Welcome to the Season 2, Episode 3. Today you’ll be listening to Part 2 of a 2 part conversation with composer, arranger, producer, singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist, Rob Mathes. Rob is a Grammy-nominated, Tony-nominated artist who won an Emmy award for his musical direction of the Kennedy Center Honors.

In Part 2, a few of the topics Rob and I discuss include:

• How Rob’s song, “Although It Is the Night” was inspired by St. John of The Cross’s poem “Dark Night of the Soul”
• Listen to the song of the same name played in its entirety.
• Why great music mixes the sacred and the profane, “the gears grinding and the heavens singing.”
• How Rob’s train engineer grandfather—a man of deep faith—influenced his life and faith and became the inspiration behind Rob's magnum opus, “Evening Train.”
• Understand why Rob feels it’s important to “poke holes” at aspects of Christianity that are seemingly crazy.

Follow these links to watch videos of Rob as musical director for the Kennedy Center Honors:

Led Zeppelin – “Stairway To Heaven”

Aretha Franklin – “You Make Me Feel (Like A Natural Woman)”

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Thanks for listening!