Current mood:	Chipper Chicken
Current music:	"Kneel at the Feet of Jesus" -Hymn-

Flatwood Hymns
You know, I always thought it was such a drag to grow up in a place like the Ozarks. First off, nothing exciting ever happens here. You don't see movie stars. You don't see politicians. You buy your clothes at WAL-MART. I mean, as a kid, it's sometimes depressing.

But over the years, I've learn to appreciate my past and my heritage a little bit more.

As I'm sure most of you are sick of hearing, I also have a strong spiritual heritage (sounds like I'm a medicine man or something). Almost fifty years ago, my grandfather moved his family the length of the state to start a little backwoods church. Right before the move, my grandmother had become very sick, and the doctors could give no solution to the problem. My grandfather went to God and asked him to heal his wife. If God would, he would do whatever He wished. Needless to say, Grandma got better, and Grandpa decided that God wanted him in a little town called Dora, MO. Thirty years later, the church he started was the church I grew up in.

My grandma would sing a song every Sunday, and I hate to say it, but she wasn't much of a singer. Well, I mean, by most people's standards, anyway. She had a beautiful voice, it just got torn up on its way out. If the amount of feeling a performer puts into something determines its beauty, though, she sang beautifully: Old hymns of sadness, death, and redemption.

If you have ever been in a county church, I'm sure you know the type of hymns and songs I'm talking about. On the one hand, they are absolutely depressing. They speak of death, the depravity of humanity, the pain of living on such a Earth. But on the other hand, they have unflinching hope in a comforter that will one day lead them home. Simultaneously, they are wailings (sometimes quite literally) of despair, yet praises of jubilation. It's a great dichotomy.

And it's interesting to think that most of these songs have their roots in some of the worst periods of American history: the time of Slavery, The Civil War, the Great Depression. People were miserable, living in some of the worst conditions imaginable, yet they could still sing songs of praise. Hardship, Pain, and Longing are accepted as part of life, so they look forward to a brighter future. Sometimes, I think we're spoiled in the world we live in now. We should be the ones praising. We should be the most thankful. We fall short of that a lot.

Anyway, I've said all this to say that I love to listen to this music when I draw Flatwood. I think it has the same sentiment: Hopelessness pitted against the Undeniable Light of Hope.

Plus, Flatwood (while I try to keep it geographically neutral) is inspired by the Ozarkian culture I grew up in: the twisted barren trees of the Ozark winter, the sack-ed face of Mr. Milk (an Ozarkian Baldknobber), the Native American heritage, old withered women living reclusively; all this in addition to what is yet to come.

Not to mention, these hymns reflect the religious themes I try to weave into the story more than any other type of Christian music. Some of the lines of dialogue in the comic are even lifted from the lyrics of these old songs word for word. They contain some of the most beautiful phrases I have ever encountering for a human's belief in a greater being.

And if you can imagine them played from a far-away, warbly record player, they would make some excellent creep-you-out music.

That's my plug. Now you know a bit of my inspiration. If you would like to listen to some of these songs, I've uploaded a few in Windows Media Player format (Sorry, Mackers).

Will the Circle Be Unbroken

This one's a classic. Too bad it's not the Johnny Cash version. I love how sad it is, yet not.

Homecoming in Heaven

In this one, you get the despair of Earth juxtaposed with the happiness of Heaven.

Just a Closer Walk with Thee

This one describes how one must totally rely on other-wordly forces to get them by.

Kneel at the Feet of Jesus

This one is awesome. It's upbeat and super-cheesy. It's great.

--Hope you like 'em--

Later.