Today, the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir offers Drawn Back to the Table.
These nine songs grew from years of returning together to the stories of Christ’s Passion and Resurrection. Students began with Scripture and their own lives. They wrote, composed, rehearsed, questioned, revised, prayed, traveled, and learned to entrust the work to one another. What emerged is not simply a collection of songs, but a journey through memory, grief, surrender, recognition, communion, and response.
The album opens with “Memory” and moves through the stories of Bethany, Mary, Veronica, Peter, Emmaus, and Noah. It asks what love can do when words fail, what it means to draw near to suffering, whether shame can become a place of reconciliation, and how a community learns to begin again.
Drawn Back to the Table was written for the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir, with music by J.J. Wright, a libretto by Tristan Cooley, and additional music by Franky Rousseau, Ike Sturm, and members of the Folk Choir. The recording was produced by Franky Rousseau, who also plays guitars, and co-produced by Dominic Mekky, who contributed keyboards, arrangements, and orchestrations.
The instrumental ensemble includes Rob Moose on strings, Ike Sturm on bass, and Arthur Hnatek and Jay Rudolph on drums. Dana Nielsen served as session and mix engineer. Mixing and mastering were completed by Blake La Grange and Robert Friedrich. Maddy Sturm created the artwork and lyric videos.
Each track is carried by a distinctive featured voice: Erin Shea Hogan on “Memory”; Emorja Roberson on “Bethany”; Marie Miller on “I Will Go”; Chanda Rule on “Drawn Back to the Table”; Emma Frank on “Veronica”; Sarah Kroger on “Beside My Shepherd Again”; John Finch leading “Could I Believe?”; Danielle Rose on “Mary’s Song”; and Dave Edwards on “Send for the Raven.”
The album was recorded at EastWest Studios in Los Angeles and at the University of Notre Dame, and is released by Notre Dame Records.
Every generation of the Folk Choir receives a life of prayer and song it did not create alone. These songs are one offering from this generation—made with gratitude for everyone who helped the Choir become what it is, and with hope for everyone who will gather next.
Listen to Drawn Back to the Table:
https://lnk.to/dbt
Watch the official lyric-video playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLACstuOV83Yk