Everhart is the music of Katie Everett, a singer and songwriter based in Philadelphia. Katie is also part of the community of Liberti Fairmount.
I had the opportunity to talk with Katie about her creative process for Everhart’s latest record, Holy Week, a 7-song musical and lyrical reflection on Christ’s last week on Earth. The record released last week. Specifically, I was excited to hear about how her faith as a Christian integrates with her work as a musician, and how churches can better relate to their artists.
Creative Process
Katie wrote the music for Holy Week as a creative exercise 5 years ago. She composed the songs throughout an actual holy week, starting on Palm Sunday, and focused on a different tune each day leading up to Easter. The limitation of writing one song per day – no slower, no faster – brought her a sense of freedom from herself and her own judgments, getting out of the way of her work and allowing the work to flow more freely.
Christianity and the arts haven’t exactly been the best of bedfellows in recent decades. But Katie’s somewhat an exception. Her dad is a pastor with a background in art, so Katie grew up without the the resistance to her artistic work and creative expression that many Christians face. As a result, she has always felt emboldened to “do” when it comes to her music.
Although a sacred record was a new type of project for her, Katie sees all music as having an integrity of its own, and brought to bear her musical skills upon Holy Week as she would have on any other of her records. She values her musical skill as a gift and loves to make good music. She enjoys arranging parts, playing various instruments, and loves to sing. Lyrically, she takes aim at truth, beauty and fun, drawing upon experiences with people and art, and attempting to capture a truth about it.
Faith and Making Music
During that original week of composition for Holy Week, Katie’s faith ended up shaping the writing process in unexpected ways. Each day a new song came quickly and easily, feeling very much like a gift to her. She read the Gospel of Matthew to meditate on what it would have been like to be there for each of the days she was writing about, walking with Jesus during his last week. The writing process felt very much like a relationship.
“While walking with Christ through this week, I see firsthand that God is not distant or unfeeling. He has plummeted the depths of human suffering.”
Katie sees the opportunity for artists who are Christian to incorporate their faith into their craft. For example, the history of redemption can be seen by the artist as a story that unfolds, much like a play with various acts. Act 1 tells the story of Creation, act 2: Rebellion, act 3: Redemption, and act 4: Consummation. Artists who are Christian are free to tell the story of any of those acts in their artwork, not just the story from act 3.
Katie approaches her music with an interesting twist on this approach. She begins with the conviction that the Redemption of act 3 (and especially the resurrection) informs the story of all other acts: “ As Christians, we have access to depth. We can go dark (we have good Friday), but we also have Easter and can bring incredible light. We have so much that we can uncover. I don’t fear territory of any kind.”
Churches and Artists Relating
Katie and I spent some time talking about the way churches and their artists relate. She recalled hearing Makato Fujimura describe (with humility and without resentment) his feelings about being misunderstood as an artist everytime he walks through the doors of his church. That refers to a broad range of dynamics, but among them we spoke about how churches can better to relate to their artists when their artists are diving deep into a project and not coming up for air.
As a member of Liberti Fairmount, Katie noticed a similar tension two summers ago. As she worked on a 5-song EP, it was possible to go three to four months without spending quality time with her community. She still craved people time and wanted to be able to call upon a couple close friends in the community whenever she surfaced. However, there was a difference between her expectation of diving deeply into her work as an artist while occasionally coming up for air, and the expectation from the church community to be known and cared for primarily through regular connection with a group like a Home Meeting.
Katie took those dynamics into consideration when she began to work on Holy Week. She planned a longer stretch of time to complete the record so that she wouldn’t be gone all at one time. She also made sure that her friends were prepared for her to call upon and spend weekend nights with whenever she did surface for air.
She was also able to include her friends in the creative process, which created a lot more ownership and opportunities to connect to what she was doing as an artist. Harrisburg-based composer and musician Matt Monticchio, whom Katie has known since she was 12, was instrumental to the project. She invited friends to help her to plan and host listening parties for the record’s release. She was also intentional about inviting other musicians in the community to play on the record.
On the linocuts for Holy Week, Katie writes, “While walking with Christ through this week, I see firsthand that God is not distant or unfeeling. He has plummeted the depths of human suffering. My sin, putting me at odds with God, was nailed into his bloodied flesh, and dealt with forever. I am free to be myself because I am identified by nothing other than his Love. His wounds give me a place to belong.”
Original linocut pieces by Ned Bustard
As I listen to the record, I have the same sense. His wounds give me a place to belong. Thanks Katie, and Everhart! Your record is all of the gift that you intended it to be, and much more.
Check out Everhart and Holy Week by clicking here.