The band sought to convey the full emotion without sounding too heavy. Spafford composed the words as he crossed the sea to be with his grieving wife: "When sorrows like sea billows roll / What ever my lot you have taught me to say / It is well, it is well with my soul." The most difficult interpretation was "It Is Well With My Soul," written in 1873 by Chicago lawyer Horatio Spafford after his four daughters died in a boat collision on the Atlantic. "Drunk people didn't want to create songs that were too complicated, so the meter and rhyme were pretty much there," Haseltine explained. Yet in some ways the original pieces were remarkably complete. They also dropped some of the "thys" and "thous" and restyled some phrases. They created their own arrangements with bridges and harmonies to make them sound contemporary. The band paid little attention to the original melodies, some of which were borrowed from old drinking songs. In "Hiding Place," for example, Haseltine sings, "How unstable is my heart / Sometimes I take the tempter's part / And slight the tokens of thy grace / And seem to want no hiding place." "Hymns are the story of people trying to find their way through anger, doubt, frustration, pain." "Three hundred years ago people were wrestling with the same issues as today," said frontman Dan Haseltine.
The band looked for songs that fit their own experiences and beliefs, and they found some common themes. Others are obscure pieces pulled from old hymnals. Some, like "I'll Fly Away" and "They'll Know We are Christians By Our Love," are standards, though you have to listen closely to recognize them in this context. Released last month, "Redemption Songs" is a collection of 13 hymns and spirituals the Christian group set to modern music. The pop/rock band Jars of Clay reached back a ways for inspiration on their new album "Redemption Songs."
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