New Gentle Wolves track: "Psalm 101: I Won't Know Evil" available now

The New Compilation

As is tradition, yours truly and The Gentle Wolves have contributed an original track to the new Cardiphonia Psalms compilation. This is our seventh compilation with Bruce Benedict, and everyone in the community. It’s an incredible collection of Psalms set to new music. I love the freshness it can bring to the ancient hymnal of the Hebrews.

The Track

Our assignment was to set Psalm 101 to music. For me, this often involves tweaking and redacting the words by referencing a handful of English translations.

Psalm 101 (CEB) 

Oh, let me sing about faithful love and justice!
    I want to sing my praises to you, Lord!
2 I want to study the way of integrity—
    how long before it gets here?
        I will walk with a heart of integrity
        in my own house.
3 I won’t set my eyes on anything worthless.
    I hate wrongdoing;
    none of that will stick to me.
4 A corrupt heart will be far from me.
    I won’t be familiar with evil.
5 I will destroy anyone
    who secretly tells lies about a neighbor.
I can’t stomach anyone
    who has proud eyes or an arrogant heart.
6 My eyes focus on those
    who are faithful in the land,
    to have them close to me.
The person who walks without blame
    will work for me.
7 But the person who acts deceitfully
    won’t stay in my house.
The person who tells lies
    won’t last for long before me.
8 Every morning I will destroy
    all those who are wicked in the land
        in order to eliminate all evildoers
        from the Lord’s city.

When you read the original text it takes a strange turn. Verses 1-4 goes from talking about avoiding wickedness and wrongdoing, then in verse 5 it takes a turn to talking about evil and wicked people. The Psalmist (presumably David) concludes the Psalm by saying that he’ll kill all of the wicked in his land. This ancient judgement does not sit well with modern sensibilities.

When I sat down to tweak it, rather than try and over-spiritualize the Psalmist, I decided to embrace the darkness. You can hear the transition that happens in the song at the 2:24 mark. Just as the lyrics turn to David’s willingness to kill those he believes God deems wicked, so the key of the song turns minor and dark.

”Every morning I will kill the wikced in the last to keep the city of the Lord nice and clean.”

I decided to come back to the “I won’t know evil” motif immediately after the Psalmist’s grim utterances. To me, the juxtaposition can’t be turned away from.

Enjoy!

Credits:
Richard Kentopp: Vocals and Instruments
Molly Kentopp: Vocals

Mixed and mastered by Richard Kentopp
Mastered by Drew Elliot

The New Gentle Wolves LP "Room for All" is Now Available

It is with great pride that I get to announce the release of the first Gentle Wolves first full-length studio album in over 5 years. Room for All is made of up twelve Gentle Wolves original compositions and retuned hymns. Five years in the making, it almost killed me pulling it all together these last few months of the pandemic.

You can find it on the following streaming services

This album is very special to me because it is a good bookend to my many years as the music pastor at Servant Church, and many of my favorite people were involved in the making of this body of work. I hope that this music can be helpful to the wider church as they discern their way through their musical liturgy.

Room for All can be found on Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music, and anywhere else you stream your music.

Credits:
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Richard Kentopp
Album art by Adrian Landon Brooks

Richard Kentopp: Guitar, Percussion, and Vocals
Mitch Holt: Guitars
Daniel Wheeler: Drums and Vocals
Paul Price: Bass
Diana Rudd: Vocals
Molly Kentopp: Vocals
Kyle Robertson: Piano
B Sterling Archer: Horns
Kevin Gibbs: Sax
Phil Ajjarapu: Pedal Steel

Choir:
Kelly Foster (arranger & conductor)
Kelly Shoenfelt
Jarell Wilson
Weber Schulz
Abby Herrera
Elysia Van Deusen
Chris Van Deusen

"Room for All" Delayed

Richard here, writing to let you know that, obviously, the Gentle Wolves’ CD release party at Hole in the Wall in Austin, TX has been indefinitely postponed.

I’m also writing to let you know that the record, due to be released this Friday, has also been delayed. No release date is set, but it’s almost complete. It should be available on all of the digital outlets by June.
Physical copies might not be available right away, but we’ll worry about that later.

Please stay safe, healthy, and whole until we get to celebrate together in person.

Richard

4/28/20

"Room for All" Release Set, New Gentle Wolves Track "Far Off We See A Goal"

We are living in strange times. As the world teeters on the edge of illness and billions of people huddle in their homes to avoid microscopic organisms, The Gentle Wolves, a church-band without a church, sit poised to release an album of church music. Is this what the world needs right now… another collection of church songs?

Anyone who knows me knows that the way I process things is through music. When times are hard I put my headphones in and blare Mogwai or Mineral. When I feel frustrated, I impose order on my world through kicks and snares, clanging guitars, and out-of-tune crooning. Most importantly, when my friends are hurting I show up with songs to sing.

Room For All Release Date and Release Party

Room for All, the first studio release for The Gentle Wolves in over five years, will be available on all digital platforms on Friday 5/1. Community health permitting, we will be celebrating with a release party/show at the legendary Hole in the Wall in Austin, TX on Friday 4/25. Just as the Church Fathers (and Mothers) adorn the walls of many-a-sanctuary, so the saints of Austin’s rich music pantheon have influenced our renditions. Because of this, it seems fitting that our churchless church band would celebrate the release of our record in a place with such a rich history of its own.

I’m incredibly proud of Room for All. It’s a full-length album featuring 12 original retuned hymns. Taking old hymns and poems and setting them to new music was my favorite part of being a music pastor. I hope this collection of half-original songs will be sung in many-a worships and will bring hope to earbuds, boomboxes, and road trips.

Far Off We See A Goal

It is perhaps fitting that Far Off We See A Goal (click play on the album cover above) is coming out on a Friday the 13th like today. It’s frenetic, pre-apolayptic tones juxtapose nicely against the faithful-uncertainty of Robert Robert’s (!?!) lyrics from the eighteenth century. Dan Wheeler’s drumming on this track is incredibly tight, but feels like it could all fall apart at any moment… which could maybe be said for our faith or our civilization. I almost find the timeless anxiety comforting.

The chord chart for this song can be found here.

Announcing "Room for All" from The Gentle Wolves

I’m so happy to finally announce Room for All, the first full-length studio album by the Gentle Wolves in five years.

Room for All is an all-new collection of previously unreleased retuned hymns for the modern liturgical church.

While there isn’t a definite release date yet, it will be available in early 2020. Until then, look for the first track to be release this week in anticipation of Advent.

The Long Way to Make A Record

This record has been a long time coming. Dan and Paul recorded the bass and drum tracks in the summer of 2015. Over the next few years, I found time here and there to keep the project moving forward, collecting parts from a couple dozen people.

It wasn’t until I left Servant Church in March of this year that I had time to really wrap this record up. Looking back, it’s daunting in scope, featuring a wide cast of Wolves from my time at Servant Church and Mosaic.

Art by Adrian Landon Brooks

The Songs

To me, and most at Servant Church, these songs will be old. To most everyone else, however, I hope this will be a fresh take on centuries-old content.

The Players

Dan Wheeler: Drums and Vocals
Paul Price: Bass
Mitch Holt: Guitar
Kyle Robertson: Piano
Diana Rudd: Vocals
Molly Kentopp: Vocals
Kevin Gibbs: Sax
B Sterling Archer: Horns
Richard Kentopp: Guitar, Vocals, Keys
Wolf Choir: Jarell Wilson, Kelly Foster, Chris Van Deusen, Elysia Van Deusen, Greg Smith, Abby Herrera, Kelly Shoenfelt, Weber Schulz

My 40th Birthday Party is Also a Dream Bill

Me and my dream brother Chase Roden’s 40th birthday is also one of the dreamiest shows I’ve ever put together/been part of. Saturday night, my band Scenery will be sharing the bill with two of my favorite songwriters ever.

Chris Simpson

The first time I met Chris Simpson I was 19. To me, he was an old man approaching his mid-twenties. He had just recently started The Gloria Record whose self-fitled EP was on a perpetual loop in my cd player.

I was compelled to get to know Chris, because not only did I love TGR, but his recently deceased band, Mineral, had quickly vaulted themselves to the most hallowed of status in my life. The controlled intensity of the music, combined with Chris’ stark vocals resonated (and resonate) with every cell in my being. Their album End Serenading is and always will be one of my five desert island discs.

This part of my musical life came to a head in October 2001 when my band at the time, Mr. Body, covered Mineral at one of Emo’s celebrated Hoot Nights. After covering a full set of their music, Chris came onstage and performed the epic track Parking Lot for an adoring crowd of Mineral fans.

Over the past two decades, Chris and I have become friends and collaborators. Chris is one of the gentlest and sweetest souls in the grand state of Texas. His subsequent projects (Zookeeper, Mountain Time) have found him maturing in both sound and word.

All in all, I’m honored to have him play my celebration.

The Party

Richard and Chase’s 40th birthday celebration will be on Saturday 11/16 at 4608 Tanney St. Austin, TX at 7pm.
Chris Simpson - 8:00pm
Stanley Knives - 9:00pm
Scenery - 10:00pm

The show is FREE and all ages. You can find the FB event here. We will be raising money for RAICES and Casa Marianella.

Redding Hunter
(aka Stanley Knives)

The first time I saw Red Hunter play was as Peter and the Wolf at the old OK Mountain in East Austin during SXSW 2006 or 2007. After the set I asked him “hey man great set, can I buy a copy of your cd.” Without looking at me he returned “I don’t have any, I’m sure a record store has some.” He walked off.

Red has made some incredible lo-fi music over the years under a variety of different names (Peter and the Wolf, Gender Infinity, Traffique, etc etc). I remember the moment that I fell in love with his song craft. I wasn’t four tracks into his masterpiece album Lightness when I realized his talent. The back to back tracks of Safe Travels and Gray Overcoat may be my favorite consecutive tracks in all of music history.

In the years since, Red and I have become good friends and collaborators. Red is, without a doubt, the most creative person I’ve ever known. Whether it’s making music, writing novels, making movies or scoring them, or running DIY music venues… everything Red touches is uniquely his.

I’m so excited that Redding Hunter will be coming in from Detroit and will perform under the name of Stanley Knives at my birthday celebration.

New Gentle Wolves Track "I Am Laid Out In the Dust" Now Available

The Gentle Wolves have contributed yet another musical setting for yet another Cardiphonia Psalm compilation. This time we tackled the longest psalm, broken into several separate songs. It’s a really cool project. I love the compilations because they force me/us to be creative on a regular basis, while continuing to build out our backlog of liturgical music.

New Gentle Wolves Track "Psalm 133" Now Available

The Gentle Wolves are very excited to finally share our new musical setting of Psalm 133 that we contributed to an epic new Cardiphonia/Bellweather Arts compilation. What’s even more beautiful than this collection of music is the accompanying devotional book that can be purchased (either digitally or physically). Check it out!

New Gentle Wolves Track "Do Not Be Afraid"

When we set my final date back in the fall I knew what my last liturgy would be called: Do Not Be Afraid. We didn’t, however, know how turbulent things would be within our community and in our denomination. Though my departure is completely unrelated to both of these circumstances, it seems that God is already planning the next phase in the life of Servant Church, and his Church worldwide. It can be a time for fear or a time for hope.

Because of all of this, in collaboration with long time Wolves Ross Gilfillan, Paul Price, and Molly Kentopp, I wrote and recorded this song for the people of Servant Church. I hope it can offer encouragement to those who mourn, and peace those who face an uncertain future.

Friends, look to the Lord together and do not be afraid!

Here is the chord chart.

An Open Letter to the People of Servant Church: An Announcement

Dear sisters and brothers of Servant Church,
I don’t think anyone has been to more Servant Church worship gatherings than I have. I’ve lead music at over 400 of them. Most Sundays I’m the first person there. I unlock the doors and turn on the lights. Often I will stop in the middle of the sanctuary and look around, thinking of all of the possible futures that could unfold when you arrive.

Over the next couple of hours, I go about my business as as a building becomes a Church. I’ve often been too busy or self-absorbed to notice the magic that God is working around me; but in retrospect, it’s been one of the great honors of my life to serve and sing alongside you each week.

In 2014, Mosaic, a sister church of ours, folded into Servant Church. Because I was on staff at both, my full-time pastoral job became half-time. I was forced to look for other work, and in 2015 I stumbled into the software industry. I quickly found my niche. In that niche, many of my gifts and talents are, to this day, being put to use building software and websites that feed the hungry and clothe the poor.

Working a highly-demanding full-time job, combined with the 10-15 hours that I typically give Servant Church each week, has left me spread thin. Too thin.

After much deliberation, prayer, and conversation, it’s become clear that it’s time for a new season of my life.
It’s time for a season where I only have one job.
It’s time for a season where I don’t leave my wife alone with two young children for most of the day every Sunday.
It’s time for the Kentopps to load up into the car and drive to church together.
It’s time for my incredibly patient wife to have her husband by her side when she walks into worship.
It’s time for my boys to celebrate the Eucharist with their dad.
In short, it’s time for my time at Servant Church to come to an end.

My last Sunday to lead music at Servant Church will be in early 2019, probably around the end of February. Between now and then we have work to do! We must wait together through Advent, and celebrate that God came near to us at Christmas. After the New Year we will probably have some special times set aside to drink, reminisce, and sing together. I will cry and cry, but if I’m I’m being honest, I will be very relieved in the end.

As for what comes next for you, my sisters and brothers of Servant Church: I don’t know. I’m not worried. I trust Kelly. I am so thankful that God gave her to us last year. I trust that, under her leadership, you will hear the Shepherd's voice no matter who sings into the microphone.

As for what comes next for the Kentopps: we don’t know. We probably won’t be around Servant Church on Sundays anymore. However, we certainly hope that we will continue to see you in the backyards, playgrounds, music venues, bars, and eateries that make up this fine city of ours.

Finally, it’s important to me that you know that I love the work that I do at Servant Church. I truly believe that making theologically important, liturgical music is my life’s calling. I am not done. You can plan on hearing more recordings from The Gentle Wolves over the next couple of years. Maybe someday I’ll be doing it regularly on Sunday mornings again, but there are no plans for that in the foreseeable future.

Friends of Servant Church, I love you. I am thankful for our remaining time together and will cherish each song we lift.

Your brother,
Richard

New Music: Gentle Wolves' Version of "Revolution Choir" Available Now

Alex Dupree had long been a fixture of the Austin music world before he relocated to California a few years ago. He was incredibly influential on the early music of Mosaic, one of the churches I helped lead from 2008-2014. Seth Woods hatched the idea to do a tribute to Alex's songs and his broad body of work. 

The Gentle Wolves of Servant Church, like Mosaic before it, has long valued his song The Revolution Choir, singing it regularly in worship. It's an incredibly powerful poem, of which Alex never released a proper recording. For the compilation, No Sense in Stopping Here: A Tribute to the Songs of Alex Dupree, The Gentle Wolves have contributed a live version of the song. 

I was also able to help record, produce, and mix the Teen Idyls brutal version of Mind/Maker.

New Music: Scenery's "Lady Bird" Cassette Now Available!

I'm very proud to present Scenery's Lady Bird Cassette. It's our first release since 2017's full length Two Stares. While the latter was a sweat-filled summer of partying, love, and loss, Lady Bird is a quieter, more intimate night on the lake. 

There's a lot I could say about it, so I'll just say it in bullet form:

• The album cover of this release is very special to me. The photo was taken by my grand-uncle Roland Chatham in 1947. The subject was his girlfriend, my beloved Aunt Catherine, whom we lost in 2016. She was truly a Lady Bird, as she flew airplanes in WWII in an elite women's air group. I love how my talented friend, Bryan Butler, took the photo and brought it together perfectly.
• The title track, Lady Bird, is a story about falling in and out of love in Austin in the late 90s and early 2000s. Back then there used to be impromptu concerts in the middle of the Lamar Street pedestrian bridge. That's what I'm referring to in the chorus when I sing "Meet me on the bridge over Lady Bird and I'll sing you my song." It has since been pointed out to me that Austin's Town Lake wasn't renamed "Lady Bird Lake" until 2007. I think that really just speaks to how our memories and nostalgia can be so wildly approximate, with people, places, and times conflated into a single picture; a single feeling. That's what we tried to do with this song.
• The B-side, Queen of the Night, is also very special to me. When my good friend Elizabeth Lodowski passed away in 2016 her boyfriend gave one of the most moving eulogies I've ever heard. She wrestled with cancer for several years, but they only met a couple of years before she died. This is my best attempt of catching that moment and putting it into a song.
• This is the first album I've put out of my own music that I didn't play a large role in mixing since the passing of my best friend and partner in music, Travis Bannerman. Major props to John Michael Landon at Estuary Studios for mixing the two featured tracks with such skill and care. 
• This was also the first time I've employed anyone for mastering except for Travis or the ever-so-talented Tim Gerron. Big shout out to Kevin Butler at Test Tube Audio for last-second mastering that was perfectly crisp and clean. 

You can listen below or on Spotify and you can purchase a physical cassette on our bandcamp site. 

[Listen] Richard Shares about his high-school teacher on All Saints Sunday

On Sunday October 29th, 2017 Servant Church celebrated All Saints Sunday a week early. I was asked to share about a saint from my past. I was honored to talk about my high school literature teacher Carl Henry.

New Music: The Gentle Wolves' live album "Waiting" now available!

With the anticipatory season of Advent being imminent, I'm proud to announce Waiting, the second live album from the Gentle Wolves. It's a collection of seven songs recorded at Servant Church's worship back on July 30th, 2017. It is now available digitally on the Gentle Wolves' website, and through their bandcamp page.

Relying heavily on Tom Waits, the patron saint of reverent agnosticism, we were able to extract a meaningful thread that week which perfectly fits the pregnant pause that is Advent. I hope that this can be both meaningful and useful for you as we prepare for Christmas.

Tracklisting:
1) We Are Waiting Blessed Savior (an RK retune)
2) Way Down in the Hole (Tom Waits)/Wade in the Water (traditional)
3) Jesus Gunna Be Here (Tom Waits)
4) When Morning Dawns (an RK retune)
5) Song is So Old (Seth Woods)
6) My Shepherd Is (an RK retune)

Lineup:
Guitar/Vocals: Richard Kentop
Vocals: Katy Evans
Guitar: David McClendon
Drums: Andy Beaudoin
Piano: Redding Hunter
Bass: Mark Epstein

The Gentle Wolves say goodbye to Eric Vogt - Free Show 6/22

It will be difficult to say goodbye to Eric Vogt, who was the founding pastor of Servant Church. But, being a United Methodist community, Eric and Valerie have been moved to a church in San Antonio at the end of June. 

Before they go we wanted to do something special... especially for Eric, who has (both figuratively and perhaps even literally) given everything he has to birth the community we now call Servant Church. So we'll be throwing him a rager to say goodbye.

In our first bar gig in almost two years, The Gentle Wolves be playing some originals, some covers, and we'll be toasting Mr. Vogt's for all that he's done for us. Our friends/brothers in Good Field will be closing out the night.

Click on the brutal flier (made by the one, the only Josh Gamma) the RSVP to the Facebook Event.

New Music: "Into the Woods My Master Went" Compilation Out Today! FREE!

Last summer my good friend Seth Woods sent me this picture with a text saying: 
"Dude. I'm doing some childcare for my friend's Mennonite congregation today, but they are having their retreat at a baptist camp. I am going through a hymnal. Most baptist hymns annoy me, mostly because they have no mystery or subtlety. But i came across this short, weird hymn called "into the woods my master went. It's awesome and creepy."

I quickly responded: "Weird. What does this song even mean? Let's each retune this thing and put it out in time for Holy Week... because it's talking about Gethsemane and Golgotha right?"

The retune project grew as we invited our talented friends Chris Simpson (Mineral, The Gloria Record, Mountain Time), Alex Dupree (Idyl), Jana Horn (Reservations, Knife in the Water), and Bruce Benedict (Cardiphonia, Hope College) to submit versions as well. 

It is now available, just in time for Holy Week. 
I'm so proud with how it turned out.
Click the album cover to listen, and you can download it for free from the bandcamp page.

New Music: The Gentle Wolves "Lament" Live Album Out Now

The Gentle Wolves are proud to announce the release of their first live album. These recordings come from Servant Church's lament worship gathering on 1/29/17. The purpose of the liturgy was to confess and mourn the way we, the Church, have failed when it comes to dealing with our people's sexuality and gender. 

You can download this album on the Gentle Wolves bandcamp site.  You can get it for free by going to the Gentle Wolves' site, clicking on "Buy Now," and then entering $0. With a download of the album you also get chord charts for all of the enclosed music.

This powerful set includes some of The Gentle Wolves' most emotive music, including adaptations of songs by Mahalia Jackson, A Silver Mount Zion, Mineral, The Whiskey Priest and Chris Simpson. We try to ensure that the Gentle Wolves aren't a 'cover band' by thoroughly reworking the material to fit God's purposes in our context. 
The setlist looks like this:

1) O God We Waited So Long (original)
2) Troubles of the World (Mahalia Jackson)
3) When the World is Sick (A Silver Mount Zion)
4) Holy Ghost With Light Divine (Seth Woods)
5) Please Don't Make Us Sing This Song (Lori Chaffer)
6) Been in this War for Too Long (Chris Simpson)
7) Blessed Lord in You is Refuge (original)
8) Modern Living (Chris Simpson)
9) The Last Word is Rejoice (Mineral)

If you ever wonder where some of the best indie-rock musicians in Austin are spending their Sunday mornings, the ones who aren't sleeping in are at Servant Church.

Guitar and Vocals: Richard Kentopp (Scenery)
Vocals: Diana Rudd
Guitar: Mitch Holt (Ex: The Rocketboys)
Guitar: Ben Lance (Booher, Broken Gold)
Bass: Paul Price (Good Field) 
Drums: Andy Beaudoin (Nori, The Eastern Sea)
Piano: Kyle Robertson (Good Field)
Horns: Jonathan Hoyle

Album Art: Trina Bolfing
Recording, Mixing, and Mastering: Richard Kentopp

Scenery's TWO STARES now available everywhere!

Scenery's first full-length album, Two Stares, is now available everywhere!
You can order a physical CD here for just $10, or check out your favorite digital music service below.

Spotify

Bandcamp

iTunes

Google Play

Smoke & Mirrors - KUTX Austin's Song of the Day

My band Scenery's latest single, Smoke & Mirrors, was KUTX's song of the day on Friday 12/2/16!

CD RELEASE SHOW: Scenery's Two Stares FREE release show & party 12/3/16

My friends and I in Scenery are so excited to celebrate the release of our fist full-length album Two Stares on Jan 6th. We'll be partying this Saturday night 12/3 at Cheer Up Charlie's with our good friends in Good Field, Kady Rain, and Ronnie Heart performing. THIS SHOW IS FREE!

Even though Two Stares doesn't come out until January, we'll have our cd for sale for only $10. 
We can't wait to see you there!

Here is a link to the event.
Here's the schedule:
9pm Good Field
10pm ronnie heart (Dallas)
11pm Scenery (LP release)
12am Kady Rain
1am The Bristol Hills (Shreveport, LA)