Description
Simple Gifts is an acoustic hymn album by the American singer and songwriter Billy Crockett with cellist Dirje Childs, independently released on Blue Rock Artists in April 2022. The album was tracked by Billy Crockett and Nathan Walters at Blue Rock Artist Ranch & Studio in Wimberley, Texas. Mixed by Crockett. Featuring Billy Crockett on acoustic guitar and vocals, as well as footboard and piano, with Dirje Childs providing cello.
What started as a little gift for Billy’s Mom ended up being a gift to us — a window that opens to the beauty and fragility of being human. – Dirje Childs
For a handful of years now, Billy’s mom Jerrie has lived with progressive dementia, slowly becoming less and less oriented. It’s a condition that zaps her ability to remember, think, make decisions, and do everyday things. But, put a baton in her hand, or a hymnal, and she lights up. She sings the hymns. Harmonizes. As Billy says, “she may not know who we are these days, but when we sing together, she knows who she is.”
Through recent years, Dirje and Billy have made a ritual of playing for her and the other residents at her assisted living facility. During the pandemic, though, this became impossible and the long months of isolation took their toll. The once vital orchestra conductor, mom and friend is even less able now to engage.
What was needed, Dirje said, was a recording for Jerrie to hear. So, two musical pals, Dirje and Billy, met in the studio to record simple versions of the songs and hymns that live deep in her experience, and that of so many of us. The result, these recordings, seem to speak of the orientation we long for, a bedrock of grace reflected through the life of Jerrie — servant leader, Mom, musician, friend.
> Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/album/simple-gifts/1622085427)
CD tracklist:
01. Simple Gifts – 2:53
02. Let Us Break Bread Together – 2:41
03. O Love That Will Not Let Me Go – 3:40
04. Spirit of the Living God – 2:10
05. There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy – 3:01
06. There Is a Balm in Gilead – 3:44
07. For the Beauty of the Earth – 2:42
08. Be Still My Soul – 2:49
09. Nearer My God to Thee – 2:48
10. We Gather Together – 2:40
11. Kum Ba Yah – 3:16
12. Selah – 1:20
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