection of past and present is just one more testament of God’s mysterious and beautiful power. “God is transcendent…He takes something that is ancient and plants it in the present to wake us up.”