A Collection of Reinvented Ancient Hymns and Spiritual Songs finds Jars of Clay overlaying its outstanding songwriting talents on a rich blend of hymns and spirituals. The band credits pastor and mentor Kevin Twit with Reformed University Fellowship at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn., for nurturing a deep appreciation for church hymns and extends its gratitude to him for his work on this project.

"God Be Merciful to Me"

Matt Odmark says, "We've been blessed to be apart of a church that has embraced the idea of the reinvention of hymns. I think 'God Be Merciful to Me' is just one of the songs we first heard in our church worship that drew us into hymns."

Jars' version features new music (written by Chris Miner) to words from the 1912 Psalter and is based on Psalm 51. David's words of confession after the Bathsheba incident give us today words for our own confession of sin. "This is a simple, beautiful prayer for mercy," Charlie Lowell says.

"I Need Thee Every Hour"

This is a familiar song by Annie S. Hawks (1835-1918) is appreciated by the band for its simplicity and its urgency, Charlie says. "It's about utter dependency on Christ. I think we could sing, 'I need thee every moment, every second,'" he says. This theme transcends generations, connecting Christians universally today and yesterday.

The band wrote the refrain to conform to typical pop sensibilities and added it to Robert Lowry's original music.

"God Will Lift Up Your Head"

Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) wrote this famous German hymn in the midst of the religious wars going on in his country during the 1600s. At one point, Gerhardt was kept from the pulpit because of the debates between Calvinists and Lutherans. Introduced to him by Moravian missionaries, Methodist founder and minister John Wesley was struck by Gerhardt's hymn and translated it to English around 1737.

More commonly known as "Give to the Wind Thy Fears," the hymn illustrates the power of God's comfort as it meets us in sorrow. Like Wesley, the band was affected by the lyrics and give it a kind of rock anthem treatment that's energetic and stirring.

"It presents with such confidence the idea that in the midst of our sorrow, in the midst of our pain, God will be the one to lift up our heads," Dan Haseltine says. "We'll always have suffering. We'll always have pain. We'll always have the poor. We'll always have things that are confusing and hard to reconcile, and it will always be God that pulls us out of those places or helps us to understand why we're in the middle of them."

"I'll Fly Away"

For listeners unfamiliar with singing old texts, the band hopes "I'll Fly Away" will be a bridge song, one that "gradually gets people to the place where they can digest some of the other tracks on the record," Matt says.

On Albert Brumley's (1905-1977) spiritual, the band's rock-influenced change up to the traditional tune of "I'll Fly Away" helps listeners to revisit the title's irony-a happy tune about death. New artist and Grammy nominee Sarah Kelly joins Jars of Clay on the track.

"Nothing But the Blood"

"The first time I really felt the impact of this was in church. Ashley Cleveland got up and sang this with just an acoustic guitar. I felt the real power of the song," Charlie says.

A title that has long transcended racial divisions, this Robert Lowry (1826-1899) gospel song is simple and yet it speaks volumes. "'There is nothing except for the blood of Jesus that can wash away our sin-that's a message we can't hear enough," Charlie adds. The track showcases Grammy greats Blind Boys of Alabama.

"Let Us Love and Sing and Wonder"

Familiar to the band from its church experience, "This song meditates on the idea of being washed in the blood," Matt says. "What a kind of crazy concept that is," but it's true, nonetheless.

The remarkable hymn writer John Newton (1725-1807), perhaps best known for "Amazing Grace," wrote this incredible expression of the gospel. It's key for remembering God's forgiveness doesn't overlook sin, but rather God's justice is fully satisfied on Jesus' cross, as Romans 3 assures.

"There are powerful metaphors in this song of the kind of things that were bought through the blood of Christ on our behalf," Matt says. Martin Smith (Delirious) joins the group on this, with music by Laura Taylor.

"O Come and Mourn with Me Awhile"

Also known as "Our Lord Is Crucified," this is another hymn the guys sing regularly in church. Originally written by Fredrick Faber (1814-1863), it's a Protestant variation of a historical Catholic hymn reflecting on Christ's crucifixion.

"It identifies with Mary and the disciples and the friends of Jesus who had to sit there and watch their hopes for themselves and the world be brutalized in front of them. That's a very Catholic idea," Matt shares. "We don't have a lot of Protestant church services that encourage us to reflect and mourn on the death of Christ. We're much more apt to celebrate the resurrection. There's a lot of reasons and history behind that, but I think it's helpful for us today to listen in and listen in and be affected by the words of this hymn writer."

Matt continues, "'O Come and Mourn With Me Awhile' is a powerful reflection on the bleakest of moments, the Crucifixion, and how love was being victorious in that."

"Hiding Place"

From Gadsby's Hymns, which first appeared in 1814, the intimate "Hiding Place" is a stark and honest hymn by Reformed Baptist pastor Daniel Herbert daring to ask, "How unstable is my heart?" It illustrates the gospel is true, even though our sinful spirits want to run from Jesus.

"The lyric draws out what we are capable of doing to God's grace. We're capable of walking away from it and rejecting the gifts he continues to give us. Yet, we come back to him and he accepts us. He becomes our hiding place," Dan says. "We thought it was important to keep the song intimate by having a just a lead singer singing," Charlie adds. "It's not a big song. It's a quiet song and that fits the vocal of one person, coming back to God."

"Jesus, I Lift My Eyes"

The band wrote the music for its portrayal of this hymn by Anne Steele (1716-1778), a Baptist whose work stands among the guys' favorite hymns.

At 18, Steele had suffered a great deal already all her life. She nevertheless knew love. But on the day before her wedding, Steele's fiancé drowned while bathing in a river. She never married during her next 50 or so years. The first female hymn writer to rise to popularity, many of her hymns are characterized by lament.

"These kinds of songs help us make sense of our world, one of tsunamis and AIDS," Dan says. She's a Job figure.

"She lived well in that kind of mystery," Dan continues. "Through her words we are able to say things like, 'God is still good in the midst of my suffering. The gospel still meets me here. Salvation still meets me here. Mercy and grace still find a valid home in the midst of my pain and frustration.' Where does that kind of faith come from? None of us can imagine a life like hers, yet, for some reason her suffering created a rooted faith. That made us gravitate toward some of Anne Steele's hymns."

"It Is Well"

"Saved. Alone." Those were the words Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) received by cable from his wife while traveling to England, their daughters perishing in a shipwreck. They'd already lost so much in the great Chicago fire. Yet, as Spafford sailed to join his wife, the musician wrote this hymn at the spot of the ocean tragedy.

Dan says a challenge for a record like Redemptions Songs is determining what kind of "skin" should these hymns inhabit in order to make them more accessible today. The group selected a "soulful romp" by which to engage listeners.

"There are people who buckle when they hear a hymn, and there are also people who say, 'I remember growing up with hymns,'" Steve Mason observes. "This is another bridge song, one many will recognize.

"On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand"

The hope of heaven appears more real to us as we sing this song. In Grand Ole Opry fashion, the band used "On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand" to close shows with Caedmon's Call when they toured together. Written by English Baptist Samuel Stennett (1727-1795), Jars' musical take takes a turn from the traditional American melody to feature Chris Miner's music. It is celebratory in terms of where we are heading as people of faith, saying that the gospel is true in life and death, that when it doesn't feel so here on earth, heaven truly is a real place.

Adding an wonderful, gritty texture to the song are Blind Boys of Alabama.

"Thy Lovely Source of True Delight"

To cover another Anne Steele hymn, Jars' selected music written by Kevin Twit. It moves through the story of a faithful person longingly saying, "Help my unbelief." What we sing shapes what we believe. We are transformed by what we find beautiful and true, and Steele's work exhibits that. Her works underscores language's inability to fully say what we want to say and the need to turn to art to push our language.

"The hymns I've grown to love are the ones that are very honest about the fact that there is nothing I can bring, there is nothing that I can do, there's nothing that I can say that would actually be acceptable as worship," Dan says. "But God is faithful. His mercies, his grace, that's what gives us life. Everyday we need to be reminded of those things, and this song covers a wide range of those emotions."

"They'll Know We Are Christians"