Q:How has writing and recording with Red Letter Society (RLS) impacted your life?
A:
“In an upcoming project, we sat in a room and went over the verses that inspired each of these songs. This gave us an opportunity to have a Red Letter Bible Study, looking into the meaning of the words and getting a deeper understanding of the scripture we used for inspiration.”
-David Bedford
“First, it has made me more aware of the need for doctrinally sound worship music in today’s culture. Secondly, it has pushed me to grow and expand my knowledge of the scriptures to be able to help in the songwriting process.”
-Jordan Dinsmore
“Writing and recording with this team has been such a great opportunity to grow and stretch my musicianship. It gives me a creative outlet and grows me as a worship leader. It has also been an opportunity to engage in community with some of my closest friends and corporately process all that Christ has done and is doing in our lives. We hold each other accountable in ministry, pray for, and encourage one another to grow in our Christian walk. Doing what I love with some of my very best friends is one of the greatest gifts I’ve experienced in this life. I am so humbled and grateful for every opportunity we have to lead worship together.”
-Alexandra Gibson
“Writing with RLS has challenged me to grow in ways I didn’t know I needed to. It has caused me to deepen my faith as well as strengthen my walk with Christ and knowledge of His Word. Recording with RLS has developed my ability and adaptability to work with a team. It has strengthened my musicianship and opened up opportunities to use my talents in many ways that were not possible before RLS existed. Recording with RLS has also positively impacted my full time job by giving me experience, exposure and troubleshooting skills that are applicable in many areas of full-time ministry.”
-Kyle Gibson
“I think more about what kind of person I will be when I’m 30 as I am being inspired by other band members who are in a life stage ahead of me.”
-David Guy
“It has created the opportunity to play music with some really good friends and it has allowed an avenue to write songs that I can go back and teach my church. Our church currently loves worshiping to Thirst, Matthew 5, and 100x.”
- Tyler Landis
“Psalm 40 tells us that God drug me out of the pit and set my feet on a solid rock. So I sang a new song to the Lord and people heard it and they feared God.
For me writing songs has been something that has allowed me to be vulnerable and talk about what God is doing in my life. To talk about the muck and grime of sin and to testify of how God is bringing me out. When we write songs, I pray it encourages many people to know and fear the Lord. I know that it has made me love and follow God more and more in my life.”
-Jordan West
Q: What does the song writing process look like when writing with RLS?
A:
“My personal role in the song writing process typically involves creating lead lines and arranging. Jordan, Tyler, and Jaclyn usually take the lead on lyric writing (when we’re not doing a collaborative writing session) and then bring their “baby songs” to the team. We then critique together and work through chord progressions, leadership, lead lines, and other song elements before creating scratch tracks and eventually recording!
-Alexandra Gibson
“Jordan and Tyler have a huge role in this. My part in that process is typically assisting in the phrasing of lyrics, making sure everything is biblically accurate, and can be sung in a way that is translatable for the church. Once the lyrics are done we all meet up together and make the arrangement (the chord structure, the road map, the rhythms, the melody/harmony).”
- Kyle Gibson
“- Coffee.
- Talk.
- Read the Bible.
- Say deep things.
- Sing.
- Write it down so we don’t forget.
- Voice memo so we definitely don’t forget.
- Repeat.
- Go eat somewhere either hip or just plain comforting.”
-Tyler Landis
“Typically, Tyler and I will sit down on a Friday and bring in fragments of ideas and begin to put them together. Often times these fragments will just be melodies or lyrics. We then talk through the theological ideas we want to write about and what Scripture is essential to those themes. At this point, it is our goal to put as much Scripture into the lyrics verbatim. We typically will take some artistic liberties to make each song singable. A great example of this would be our song Matthew 5.
After Tyler and I have finished the rough draft of the song, we will bring it to the rest of the band. We will work through the song with instrumentation and rework lyrics and melodies. This part is vital to the process as many songs go from something that is a good ‘singer songwriter’ style song to something that can be an anthem for the church.
Lastly we will spend time in the studio and finalize instrumentation, vocals, and sound design for each song.”
-Jordan West
Q: How old were you when you first started playing an instrument or singing? Who encouraged you to pursue that talent?
A:
“I was 15 when I started learning to play guitar. My parents and my (now) wife encouraged me to pursue music.”
- David Bedford
“I was four years old when I started singing! My mom was a heavy influence in my pursuit of music and then at 13, Amanda Barrans is who first started mentoring me in true ‘worship’. That’s when I realized the Lord had placed a calling on my life and when I started pursuing it.”
-Jordan Dinsmore
“I started playing piano when I was five. Because of my birthday, my parents made the decision to have me do two years of Junior Kindergarten before continuing through formal schooling and enrolled me in piano lessons the second year to give me an outlet (“so I wouldn’t be bored” as they describe it). As it turned out, I grew to love it and have stuck with it since. I had different teachers throughout the years. As far as vocal development goes, I started singing a little bit in college because of group voice classes required for my degree but really didn’t start leading songs or having any major vocal leadership roles until coming to my current church six years ago.”
-Alexandra Gibson
“I was born into a musical family. My dad was a worship pastor all my life. We always had a variety of musical instruments around the house. I first learned to play the piano at the age of six under the teaching of my dad. I sang in the kids choir until I was allowed to join the adult choir at the age of 12. One thing about my up-bringing, I was raised in a very conservative Christian environment. We attended a fundamental Baptist church while living in Upstate New York. The church was piano and organ only. At the age of 14, my family moved to Virginia as my dad took a job as a full-time worship pastor at a Southern Baptist church. Now, up to this point in my life, drums and guitars were still the devil (Specifically drums!!). As we immersed ourselves into the Southern Baptist culture, me and my whole family quickly realized that drums were not in fact the devil but a powerful worship tool that is actually scriptural! After many long discussions with my dad, I bought my first drum set and began to teach myself how to play drums. Within a few months of paradiddles, rudiments and tapping on literally everything in sight, I was playing drums in our praise band for Sunday services.”
-Kyle Gibson
“I was around 12. Jordan West primarily encouraged me to pursue it.”
-David Guy
“I started playing piano in 7th grade because my mom tricked me. She told me that if I wanted to play all the songs, I had to play piano because unlike guitar, it used the treble and bass clefs. I started singing in high school, and around the same time, I started learning guitar. I will say, though, I got the part of Cogsworth in my school play because he had less songs to sing, so I’ll let that say something as to how I was as a singer when I started.”
-Tyler Landis
“My mom knew how to play a few guitar chords, but once I picked up the instrument I fell in love with it. My Dad then found the best local teachers for me to learn. Also, my dad found so many guitar albums for me to listen to. He spent an enormous amount of time and money to invest in my playing! Lastly, Josh Byrd… he taught me how to really play!”
-Jordan West
Q: What book or passage are you currently studying in the Bible?
A:
“I am going through the movements of the first four books of the Bible with The Bible Project.”
- David Bedford
“I am currently studying the Book of Acts.”
-Jordan Dinsmore
“I am currently part of an inductive study of Romans with some ladies at my church. We’re spending 15 weeks on Romans 1-5 and using the Precepts program from Kay Arthur. I highly recommend it!”
-Alexandra Gibson
“I’m doing the Bible Project year through the Bible this year. I’m supplementing that a bit by incorporating multiple read throughs of the New Testament during the earlier part of the year since it’s so Old Testament heavy early on. I’m always finding myself in Hebrews.”
-Kyle Gibson
“1 Corinthians.”
-Tyler Landis
“Always the book of Hebrews. It unlocked my understanding of the Old Testament!”
-Jordan West
Q: What is your favorite worship song?
A:
“Right now, Promises by Maverick City.”
- David Bedford
“It changes weekly!! Right now, Set My Heart by Vertical Worship….an oldie but a goodie!”
-Jordan Dinsmore
“How Deep the Father’s Love”
-Alexandra Gibson
“What a Beautiful Name/Agnus Dei”
-Kyle Gibson
“Give Me Faith”
-David Guy
“Currently loving the song Runaway by Jess Ray.”
-Tyler Landis
“From The Inside Out”
-Jordan West
Q: What is your biggest/weirdest fear?
A:
“My weirdest fear is dying in a hot air balloon.”
- David Bedford
“My biggest fear is snakes. My mind goes numb thinking about them.”
-Jordan Dinsmore
“My biggest fear is failure. Basically in any form.”
-Alexandra Gibson
“I fear having some sort of major moral failure. There’s so much pressure as a husband, father, pastor, and leader to be morally upright; but sin can so quickly and easily entangle us. I don’t live or operate in fear over this issue, but it’s often on my mind. I never want to think that I’m above such a thing happening to me. I’ve seen so many marriages fail, dads leave, pastors leave the church or even leave the faith altogether that it’s quite frightening and humbling. I’m thankful for a team of spiritual leaders like RLS to call me out on things or lift me up and encourage me in my walk with Christ. It’s truly a healthy model of discipleship.”
-Kyle Gibson
“Losing control. It is something that seems so trivial until it is taken away. It could be losing control over mental health, an addiction, or someone you love walking away.”
-David Guy
“Isaiah 41:10 says,
‘Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.’”
-Tyler Landis
“I fear falling off a balcony…it’s terrifying.”
-Jordan West
Check out these songs from Red Letter Society:
Spotify
100X
Apple Music
100X
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