Song Highlight

Listen to the Word of God
Written by Rick Lang

In the mid-1980's when I first attempted writing songs, I had occasional dreams of having one of my favorite Bluegrass Bands someday record one of my tunes. Just the thought of that happening send shivers up my spine. A few years later, after I had a couple dozen or so songs completed, I recorded what I thought were the better ones and began to send them off to certain bands/artists.

I had met and got to know Tim Austin, founder of the Lonesome River Band, who I would see at some of the Bluegrass Festivals in the northeast. At one point (I think it was in 1990) Tim said that LRB was getting ready to record a new album and feel free to send him some of my original songs. Dan Tyminski and Ronnie Bowman were in LRB at the time and Tim was very excited about the way they sang together.

Among the songs I sent was a Gospel number "Listen To The Word Of God". It was the very first " real bluesy" gospel song I had ever composed. I never heard back from Tim, so I figured he didn't hear anything that was of interest.

By chance, in the fall of 1990 I attended an Alison Krauss and Union Station show in Laconia NH with my wife Wendy. During the show I noticed Dan Tyminski standing against a wall in the back of the room and walked over to say hello. It turned out that Alison had asked Dan to sit in with AKUS for a few numbers.

Then Dan started humming/singing the chorus to "Listen To The Word Of God" which really floored me. Dan said he really liked the tune and was pushing for the band to cut the song but unfortunately Tim had lost my cassette demo. He asked if I could send off another copy. It went in the mail the next day.

The rest, as they say, is history. LRB released their new timeless classic album "Carrying The Tradition" album in 1991, which went on to be voted Album Of The Year by the IBMA.

"Listen To The Word Of God" was selection number four and became one of the most highly requested songs on the CD. This was my first big cut as a writer and was the catalyst that spurred me on to work even harder at songwriting.

What made the experience even more special was that the album version featured some killer harmony vocals by Dan and Ronnie, and some very edgy fiddle work by Alison Krauss. This cut is surely one of the greatest highlights for me as a writer to this very day.

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