Between the Lions

Our heroes discuss the genesis of one of our most joyful of all My Soul Among Lion songs. 

In which we discuss one of MSAL's most singable and congregational songs, and also one of the first to feature the inimitable Corrie Van Dyke. 

In which our heroes discuss O Savior, Come (Psalm 14). 

In the scriptures, Psalm 13 is very similar to Psalm 6. How do you handle that when you come to adapt it? Here's the story of how My Soul Among Lions did it. 

Is this intuitively a bluegrass psalm? What goes into an adaptation? Listen to the story of My Soul Among Lion's setting of Psalm 12, The Words of the LORD. 

 Between the Lions talks about "Come Now, My Friend (Psalm 11)". And also the genesis of the second MSAL album. 

Between the Lions talks about Rise Up, O LORD (Psalm 10) and the nature of imprecatory psalms. 

This was one of the more difficult nuts for us to crack, but sometimes all it takes is one bad idea, the right kind of bad idea, to help you think of the good idea. That's the story of My Soul Among Lion's setting of Psalm 9, Zion's Daughter. 

It was a difficult journey to get to one of My Soul Among Lions more beloved songs, Beyond the Stars, with probably the most drama ever in any of our song productions. Herein lies the chilling tale.

Adapting Psalm 8 occasioned about as much drama as anything in the My Soul Among Lions psalm-setting journey. This is part 1 of that story. 

Herein lies the tale of My Soul Among Lions two version of Psalm 31, particularly "You Are My Strength"--which came out just around the time the coronavirus became a thing. 

In this episode our heroes discuss one of their commissions, a modern-day "Am I a solider of the cross?" This one took some doing. 

No Psalm captures the joy of forgiveness better than Psalm 32, and here's the story of how Pastor Phil came up with the My Soul Among Lions version,  'How Blessed is the Man.' 

In this episode, our heroes talk about the second version of Psalm 7, 'Lay My Glory Down.' This was one of Phil and Nathan's first collaborations, and one that's a little off the beaten track for My Soul Among Lions 

In this episode, Between the Lions talks about Arise, O Lord (Psalm 7), and the difficulties of adapting an imprecatory psalm for worship. Aka just how imprecatory do you want it to feel and be? Support MSAL here!

Between the Lions tackles one of the songs that many My Soul Among Lions fans consider to be our best: Lord, How Long? This one was quite the process to get right, and we talk about that, plus the choice to Christify the ending. Support MSAL here!

"Give ear to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry,  my King and my God, for to you do I pray." Charles Spurgeon wrote about Psalm 5, " There are two sorts of prayers--those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations." Pslam 5 gives utterance (of a sort) to David's unuttered longings. Now how did My Soul Among Lions set it to music? Our podcast considers all that, plus the benefits and detriments of the strophic form. Support us and get new songs early here!

"Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him."My Soul Among Lions adapted Psalm 34 into 2 (count 'em) different song settings: "O Magnify the Lord" and "I am His Alone." Why did they do that? What went into adapting this hugely popular psalm? How do the two songs work together? All this and more is yours for the listening. Support us here!

In which Between the Lions talks Hold Me Fast (Psalm 5). This one was very much a reaction to the other one, which is very different. That happens to us a lot. Hear us talk about it. Support MSAL here!

My Soul Among Lions first kid's song. Why on earth did they choose Psalm 4 for that? Listen to find out. :) Support the Lions here!

Between the Lions discusses the first of two Psalm 4 settings. This one has an awesome choral setting, a little of which you'll hear in the episode. Support us here!

Between the Lions talks 'You Are My Shield" (Psalm 3), a psalm setting with many false starts, some of which we play for you in this episode. Support us here!

We really love the other Psalm 2, The Nations Rage, and have ever since Jody wrote it. But at the time some felt that another, more hard-hitting version was needed. And it turned out pretty well, too. Herein lies the tale. Support My Soul Among Lions here!

This is the song where it all started to really feel like it was coming together for My Soul Among Lions, and also the song that we rushed into production when Obergefell hit. Here's the full story as recounted by those who lived to tell the tale. Support us here!

Between the Lions is taking on the other version of Psalm 1, maybe the one that you heard first, Night and Day. Why did we do a second version? What did we choose to open our first album with it? Do we aim to make our psalm translations more faithful to the scripture, or do we take poetic license? What's the interaction between music and lyrics in songwriting? Support MSAL here!

In this episode of Between the Lions, Nathan, Jake, and Phil talk about a song that was written before the My Soul Among Lions project even began, "How Blessed is the Man." It began as a rock version which was felt to be too ... rocky ... for the project at the time. So it was folkified. Because these psalm settings were supposed to be things that people could actually sing. Our heroes discuss that, discuss setting creative boundaries, discuss interpretive choices in psalm setting, and more! Support MSAL here!

Okay, so it's more of a canticle. But it's still a song from My Soul Among Lions, newly available on iTunes and Spotify and all that jazz. And today our heroes are discussing it, as well as introducing themselves, talking a little bit about the history of My Soul Among Lions, and getting this podcast underway.Support MSAL and get early access to new songs here!Or go to Warhorn Media to make a one-time gift and get a free digital download of My Soul Among Lions' latest album, Song of the King (good through October '19).