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

New Gentle Wolves Track: "Pentecost Song" available today, Room for All album release set

Pentecost Song

This new song, from the forthcoming Gentle Wolves album Room for All, was written when I was working at Servant Church and Mosaic Austin back in 2013. Every year after that we played this song on Pentecost Sunday (this Sunday). I love how this song is just a storytelling of the Pentecost account in Acts. It’s an ancient Latin account too, dating back to the 4th century, translated to English in the early 20th century. I then adapted it to fit our modern day linguistic expectations.

I love how this recording came together. The first half is fairly sparse instrumentally, but the layers rise with a horn ensemble (B Sterling Archer) and the choir (arranged by Kelly Wayne Foster). By the end, it provides what ends up being one of the emotional climaxes of the entire record.

Here is the chord chart if you would like to sing this simple song in your worship gathering.

Room for All Album Release Date

The first studio-recording of all-new retuned and original liturgical music, Room for All, will be released on Friday June 26th to all of the digital platforms (Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp, etc).

We will be celebrating by leading music at Violet Crown City Church’s worship gathering on Sunday 6/28 at 10am. You can tune in on their facebook page.

We can’t wait to finally share this album with everyone!

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

New Music: The Gentle Wolves "Waiting" out Friday 11/10/17

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 will be 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