KARI JOB
THE GARDEN-releases today 2/3/17!
Grammy nominated Kari Jobe is the premiere female worship
leader in Christian music. Coming off her last live album, Majestic, which
featured the worship anthem “Forever” and radio hit “I Am Not Alone," Kari
Jobe has returned to the studio to record her new album, The Garden,
full of brand new worship anthems for the church and for personal reflection.
Finding inspiration from life’s joys and hardships, Kari leans into the firm
foundation of Christ through it all.
You can listen to The Garden here
You can listen to The Garden here
It’s said for everything there is a season. Winter. Spring.
Summer. Fall. One by one, we experience these seasons throughout our lives. Our
souls grow dark and weary in the thick of winter, and just when we think we
can’t endure another cold night, we recognize the first signs of spring. Slow
and unexpected, welcome shades of green break through the frozen ground.
Sometimes our Creator uses His own creation to remind us that even amidst
winter’s chill He is always at work. For it’s in the unseen where life’s most
beautiful moments take shape. Worship leader Kari Jobe knows this to be true in
her own life, and on her fourth album, The Garden (Capitol CMG), she
invites listeners to drink of the wellspring of hope she’s found in the midst
of unimaginable tragedy.
Jobe has earned the right to speak from experience. She’s become
a trusted friend to listeners throughout a career that includes more than 1
million albums sold, a GRAMMY® nomination, multiple Dove Awards and praise from
the New York Times. She’s amassed 173 million career streams and is the
most-followed female CCM artist on social media with a following that exceeds
3.5 million. Beyond the stats, Jobe’s timeless songs have carried countless
listeners to the feet of Christ over and over again. Her voice has become a
soundtrack to people’s lives, and The Garden is well-equipped to bring
healing in the midst of pain.
While The Garden planted the songwriter back in the studio
following 2014’s critically-acclaimed live recording, Majestic—which won
a GMA Dove Award for Praise and Worship Album of the Year—the new album is also
rooted in a series of personal transition and remarkable grief for the singer
and her family. In the past two years, Jobe married her husband Cody Carnes and
moved from her hometown of Dallas, Texas, to Nashville, where the couple bought
their first home and had a baby. With due dates three months apart, Jobe and
her sister, Kris, were excited to be pregnant at the same time. Yet, in the
midst of happy life changes, heartbreak struck. Seven-and-a-half months into
her pregnancy, Kris gave birth to a stillborn daughter, James Ivy. Jobe, four
months pregnant with her son at the time, was devastated.
“It just shattered my heart. It was so, so hard,” Jobe shares.
“It wrecked me—just the weight of unanswered prayers. I was trying to walk in
peace when I didn’t feel peaceful and find my rest when my spirit didn’t feel
rested.”
Aching for her sister, Jobe was simultaneously anxious for the
safety of her own child. On February 18, 2016, a healthy Canyon Carnes entered
the world. “It’s hard to celebrate life, but to be grieving with your sister,”
Jobe admits, adding that knowing Canyon’s name ahead of time gave her strength
through the remainder of her pregnancy after the loss of her niece. “God gave
us his name even before this whole thing took place,” she says. “Canyon means a
deep ravine for water to flow through. Canyons are formed through storms, so
the fact that God gave me his name was so peaceful to me… I was thankful He
gave me his name for that season.”
While the birth of her son was undoubtedly a milestone to
celebrate, her sister’s loss weighed heavy on her heart. Yet, a reminder of
God’s kindness came in a surprising way. As Jobe held Canyon in her arms, she
stood looking out the kitchen window of her new home. And there in her
backyard, she glimpsed the first signs of spring. When she and her husband
purchased the house, a garden that resided on the property was overgrown; and
though they knew it needed to be tended, they were advised to wait and see what
it produced. The result was a breathtaking bounty of harvest. That day, Jobe
made her way through the garden—a stark reminder of God’s faithfulness in all
circumstances. Looking up, interwoven in the archway, she couldn’t help but
smile as she saw what only God could produce: thick, green ivy lacing its way
overhead, immediately reminding her of her niece’s namesake.
“Ivy is the most resilient plant there is. It can grow in the
harshest of climates; it can grow in the harshest of situations,” Jobe
explains, adding, “I’m standing in this garden. There’s ivy growing, and I just
started to realize, ‘God, You’re moving in a way that is different than what I
asked for, but You are moving.’ He’s at work and doing things we can’t
see.”
The experience yielded the title track for Jobe’s new album and
fresh healing for her soul. “Those
seeds were planted years ago for it to be the way that it was that day for me,
because it wasn’t just last year that they planted all this beautiful ivy. That
took years,” she observes. “Something
in my spirit started to rustle. Life was coming back. What felt dead in my
heart was starting to wake up. It was like I’d been in this place of being numb
in my walk with the Lord, but something just started blooming in my heart.”
Her unanswered questions began to grow into songs. As Jobe
declared God’s goodness over her own circumstances, He began to transform her
heart. “These raw things were
coming out of my mouth, so I just started writing,” she shares. “I Will Sing,”
written while she was still pregnant, became the first song she penned for this
album. Jobe spent the next several months pouring out her emotions one track at
a time, collaborating with friends, and eventually recording half of the album
in Redding, California, and the other half in Nashville. She and her husband
wrote together frequently, and Cody adds vocals on numerous tracks. In
addition, Jobe co-wrote with acclaimed songwriters, including Jacob and Amanda
Cook of Bethel Music, Brooke Fraser Ligertwood, Ben Fielding, Jason Ingram, Mia
Fieldes, Martin Smith and Josh Silverburg, among others. In addition, she
covered two songs that she claimed in the midst of loss: Jesus Culture’s
“Miracles” and Elevation Church’s “Here As In Heaven.” Jeremy Edwardson (Jesus
Culture, Bryan and Katie Torwalt), who helmed Majestic, produced the
project.
While songs like “Fall
Afresh,” “Heal Our Land” and “Closer
to Your Heart” reveal congregational anthems like many of the offerings that
have defined Jobe’s career, most of The Garden’s 14 tracks speak to hope
in the midst of loss, peace in the midst of uncertainty and God’s presence in
the midst of pain. “Oh The Power” vividly recalls another garden where
suffering took place, the Garden of Gethsemane. “Jesus went to a garden in His last moments to have intimacy with
the Father. It was like He wanted to be surrounded with something that reminded
Him of when there was no sin and there was no separation from God,” Jobe says,
referencing the garden where mankind began—in Eden. It’s a heavenly space she
hopes to invite listeners into with her new album, which, on a sonic level,
feels like an overarching narrative backed by a sweeping cinematic score, meant
to be savored from start to finish.
“The garden is true intimacy with the Father, and it’s a place
where He intended for us as humankind to be surrounded with His creation.
There’s life in things that He’s created,” she offers. “I want to lead people
into intimacy with the Father. It’s something that’s so important as we walk
through stuff in our lives.”
Today, Jobe and her family continue to discover restoration
through glimpses of God’s goodness. “The healing that He’s been bringing to my
family and the way that He’s met us in our pain, it’s made me realize how many
people are going through really intense pain and disappointments and trials,”
Jobe offers. “There’s a lot of people who have lost babies or family members
out of traumatic experiences. My eyes have been opened to that in a whole new
way.”
She’s also viewing her platform in a new light since giving birth
to Canyon. “I feel more of a maternal instinct now in my worship leading, even
declaring things over people,” she shares, adding, “At the end of the day, my
favorite thing now is just to be on the floor playing with blocks and reading
books. Nothing else really matters. If I just became his momma and a wife, I’m
fine with that. I just feel more settled than I’ve ever felt in my life.”
In the time leading up to The Garden, Jobe has experienced
both indescribable joy and unimaginable pain. Life and death, side by side.
Yet, through it all, she’s found God to be inextricably faithful because she’s
learned to trust the Gardner and the beautiful, unseen ways He tends to our
hearts.
My Review:
Just the music drew me into to this new CD The Garden by Kari Jobe. It has an orchestra like feel to it. Just beautiful. Then of course I went beyond and started listening to the wonderful words of God's love and praise. She sings with a wonderful gentle voice and I treasured every word. I felt like praising the Lord right in my car! What great worship songs for church.
My favorite song is Fall Afresh . The words spoke to my heart. Really though I loved them all and I'm listening again as I write this review.
Sometimes I feel so old when I don't know a singer. I have to admit that I didn't even know who Kari Jobe was when given the chance to review this CD! I quickly went to you tube and listened to her others songs and feel in love with her music and her message. I might be a late comer but Kari Jobe has a new fan in me!
You can buy The Garden here.
“Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.
Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won a prize from our sponsor Propeller /FlyBy Promotions in the last 30 days on the same blog, you are not eligible to win. Or if you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.
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