Singer – Songwriter – Counselor
I’m excited to get back out and start booking again this year. I will be performing at the North Hill Cafe in Edgewood, WA tomorrow night (4/28 @ 7 p) and would love to see you there if you live nearby!
Click here for more information and my latest news!
Blessings,
Jen
Hello Everyone!
Just want to drop a note and let you know that I am back in the studio right now working on a new worship song, a Contemporary Hymn based on Matthew 11:28-30:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Seems like so many of us are tired and discouraged these days (for many reasons) and working so hard. The answer we need is in the rest that Christ is able to give us, when we lay our burdens upon Him. He longs for us to not be bound by such heavy things in our lives and to live a life of freedom, trusting Him.
The song I am currently working on in studio with Jim Frazier, is co-written with Songwriters Joe Beck and Chaz Bosarge. Joe is a very creative and talented veteran writer here in Nashville, with over 2000 songs in his catalog, over 650 cuts and over 65 #1 hits in many different music genres (Adult Contemporary, Inspirational, Rock, Country, Gospel, Black Gospel). You have definitely heard his music through the years if you like Avalon, Philips, Craig & Dean, Michael English, Jody McBrayer, Diamond Rio, etc. I feel really honored that Joe has been willing to give me continued opportunity to grow as a writer, while I am finishing my year of “sabbatical” here in Nashville. Definitely, a great start to a new friendship that I hope will continue on. I have yet to meet Chaz. He, too, is a prolific writer in the industry and in country music. He contributed via email, and he just wowed me with his writing.
The goal for this song is to get it fully produced, to market and send out for the church, as well as for pitching to the industry. I still need to raise about another $800 to complete the production and am asking for support from my followers if you can help out financially in any way. I have already put in half of the funds already from my own personal savings.
If you can give any contribution, I would like to bless you back for your support by sending you a digital copy of the song when it is finished. Go to my Patreon site here and pledge a “monthly amount”, although I am currently looking for a one-time donation. If you want to give only one time, you can do that by pledging this first month and then removing yourself as a donor before the next month begins (so you only get charged once). This is related to Goal #3 of my music ministry on my Patreon site. Thank you for your consideration!
Also, thank you so much for your support as a subscriber to my blog and music ministry. If you are connected to your church worship ministry, I would love to be able to share the new song with them when it is completed, so that we can get it out there and encourage the body of believers. So, let me know!
As always, I appreciate your prayers covering me, while I am so far away from home this year!
Blessings,
Jen
Friends, we are in desperate times as a church right now to be authentic, genuine followers of Christ. As a believer in America where we have so much free access to the Bible and so many opportunities to share Christ, we can easily grow complacent, while other members of the Body around the world have been driven underground and risk their lives to live out the Gospel.
I recently attended the screening of The Insanity of God, a new documentary coming out, to call us to consider the cost of following Jesus. It was humbling to say the least. Whether we are persecuted or not, we are all one Church, the Body of Christ.
The Gospel has always been free and sometimes we can think we should be silenced, because we don’t want to offend others, or we could risk losing friendships, family, or jobs. The Enemy of God rejoices in our silence and political correctness in regards to privatizing our faith. Complacency leads to apathy, which is not good for us as believers. It is time for us to wake-up and jump off our fence. It’s time to count the cost.
We are a privileged country and whether our rights remain or are taken away from us, the Gospel of Jesus is still free. The Church is thriving in China, North Korea, Russia and other Muslim countries. Persecution, as horrendous as it is, still will never separate us from Christ. In fact, it will make us stronger believers, refining us, making us bold witnesses for Jesus.
One Life is a song idea I had when I felt like I was growing complacent in my own life. I had let disappointment in the politics of church, sideline me at times. But somehow, I think none of that would matter if my focus truly remained in the right place: on Jesus.
I want to live every moment like it counts. I want to spread His love, because I know it is the only kind of love that breaks down all barriers. I want to sacrifice all that I have, because of the example that was shown to me: giving is what life is all about. Christ gave His life for me, so that I might live. What am I willing to give for Him?
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” Romans 1:15a
This song I am sharing with you is a co-write with my buddy, Scott Liebenow, from Chicago. We believe in this song so much that we wanted to make a demo of it and get it out there by way of a lyric video, so that the Church could be encouraged everywhere…right now. And we give it freely to you. We are honored to have another songwriting friend and demo vocalist here in Nashville, Amanda Kinner, sing on this…and her voice is just so heavenly.
Please help us out, by spreading this song to the farthest corners of the earth. We only have one life to live, one life to give and we need to offer it up to Him, so that the world will know how wonderful He is!
May God bless you wherever you are right now, and awaken your Spirit for His glory!
Love, Jen
I have my very first patron supporter through my Patreon site (and everyone shouted, “Hooray!”). If you would like to help and give financially to my music ministry, Jen Haugland Music, here is a new short video I made to tell you about it!
P.S. And if you would like to learn about what was behind the song, read up right here!
One of the biggest (and I think), most difficult places to show the love of Christ is to our spouse: in which we have many opportunities to practice grace, allowing iron to sharpen iron to mature and prepare us for future glory.
In marriage, many couples face an unintentional drift as they prepare for the Empty Nest. For many years the focus of the union has been on the children and as they prepare to leave, and once the children are out the door husbands and wives have to rediscover each other once more. There may have been preconceived ideas of what the latter years were going to look like and once we are there, we find it is nothing like we had dreamed out. We may question, who is this person I live with? And sadly, over 50% become divorced. They even have a term for this kind of divorce in these latter years: Gray Divorce.
But there are ways to be intentional to try and close the gap as you transition into the next phase of your marriage relationship and to inoculate it against the “D word”. It is an intentional turning into one another, finding things in common, appreciating new direction for one another, etc. A Still and Quiet Night is not only a song of memories of the way things were when the children were little and growing up at home, but also an acknowledgement of the loss of our grown babies. Christmas seems to be the time, as it comes at the end of a calendar year, where we take more account of our lives. Where are we in life? What happened? Where did the years go? We miss our kids! Now it’s just us and we aren’t sure we like each other right now!
Questions like these, can take us on a journey at Christmas to learn how to create new memories of what love is about. Times change, children leave, traditions change, we are older, it’s quieter in the house, we are more gray, balding or wrinkled, finding ourselves more lonely…but love always remains if we invite it in.
What greater time than at Christmas to reflect on the love that God has for us by sending Himself to us in the form of a baby, Jesus the Christ, Emmanuel, reconciling us to Himself. Christ reminds us of what love is and He brings His peace into our hearts through His Holy Spirit, giving us the ministry of reconciliation. It is the interpretation of this love, lived out in real life that finds us rediscovering each other in a new light; and therefore, making new memories for our future.
Production Notes:
My producer Eric Copeland (Creative Soul Records) and I worked on this song as a co-write this last Summer of July 2014, as I was touring across the country with my new album project, Where I Am. We met up at Word Entertainment in one of the writing rooms and I shared my ideas of the first verse with him. He started to town on a melody idea for the arrangement and came up with a beautiful interlude of Silent Night, Holy Night in the middle of the song.
Eric didn’t know it, but Silent Night was one of the very first songs that my brother and I learned to sing in German for our German grandparents. We recorded it on a little tape recorder for our Oma and Opa when we were very young (possibly around 6 and 4) and when they received the cassette tape, they were overjoyed to hear their American grandchildren singing in their native tongue. So that is a very special part in the song for me, that holds wonderful memories of my own childhood and heritage.
We started the lyrics on the 2nd verse trying to be mindful of what it might look like to revive a marriage by bringing a little romance back into it at Christmastime. We finished up the second verse long distance and then sent it off for production. I love the creativity that all the players brought to this project and one of my most favorite parts in the song, is a bass part in “not a creature stirs or makes another sound”.
Jen Haugland & Eric Copeland ©2014 Jen Haugland Music (ASCAP) & From the Moment Music (BMI)
V1
All the moments that we sit around the tree
Hold our memories of everything that used to be
To see our little ones their eyes so opened wide
As they stared at all the pretty bulbs so bright
PC
Oh where did the years go, now that they’ve all moved on
And it’s just the two of us in this big house all alone
Ch
Turn down the lights
Pull me closer to your side
We can make new memories
In a still and quiet night
Don’t be surprised
As I stare into your eyes
We can find ourselves in love
In a still and quiet night
V2
As we find ourselves here sitting by the fire
And an ember sparks a warmth of new desire
While the snow falls silent outside on the ground
Not a creature stirs or makes another sound
PC2
So this is our moment, now that they’ve all moved on
And it’s just the two of us in this big house all alone
Ch
Turn down the lights
Pull me closer to your side
We can make new memories
In a still and quiet night
Don’t be surprised
As I stare into your eyes
We can find ourselves in love
In a still and quiet night
Instrumental Interlude – Silent Night, Holy Night
PC2
So this is our moment, now that they’ve all moved on
And it’s just the two of us in this big house all alone
Ch
Turn down the lights
Pull me closer to your side
We can make new memories
In a still and quiet night
Don’t be surprised
As I stare into your eyes
We can find ourselves in love
In a still and quiet night
We can find ourselves in love
In a still and quiet night
*Honorable Mention, Cindy Wilt Colville Excellence in Songwriting Award – CMS NW 2014
Session Players (and, by the way, the guys behind Player A):
John Hammond (drums/percussion)
Gary Lunn (bass)
Mark Baldwin (guitar)
Eric Copeland (keys)
Ronnie Brookshire (Engineering & Mixing)
Last week I had an enjoyable Skype interview with Joe Brookhouse of Frequency.FM to talk about my new Christmas single, A Still and Quiet Night. I like to think of the meaning of Christmas as being an outpouring of God’s heart and love to us by sending us His Son, Jesus, God incarnate: to reconcile us to Himself and to one another by showing us what it means to love one another well, while we are here on this earth.
Here is the link to the podcast, article and additional links. Please share it with as many people as you can! You just never know when someone really needs to hear something that will really touch them. We also thought we were just a little funny in the interview…you might chuckle once or twice. Maybe. 😉
Released my new music video today with Creative Soul Records for Deep Into You. It was a fun and mellow acoustic set with Dave Cleveland and Mark Burchfield at Mark’s Watershed Recording Studio, Nashville, TN. I was so honored to have the two of them play for me. Dave was instrumental (ha, no pun intended) in pulling the whole thing off! Thanks Dave! This is the first video of a series of 3. Two more will be released in the near future! 😉
Read the story behind the song at: Behind The Songs – Deep Into You
Blessings & Enjoy!
WA, WY, CO, KS, MO, IL, IN, VA, GA, TN, MN & ND, NV – Potential states for booking on summer tour.
Go to Contact page to send a message of interest.
Jen Haugland 
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