Cara recently was interviewed for an upcoming article in a magazine. We will keep you posted about WHEN and WHERE that article will appear (don’t worry!) but in the meantime, I thought it might be fun to share the questions and some parts of some of the answers that Cara gave (I don’t want to give the whole article away, afterall). The focus of the article is Cara’s focus on missions with her music. The questions are bold, answers are not.
How many countries have you visited on mission trips?
5 so far, Kenya, Ecuador, Burundi, Thailand and Cameroon
What moved you to decide this kind of mission was right for you?
What moment (or moments) on a trip has shown you that this was the right decision?
What has been the scariest, or most uncomfortable, time on a trip?
Well, in Kenya, one village tried to stone us during a Jesus Film showing. Eventually, some old lady got up with a stick and started smacking the culprits into submission and everyone eventually settled down again.
How long have you been playing music?
What musicians have influenced you?
How do you write songs?
I always start with the theme. Usually it is something that I have really been struggling with or working through or praying about. I am definitely lyrics focused, and the music comes second. Once I get the idea and jot down some phrases and words, I pick up the guitar and see what happens.
Is music your full-time job, or what else do you do (or have done) to make a living?
Why Christian music? Couldn’t you reach more people with secular lyrics?
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Yesterday I mentioned one of Cara’s songs – Who Else – and one of the lyrics: “I’ll shut my mouth now.” If you haven’t heard the song yet, you can listen to a clip on iTunes or CDBaby.
The reason that I like this song so much is that the lyrics for that line come from a verse in the Bible in the book of Job. The verse comes at the very end of the book, after Job has already lost everything he has, and he is bitter, angry and complaining. And then God shows up. And Job realizes that all his complaints and whining are nothing when he is confronted with God.
This is a good reminder to me – I so often want to complain or moan (even sometimes it may be for a good reason!) But it’s helpful at those times for me to remember that God is real and He is looking out for my best. And to remind myself to just shut my mouth.
So the reason that I like this particular doodle so much is for the following reasons:
1) There is a giant X on Cara’s mouth, which reminds me of her song “Who Else.” In that song, there is a quote that says “I’ll shut my mouth now,” which is one of my favorite lines on her album. (More on that tomorrow.)
2) In the self-portrait, you’ll notice that she has on a long sleeve t-shirt with a short-sleeve t-shirt on over the top. That is a signature Cara Austin look. I love the detail.
3) The shoes. That is the funniest part of the entire picture. Because Cara LOVES her Keen shoes - she calls them “clown shoes” but she loves those things. (I have previously mentioned her obsession with shoes.)
I just sent a copy of Cara’s CD to one of the people who ran the Perspectives class that she took last year who requested a copy so that she could play it for the class. Perspectives is a class that’s offered all over the U.S. and teaches people about christian missions. One of the songs that’s on Cara’s CD – They Walk On – was written when she was taking the course.
The first verse of the song:
“There is a lady at the jungle’s edge/
she has a toddler in tow and a calico dress.”
The full lyrics to the song are here, just click the “lyrics” button next to the song name. And you can hear a snippet of the song here.
It turns out that “Calico” isn’t a term that is familiar to everyone. Chris (my husband) heard the song and thought that it said “Calico Dreads” – he is from Jamaica, after all, so maybe he can be excused because of that? If you want to know more about calico, you can read up on it here.
Back to the song, the verse is based on the life of Elisabeth Elliot, whose husband, Jim, was killed while a missionary in Ecuador in 1956. After he was killed, she WENT BACK to the people who killed him, and spent two years with them.
That kind of forgiveness is unbelievable to me.
Today I sent in Cara’s application to play at the New England Arts Festival. It’s going to be in Maine, in June. The coolest thing about this event – and really the reason that I think Cara wants to play there – is that Margaret Becker is the headliner for the event. Cara has really been into Margaret Becker’s music at times in the past – mostly (I think) because she’s such an amazing songwriter, and her lyrics are unbelievable.
A couple of years back, Cara gave her friend Beth Rice* tickets to go see Margaret Becker, and Beth got Cara a really cool signed copy of Margaret Becker’s book. Does Cara still have that book? Hmmmm….doubtful, because Cara is notoriously bad about keeping books. But that one just might have been meaningful enough to keep.
*Beth Rice is the same “Beth Rice” referenced in Cara’s song “In Heaven.”
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