We finally did it: After nearly 10 years, we released our second album of original music! “Journey of a Decade: The First Quinquennium” by Wheels of Glory! is now available on all streaming platforms or for download (free!) on our website.

One of our group members suggested the name given it had been 10 years (and quite a journey with God) since we released our first album “Ever Higher.” The word “Quinquennium” means 5 years, and since we had almost enough tracks for two albums at this point, I hope I can get the second quinquennium out before the end of the year (we’ll see how that goes…) Most of our music was written as we processed walking through joy and pain, glory and valleys, and the in betweens of life. So this is a bit of our family’s story in music. I’ll share a bit about each song below.

Rising

When I went to write the lyrics for this song, I tried to tell the story of a sunrise I witnessed on a frosty November morning outside of Dead Horse Point State Park. The silence, the pink clouds, the rustle of a breeze as the sun came over the horizon to bring the world to life again – it was all real, and (I felt) could well have been how someone would have felt just before the tomb went empty.

Mercy & Grace

The lyrics for this song were written by my great-grandfather. His story is one of redemption; raised in a non-Christian home in the late 1800s, he was hired by a local church to pump the bellows for the organ every Sunday morning. Happy for a little extra cash, he cheerfully pumped those bellows… and heard the Gospel for the first time. For the rest of his life, David Baigrie was a committed Christian who loved Jesus, even when the rest of His family rejected his Savior.

Before his death in 1965, David compiled a book of his own poems with botanical illustrations. Themes spanned farming, nature, and of course Jesus. No publisher was interested, but in the 1980s, two of his grandsons privately printed a few copies of his book for the family. My sister took one of the poems from this book and set it to music. I know he’d be proud, but even more, I know he’d be blessed beyond measure to see how His faith has traveled down the generations to family he never met on earth.

Now That I Know

One day when I was praying, the Lord said to me, “You’re going to write a song about the vision you had when you saw Me.” I thought, “Umm, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea.” But I pursued the idea, and this is the song! The short version of the vision goes something like this: I asked God what He felt like, and I found out why He calls Himself “I AM.” He’s the absolute infinity of all love, all joy, all peace, all justice, all of everything good, in the entire universe. The best descriptor is simply “I AM.” It’s impossible not to want Him when you’ve experienced Him in His fullness – or at least as much of the fullness as wouldn’t kill me with its power!

Desert Rose

Desert Rose is the song on the album that’s nearest and dearest to my heart. I wrote it at the end of an extremely difficult season for my family. The situation didn’t end the way I wanted it to end and found myself in grief over what wasn’t, unsure of what was, and trying to help my family members navigate their own journeys through the wreckage. One morning, I stared at an empty Word document praying, “God, I don’t have anything to give this morning. I have nothing left. I’m not sure of much right now, but I know two things for certain sure: 1) God is faithful and God is good, and 2) I am not going to lie down and die over this disappointment.”

Simple words, simple faith. I sketched out the lyrics within an hour, and the next night, my sisters and I stood around the piano hammering out the tune, singing at the top of our lungs, “I am a desert rose; I will thrive as a desert rose.” It was redemption to me, and I still love the song God gave us when we needed it most.

You Are Good

This fun song that came out of a moment of free worship at a friend’s house. My favorite memory was singing the chorus and feeling strongly that my youngest sister would sing the bridge. I nodded to her like, “take over!” and she gave me a look like, “Thanks a whole lot!” But within two minutes, she did it – and I love it!

Adventure

Adventure was one of the first songs we wrote and recorded after our first album, so it’s been sitting on a shelf for a long time! And I’ll keep this short because I didn’t have much to do with it except recording – pushing the envelope to have a more electronic sound and a pre-recorded drum track.

Hidden in Love

Another song written by my sisters, Hidden in Love is Psalm 23 with a few other psalms thrown in for good measure! I’m always surprised (and happy) when listeners are like, “Yeah, another Psalm 23” and then somehow they fall in love with the idea that we are hidden in God’s love (Psalm 91). It was also the first time I tried recording my violin for a song, and while I’m well aware it’s not perfect, I also love the vibe it lends to the music.

Echoing Light

Four of the songs on this album were written by me as assignments for an all-women, mixed-religion writing group (Rising, Desert Rose, Echoing Light, and Celebrate). Each month, we would have a writing theme (sunrise, desert, shine, and celebration, among others), and most everyone in the group would write a short piece about a time when the theme happened to them. Me? After two failed attempts to be like them, I gave up and did what I’m good at: I wrote songs. It was a true challenge to write a song, record it, and mix it ready for release in less than 7 days, but it was also a great way to stretch my writing and recording abilities! Many of the songs were updated before putting them on the album, including this one, which has a different vocal track.

Celtic Hymn

Many years ago, my dad needed a hymn for a piece of fiction he was writing. So he tossed together some hymn-like lyrics. I decided they were too good to waste and put them to music (with a few changes… he needed specific lyrics for his book, and they made no sense outside of the book, so I took the liberty of changing a few lines). It was fun to bring out my Celtic heritage with Irish whistles and synths (I didn’t own the violin yet, or it a fiddle might have made an appearance).

Celebrate!

The final track on the album was another 7-day piece, inspired by the music I heard while on the dance floor of a Christmas party the month before. I’m not personally fond of the electronic genera, but not all of the band agrees with me, and who doesn’t like to yell “confetti, spaghetti!” on the dance floor?

So there are our 10 tracks and 37 minutes of music… Enjoy!

You can listen to the official YouTube playlist here (we’ll get lyric videos out soon). Or download or stream it via the links here.

If you would like lyrics or chords (we’re working on getting them on the website) for any of these songs, please leave me a comment (leave the URL box empty), and I’d be happy to send them to you.