Long Line of Leavers (Compact Disc)

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Nowadays when the seven members of Caedmon's Call board their tour bus to head out to colleges across the country, they bring a brand new baby girl, a seventeen-year-old musical prodigy, and an inspired sense of confidence with them. This confidence is reflected on their latest project, Long Line of Leavers, an album full of personal discoveries about life as they've lived it. For the Texas-based group who has seen eight years of growth, they've arrived at what they believe to be the next logical step.

Professionally, they welcomed two impressive new members in the summer of 1999: bassist Jeff Miller and high school student Josh Moore (Hammond B-3, piano, accordion) who enjoys an adapted form of 'home-schooling' while on the road. Personally, two founding members, Cliff and Danielle Young, announced the birth of their first child, Rachel in late December of '99. Considering these new responsibilities, it was only appropriate that the members of folk-acoustic Caedmon's Call continue to spread their wings musically as well.

Their past two national releases have earned widespread critical acclaim, including five number one singles, top-selling positions on SoundScan sales charts, an album of the year Dove award, Billboard recognition, spots on two WoW compilations, and multiple sold-out performances from coast to coast. Even with all this success, the band felt ready to push their artistic expression to greater lengths. They wanted to maintain the integrity of their musical style, but also follow their natural progression and experiment with more courageous sounds.

Get ready for tunes that’ll make your fingers snap. And toes tap. Long Line of Leavers merges tinkering, smoky sounds with warmer guitar riffs & vocals that echo and push beyond 40 Acres. They even have a peppy last track that feels like a joint recording effort with mainstream humor-gurus Bare Naked Ladies.

Here’s what these new songs are all about: The album title, "Long Line of Leavers," was taken from a verse in the quirky hit song “The Only One.” On a universal level, it confronts generational issues the band has encountered, while conveying a theology they've come to believe in strongly over the years. "The title of the album expresses our depravity and how aware of it we've become as a band," explains vocalist, guitarist and songwriter Derek Webb. In layman's terms, to say that they come from a long line of leavers is to acknowledge that they need God for everything, including the ability to love with endurance.

"We love imperfectly and we're flawed in our picture of what love is," Webb continues. With a vulnerability that is commonly woven into the band's music, this song wrestles with the reality that love often leads to someone leaving. The comfort is that God never does. And that's the profound message of the song. It's also the fundamental message of the band.

”The Only One” is a song that sheds light on the mystery of God's unconditional love. “Love is Different” confronts the lie of the Hollywood romantic paradigm. “Prepare Ye the Way” emphasizes the responsibility of sharing the love of Christ. “Can't Lose You” honors the strength of love within family. “Piece of Glass” wrestles with a dysfunctional love of the world's acceptance as it manifests in the form of an eating disorder. “Love Alone” is a beautiful heartfelt ballad, which scratches at the surface of sorrow and oppression.

With experimentation on every track, Long Line of Leavers promises faithful fans more of their favorite sounds and introduces new listeners to a solid, talented band of believers.

College to college, campus to campus to campus…

Thankfully for the hundreds of thousands of college students who have bought their albums and extended invitations to their campuses, the vision of Caedmon's Call is the one thing about them that has evolved very little. They've always recognized their calling to minister to their peers, who with the addition of Josh, have broadened from college students to include a slightly younger audience. Regardless of age, the band strives to encourage people like themselves, Christians who are at a pivotal place of dealing with spiritual questions, relationship struggles, and figuring out what they truly believe in.

"The average college student is at a crossroads in their life," confirms vocalist and guitarist, Cliff Young. Although none of the band members are in college anymore, the band still maintains the mindset they had when the band first started. And their audience challenges them to do so. "Interacting with college students continually reminds us to seek the truth and read through all the hype. It's a huge responsibility and a privilege to be able to play for college-aged people because they are making important life decisions, and we can offer a small role in those decisions. Our audiences are very real with us."

The transparency and honesty they share with fans is largely responsible for Caedmon's growing success. They formed a fan club of sorts, The Guild, now in its third year. As members, fans have an opportunity to express their individual concerns on The Guild message board among other benefits. The band has also made it a priority to spend time after performances mingling with the crowd and discussing whatever issues are important to them. One that has come up over and over, is that of relationships. So it is fitting that love is the prominent theme of this album.

With Long Line of Leavers as a milestone recording, the band welcomes the opportunity to share the new caliber of songs they've poured themselves into. Touring has become a second home to them, in part because they get to see the fans they've come to know as friends. This intimacy blended with a compelling live show is a recipe that can't be found with just any band. Caedmon's Call, who has gone from small-scale Sunday School performances to sold out shows at Purdue, Harvard, and LA House of Blues, has spent years fine-tuning their unique concert experience.

Perhaps new member Moore, who until recently was an onlooker to the phenomenon surrounding Caedmon's Call, describes it best. "There's a spectacular combination of solid performing with a casual atmosphere. It's spontaneous, but it's not unorganized. Usually you have one or the other, but not with Caedmon's Call. One minute you have this tight musical performance happening, and then suddenly you've got Cliff walking around barefoot and calling people up on stage to play guitar."

By their ability to engage audiences, stretch themselves to musical heights and grow up with integrity, Caedmon's Call has cultivated a musical identity for themselves that is unparalleled. Whether traveling around the country, promoting their new album, or simply pushing a stroller down the streets of their hometown, all this recent growth makes them realize that they never know what's in store for them next.

While they wait in anticipation, they'll keep doing what they've learned to be important... forging ahead, pausing to rest, and waking up to the mystery that God is always there and that He's brought them this far.

Comments from songwriters Aaron Tate, Derek Webb, and Ed Cash

The Only One

“This song is about my fear of being left, and about the mysterious staying power of unconditional love. There are a few things more profound than to be completely known and still completely loved.” -- Aaron Tate

Love Is Different

“As often as our culture tries to tell us what love is, I thought I would put down a little of what I believe love is not. Love is neither a 30-minute sitcom, nor is it a sappy pop ballad. Rather, it is the most difficult and most profound of human experiences, but thanks to our post-modern culture coupled with our own capacity for sin, it’s often much different than we would think.” -- Derek Webb

Prepare Ye the Way

“This song looks at the responsibility of today’s Christian culture. The song, written by John Michael Talbot, conveys a message of revival to the church, a message encouraging them to feed the hungry and show Christ’s love to all people.” -- Cliff Young

Prove Me Wrong

“As our understanding of spiritual things increases, so can our doubts become more complex and worrisome. This song is a prayer for God to destroy those frightening doubts that keep me from him.” -- Aaron Tate

Mistake of My Life

“When God calls you into something, you’ve got to run headlong into it. This is a song about my fear of trusting God with the unknown and running headlong from Texas to Tennessee after the girl I love." -- Derek Webb

Masquerade

One night I was driving through Kansas in the midst of a huge thunderstorm. In the distance, I could see the lights of a shining city lighting up a small section of the sky. I was so impressed with the power of the city lights until a bolt of lightening flashed and illuminated the entire sky, allowing me to see everything. I was in awe of God’s creation and the awesome power of the lighting overpowering the city lights.” -- Ed Cash

What You Want

There is a great danger in finding your validation in something other than the Gospel. This song is the inevitable conclusion to looking to those around you for your worth.” -- Derek Webb

Valley

“This song is about residing in a deep spiritual valley. In that dry place, the comfort is knowing that the rain will come, and when it does, the valleys fill first.” -- Aaron Tate

Can’t Lose You

“I’m finding that being in my 20’s is bringing with it a lot of peripheral changes, and there are moments when I felt that life was moving forward for everyone but me. I started writing this song the morning my brother was leaving town, newly married, to begin his life. Even though the miles are considerable, our bond as brothers is much stronger.” -- Derek Webb

Love Alone

“I wrote this song while overwhelmed by the suffering and pain felt in this world where death acts undefeated. I know we can offer the much-needed peace, hope, and love -- but we can’t do it alone.” -- Aaron Tate

Dance

“This song was written after an emotional visit with my grandmother, Mary Webb, in an assisted living facility in Memphis, Tennessee. She recounted most of her life story to my Dad and I, continuing to return to the thing that she enjoyed most: dancing.” -- Derek Webb

Piece of Glass

“Piece of Glass” came out of a conversation with Danielle Young and myself about the pressures that we and our friends were feeling to measure up physically against the standards of our culture. Our battle is nothing more than our reflection in the mirror and the lies that is tells us about who were really are.” -- Derek Webb

Ballad of San Francisco

“During a day off from the tour, I found myself wandering around San Francisco, California, looking for adventure. I soon realized that I was without companionship, without purpose, and without a map. In the time it took me to find my way back to the bus, I had written this song.” -- Derek Webb