The Gate Called Beautiful video from Audie Blaylock

The newest single from Audie Blaylock & Redline, the second from their current project, Originalist, offers an interesting take on Acts, chapter 3.

This is the familiar story of St. Peter curing the lame man at the Temple in Jerusalem following the ascension of Jesus into Heaven. The people of Israel in the time had become somewhat accustomed to Jesus performing miracles, but seeing it done by one of his disciples in Jesus’ name was a startling image to the people at the Temple gate – the gate called Beautiful.

This new single carries that title, The Gate Called Beautiful, and was written by Reed Jones, bassist with Redline. Reed shared with us how it emerged and evolved over the past 7 years into the form in which it now exists on the new record.

“I am inherently drawn to words.  I love their various connotations and applications, I love toying with them, I love their power and scope…I just love the turn of a phrase. So while sitting in a weekly bible study in 2012, studying Acts 3, I was struck by the poetry of the miraculous healing of a disabled, nameless beggar at the gate called Beautiful. The obvious connection between the nature of that event and its location was striking to me for the first time, even though I had read the account numerous times before. I just felt that I had to write a song that captured, to the best of my limited abilities, the message of that story.

Musically at that time, I was reflecting a lot on Audie’s philosophy of singing and harmony, namely that you should hold your words out as long as possible and make the harmonies soar. Those two things collided after I chose to write the story from the perspective of the beggar. It was such a powerful exercise to see myself as broken and in need of healing.  It really taught me a lot about myself, and reminded me of our common humanity; I kind of feel like we’re all in that same boat at various points. But at the same time it made me wonder how can I embody that message of hope and restoration to others that feel broken at that moment? I think if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve all been in both of those places to varying degrees at different points in our life, and you don’t have to be particularly religious to recognize that. I really think that story wraps up a pretty potent part of the human experience.

I sat on the song for years, not really doing anything with it, but for some reason in the last year or so, it felt right to record it. I just love singing with Audie and Evan, and I feel like they captured the vibe so well.

About that time we also started a partnership with Hemisphere Coffee Roasters, creating Redline Roast, and the song really resonated with Paul Kurtz, Hemisphere’s “Coffee Apostle,” whose business model seeks to impart that healing to the farmers they work with. The pieces of the puzzle really came together, and when my dear friend and visual artist, Todd Buschur, came on board with a desire to draw that story, things really took off.

We’ve got a video for the song that pulls all those things together. As a writer, I just really want the message of that song to reach as many people as possible, and the response has been powerful. I want people to ask themselves, “What does The Gate Called Beautiful mean to me?”

The Gate Called Beautiful and Originalist are widely available wherever you stream or download music online. Radio programmers can get both from AirPlay Direct.

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.