MARCI EHRHART - CD THE PATH CALLED LIFE

Popis - THE PATH CALLED LIFE:
This CD offers everything from a full band to simple piano and vocals. With multiple genres of rock, country, and sweet ballads, there's something for everyone. All the songs are written by Marci Ehrhart and tell of the stories of life...the good and the bad with topics covering helping the homeless, losing a child, a tribute to her late father, body image, pondering life's questions, and more. This CD will give you strength and encouragement on your own 'Path Called Life.' Join Marci Ehrhart for the Journey We are all on a journey. Sometimes that journey takes us through beautiful and peaceful meadows, other times it takes us through deep valleys with sides so steep we can’t see our way out. Singer and songwriter Marci Ehrhart remembers the early days of her journey, full of laughter and songs of joy. “I was basically born into a musical family and my dad was hilarious, always joking around and goofing off. My parents accepted Jesus at the Jesus Northwest Christian music festival in 1978 Keith Green was there that year, so when they became saved we started listening to him.” Contemporary Christian Music pioneer Keith Green was one of the most influential artists of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Though his life was cut short when he died in a plane crash in 1982, his influence was an integral part of Ehrhart’s growth. “I started playing the piano by ear when I was three and it was Keith’s music that I grew up listening to,” shares Ehrhart. “I had his music books and started playing from them when I was seven and his music and passion are still ingrained in me.” The parallels between Keith’s journey and her father’s would hit closer to home than Marci could ever imagine. The laughter stopped and the music was put on hold for Marci and her family on November 19, 1990, when her father died in a tragic accident. “I distinctly remember the moment I was told the news,” Ehrhart says, still feeling the emotion of the day. “I knew something had happened when my cousin showed up after school and said she needed to take me home. I jokingly asked, ‘He’s not dead is he?’ She paused a second too long and her face told me the answer.” “When I walked into my house, I remember that I hugged my mom and went upstairs. Immediately I dropped to the floor and prayed, ‘Jesus, I know you have a reason for this.’” But the reason seemed incomprehensible. Following her father’s death, Marci’s journey began to wind through a very deep and dangerous valley. One of Keith Green’s most moving songs, “The Prodigal Son Suite,” encompasses a significant component of Ehrhart’s journey. “The rock and leader of our family was gone,” she remembers. “We stopped going to church, and I wandered off the path.” Even though she was not living the life God intended for her, He never left her side. After a few years, God used the truth Marci’s parents had instilled in her, and the impact of Keith Green’s music, to lead this prodigal back home and onto the right path again. Marci’s walk with the Lord was back on track, but she still had the nagging question, “Why?” Why did God allow her father to die? Ehrhart admits, “I wish I had someone come up to me and say, ‘You know, because your father died, his funeral and all the worship there really impacted me and I came to Christ.’ I keep asking, ‘Lord? Is there something that happened because of this?’” Although Marci might not know the answer until she can ask God face to face, she does know one thing. Because God allowed her to walk through this dark leg of her journey, she knows what it’s like to feel the deep pain of loss, and what it’s like to be so confused you can lose sight of God for a moment. “I have compassion and mercy,” states Ehrhart, “and I really think those are my gifts. I have always had a heart for the elderly, the disabled and those hurting, but now I’ve lived that hurt, so I can truly relate.” She continues, “I think there is guilt as a Christian when you’re not living the life you should, but I’ve walked that too. And now I can say, ‘Wow! There really is this God who loves you and forgives all these things that you’ve done.’” Though Marci Ehrhart’s musical journey began when she was three, it was at age fourteen when she came to a realization that would forever change her life. “For the longest time I just played piano and I’d sing with my family,” remembers Ehrhart. “But then one day I realized I could play and sing and I could actually write songs!” (We can thank 80’s pop star Debbie Gibson for the inspiration, but that’s another story for another day!) Most of Marci’s songs through her high school years were not Christian. “I think I wrote one in high school, but it wasn’t until after high school and I returned to the path of goodness that my Christian walk and songwriting converged. I think as you go through life and you have experiences you can just write more…you have more to say!” After several attempts to record a full CD, Marci found her musical journey stuck in a rut as 2010 arrived. That’s when she was asked to help lead worship in her church. “They knew me because I was the piano player now and again, so that’s when I really believe it all started coming together again.” Though Marci loves leading worship, and still incorporates it into each of her concerts, she also knew God was calling her to share the gifts He had given her. “I had this thing in my heart, that I have all these songs God has given me and I believe they need to be brought out to people,” she exclaims. In early 2012, the Lord finally opened the door for Marci to go back into the studio to record and complete her debut CD entitled PATH CALLED LIFE. It features 11 songs that have been inspired by her journey, as the title states, down this path called life. “The title track tells how life is full of surprises,” shares Marci. “You have to take all the good with the bad and ride out all the storms. This path called life is just what you choose to make of it, and when your end comes, can you look back and know your life was a job well done. Sometimes we deviate from the path, but ultimately we know what our true path should be and where we’re going.” The inspiration for the songs on PATH CALLED LIFE comes from many different sources in many different ways. She wrote “That Is a Mother to Me” because she was asked to write a Mother’s Day song. “Though I have a husband and we have children and they have a Grandpa, Father’s Day for me is very sad because I don’t have a father anymore. I began to think about so many women who either can’t have children, or maybe they’ve had a child who has died, or their mom has passed away…what about Mother’s Day for them?” The song “Body Image” is a song that hits very close to home for Marci. “I really struggled with this in high school. In fact, I was actually anorexic for quite a while. I don’t know if it’s the media or what, but I never felt good enough. I’m not pretty enough. I’m not skinny enough, and so this song was just written about how we’re wonderfully and fearfully made and how our mind lies to us.” “‘How Could You Love Someone like Me?’” was a song I wrote to God,” says Marci. “I wonder how could He love someone like me when, no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get it right. I was inspired by what Paul says in Romans 7 about doing the thing I don’t want to do, that I do. It’s hard to grasp that ‘God can you love someone like me when I just keep on messing up and I never feel I can reach that great level that I should be at?’ Ultimately, He does love us. He loves and forgives us and as the bridge of the song states, ‘That’s when I hear him whisper in my ear be still my child I am near. I will never leave you or forsake you no matter what you do.’” Marci loves sharing her songs in concert and the response has been overwhelming. One of the reasons she recorded PATH CALLED LIFE was because so many people wanted to take her music home with them after a show. Along with a time of worship, Marci incorporates a dose of humor and a little zaniness into each concert. Most of all, Marci’s desire is for God to be glorified and lives to be touched. “One of the things I always want to make sure of is when people are watching me, it’s really God they’re seeing. And if we’re in a time of worship, I’m simply leading them to that place where they are just experiencing God.” And when the night is over? “When people leave, I hope they don’t simply think, ‘Oh, she sang good.’ I hope they leave having experienced God’s touch in their heart and life.” Today, the heart of Marci’s music and ministry is the desire to communicate the joy and pain of real life. She can talk about it because she’s been there. But that message of real life is infused with the real hope that only God can give. She knows about it because she’s been there.