{"id":5666,"date":"2014-12-05T05:25:40","date_gmt":"2014-12-05T10:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?p=5666"},"modified":"2014-12-05T05:25:40","modified_gmt":"2014-12-05T10:25:40","slug":"composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html","title":{"rendered":"Composer\/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A green Christmas.<\/strong> Born in Northern Ireland, musician\/composer<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettymusic.com\/about.aspx\"> Keith Getty<\/a>, along with his wife Kristyn, is known for\u00a0 is well-known as a master of\u00a0theologically-astute modern hymns, a reverent genre that includes what is perhaps his best-known<em> In Christ Alone <\/em>which he wrote with songwriter\/musician <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stuart_Townend_%28musician%29\">Stuart Townend<\/a>. The couple are currently on tour across the U.S. with <em>Joy \u2013 An Irish Christmas <\/em>which, true to the couple&#8217;s faith, unabashedly celebrates the birth of Jesus.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Keith &amp; Kristyn Getty JOY - AN IRISH CHRISTMAS 2014 TOUR\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hkX13NqUpNM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>I recently had the opportunity to speak with Keith about his music and the current tour.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: You&#8217;re known for your &#8220;modern hymns.&#8221; Can you define that term for me?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KEITH GETTY: <\/strong>There&#8217;s no scientific definition. A hymn&#8230;is a song of praise to God. I think there were three real goals with our hymns that made them seem more in line with traditional classical hymn writing than with the modern worship movement and differentiate us slightly&#8230;Number One, we wanted to write a catalog of hymns that taught the doctrines of the Christian faith. Number Two, we wanted to write a catalog of songs that was centered around congregationality &#8212; songs that all congregations could sing &#8212; old, new, global, with traditional music, with contemporary music or with no music. We went back to a more traditional folk melody style of writing or classical formulas&#8230;.And then, thirdly, we went more for a classical, poetic, theological musical approach&#8230;So, it&#8217;s not as popular, for example, on contemporary Christian radio. But, then again&#8230;the goal is that the songs will have more of a lasting value.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: You grew up in Northern Ireland. What was that experience like?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>It was during the troubles, if that&#8217;s your question. I wasn&#8217;t really directly affected by that but\u00a0 it was quite a Christian community. So, a group of us guys used to get together and study the Bible on weekends. Several of those guys are now pastors. I was privileged to be around a young group of guys who wanted to please the Lord with their lives.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: Are you Catholic or Protestant?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>My background is Protestant so I benefited from the great Bible teaching that was provided there&#8230;I did love the more culturally classical things, like Irish music, which I think is some of the most congregational-style music when you think of &#8230;<em>St. Patrick&#8217;s Breastplate<\/em> (and) <em>Danny Boy<\/em>. These are traditional Irish melodies.\u00a0 I think\u00a0 being brought up there (Ireland) gave me a sense of melody that is very attuned to congregational singing. <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: Did the &#8220;troubles&#8221; in Ireland affect your music?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>No, I think just the above things. I think I wanted to learn from both cultures. So, I think the music is a little more reflective of the&#8230;Catholic culture but the theology, obviously, is much more Reformational.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: And what denomination are you now?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>I grew up Presbyterian and I attend a Protestant church.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: How&#8217;d you meet your wife Kristyn?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>We were introduced by Kris&#8217; uncle <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/John_Lennox\">John Lennox<\/a>&#8230;You would know him because of his articles. He&#8217;s an Oxford professor who has debated (noted atheist) <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Richard_Dawkins\">Richard Dawkins<\/a>&#8230;It took her five years to realize how attractive I was then we finally got married. We just celebrated being married ten-and-a- half years. We&#8217;ve never had a night apart. (Marriage is) the greatest thing in the world. <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: How did your friendship and collaborations with Stuart Townend begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>He really in many ways taught me hymn writing. <em>In Christ Alone<\/em> was our first hymn together which many people know and that really helped us establish what we were trying to do.\u00a0 We took it from there and wrote a bunch of hymns based on the Apostle&#8217;s Creed. The one based on Christmas was called <em>Joy Has Dawned<\/em> which is in our Christmas show as well.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Joy Has Dawned \/ Angels We Have Heard On High - Keith &amp; Kristyn Getty\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IiXY1NxQkIU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong>JWK: Do you have a personal favorite of the songs that you&#8217;ve composed?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>My favorite song is always my last song&#8230;The most recent Christmas hymn was <em>O Come, Redeemer of the Earth<\/em> which I&#8217;m really excited about.\u00a0 My most recent congregational hymn was <em>My Worth is Not in What I Own.<\/em> But, obviously, <em>In Christ Alone<\/em> has had a huge response around the world.\u00a0 So, it&#8217;s a privilege to have been part of something like that.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"My Worth Is Not In What I Own (At Mussenden Temple in Northern Ireland) - Keith &amp; Kristyn Getty\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vfFrJHuptUQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p><strong>JWK: One of the perks of this job is that my wife and I will be seeing you and Kristyn performing your Christmas show at Carnegie Hall on December 17th. What should we expect to see?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>We&#8217;re thrilled to be in Carnegie Hall! The first half of the show is more Celtic Irish (and) has more influences of the Old World in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, France and Spain (and) how their music influences the Irish. The second half is more the New World and how American music is influenced by the Irish. It&#8217;s really cool.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: And Ricky Skaggs will be taking part in the event, right?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>That&#8217;s right! He has the most Grammys of any male blue grasser in history! We are just honored, staggered beyond words, that he would be willing to be part of it. We&#8217;re delighted. We got to know him since we came to Nashville&#8230;to play at the Grand Ole Opry. We regularly play there now.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: I&#8217;ve <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/07\/ricky-skaggs-reflections-on-life-and-faith-as-the-kentucky-traveler-turns-60.html\">interviewed him<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>He&#8217;s a great guy, isn&#8217;t he?<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: Yeah, a very nice man. So, you and he are friends? <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>Yeah. He&#8217;s been a great friend of Kris and I and we&#8217;re thankful for it.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: How many shows are you performing for this Christmas tour?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>It&#8217;s 18 shows around the country&#8230;We&#8217;ll be at the Winspear in Dallas, the Cobb Energy Centre in Atlanta&#8230;The last two shows are at the Tennessee Theatre in Knoxville.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: And you have a Christmas album.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettymusic.com\/USA-albums.aspx?id=851\"><em>Joy &#8211; An Irish Christmas<\/em> <\/a>is the Christmas album.\u00a0 Our (other album) is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettymusic.com\/news.aspx?id=351\"><em>Hymns for the Christian Life<\/em><\/a> which (also) features Ricky Skaggs and <span id=\"ContentPlaceHolder_Body_Label_Full_body\" class=\"maintext_white\">Alison Krauss. We also did a limited edition <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Extended_play\">EP<\/a> recently which is called <a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/album\/the-greengrass-session\/id940800969\"><em>The Green Grass Session<\/em><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: Do you find that there&#8217;s a similarity between Irish and American blue grass music?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG:<\/strong> Blue grass was the outgrowth of Irish music. As a matter of fact a lot the tunes, a lot of the melodies and the jigs&#8230;have different names but are actually the same tunes. <strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: What are your plans for when the concert series ends?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG: <\/strong>Well, the Christmas tour continues is huge for us at the moment and continues to grow every year. Next year we&#8217;re hoping to bring some more guest artists with it. It seems to keep growing in strength every year and we&#8217;re just thrilled about that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: How are you and Kristyn planning on celebrating Christmas this year?<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG:<\/strong> Some of our family are coming over from Ireland to spend it with us here. We will be too tired to go home this Christmas, so we&#8217;ll just be hanging here. We&#8217;re looking forward to that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JWK: What do you enjoy most about Christmas?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>KG:<\/strong> I&#8217;ve always loved the music&#8230;My favorite kind of music is Christmas music and the only thing I love better music is my wife and daughters. So, hanging out with my wife and daughters and cuddling them will be pretty cool.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Keith &amp; Kristyn Getty  &quot;In Christ Alone&quot;\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qLy8ksqGf9w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em>Encourage one another and build each other up \u2013 <\/em><strong>1 Thessalonians 5:11<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. A green Christmas. Born in Northern Ireland, musician\/composer Keith Getty, along with his wife Kristyn, is known for\u00a0 is well-known as a master of\u00a0theologically-astute modern hymns, a reverent genre that includes what is perhaps his best-known In Christ Alone which he wrote with songwriter\/musician&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,9,3632,11,13,25,1],"tags":[35,7650,7646,7648,7657,7656,7647,7649,7645,7655,7654,7653,7651,7652],"class_list":["post-5666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-doctrine","category-family-matters","category-music","category-uncategorized","tag-1-thessalonians-511","tag-alison-krauss","tag-carnegie-hall","tag-hymns-for-the-christian-life","tag-in-christ-alone","tag-joy-has-dawned-stuart-townend","tag-joy-an-irish-christmas","tag-jricky-skaggs","tag-keith-getty","tag-richard-dawkins","tag-tennessee-theatre-in-knoxvillejohn-lennox","tag-the-cobb-energy-centre-in-atlanta","tag-the-green-grass-session","tag-winspear-in-dallas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Composer\/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Composer\/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. A green Christmas. Born in Northern Ireland, musician\/composer Keith Getty, along with his wife Kristyn, is known for\u00a0 is well-known as a master of\u00a0theologically-astute modern hymns, a reverent genre that includes what is perhaps his best-known In Christ Alone which he wrote with songwriter\/musician&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-12-05T10:25:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John W. Kennedy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Composer\/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Composer\/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA","og_description":"Here\u2019s today\u2019s dispatch from the crossroads of faith, media and culture. A green Christmas. Born in Northern Ireland, musician\/composer Keith Getty, along with his wife Kristyn, is known for\u00a0 is well-known as a master of\u00a0theologically-astute modern hymns, a reverent genre that includes what is perhaps his best-known In Christ Alone which he wrote with songwriter\/musician&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html","og_site_name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","article_published_time":"2014-12-05T10:25:40+00:00","author":"John W. Kennedy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html","name":"Composer\/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-12-05T10:25:40+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-05T10:25:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/2014\/12\/composerperformer-keith-getty-is-celebrating-an-irish-christmas-at-venues-across-the-usa.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Composer\/performer Keith Getty is celebrating an Irish Christmas at venues across the USA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/","name":"Faith, Media &amp; Culture","description":"Beliefnet Voices - John W. Kennedy","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/e5d5ef9caeb6b01bcbf08ca6de6591c2","name":"John W. Kennedy","description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media &amp; Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations &amp; Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5666"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5686,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5666\/revisions\/5686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/faithmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}