Treasured tunes
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Local band Dogwood & Holly releases its second album
Harmonize — Dogwood & Holly performed for Lynchburg locals and kept the focus on eternity. Photo credit: Leah Seavers
During his time on earth, Jesus encouraged those around him to focus on eternal things and forsake the material goods of this world.
In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus says to his followers, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
For the members of the band Dogwood & Holly, this is what the Christian life is all about.
The progressive folk/bluegrass band’s latest album, “Moth and Rust” ponders this theme of “treasure” — where people invest their time and their talents.
“The central theme is that all things pass away and ties the challenges to where we put our treasure,” Richie Worrell, guitarist and vocalist for Dogwood & Holly, said.
Worrell came to Liberty University in 2010 to study psychology, not knowing that he would soon be forming a band with Luke Sawyer, Audrey Moore and Owen Davenport.
Worrell and Sawyer grew up together in Galax, Virginia, playing music from a young age. After becoming students at Liberty, they befriended Moore and Davenport and formed the band they dubbed “Dogwood & Holly,” a nod to their roots. Worrell, Sawyer and Davenport are from Virginia and Moore is from Delaware — the state trees of Virginia and Delaware are the dogwood and the holly, respectively.
Dogwood & Holly’s first album, “Bonaparte,” which was independently recorded in only four days, was released Sept. 1, 2012.
Having become somewhat of a household name among Liberty students and Lynchburg residents, the band stays primarily in the Lynchburg area, playing at
local venues.
“A big part of our fan base is just right here in town, so we kinda try to just cater to that,” Worrell said.
The band spent 10 months writing and producing its second album, “Moth and Rust,” which was released July 1, 2014.
“This album has been a lot of fun to work on,” Worrell said. “It’s quite a bit different than our first album. … We took it in a kinda different musical direction. It’s still pretty similar to our first one, but the songs are a lot more complicated, musically. They’re more difficult to play. I think the songwriting is better on this album, lyrically.”
“El Shaddai,” the most popular track on the new album, according to iTunes, was written by Worrell in the wake of the tragic Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre that took place in Newtown, Connecticut, Dec. 14, 2012.
Home for Christmas break, Worrell turned on the television and saw the news about the shooting, listening as commentators discussed the tragedy. He
later read comments and questions from heartbroken and angry bloggers online.
“The same question they always ask when things like this happen is, ‘Where was God?’ It’s a real struggle, and you can’t help but kind of ask yourself that question,” Worrell said.
As he grappled with the question, Worrell picked up his guitar and wrote “El Shaddai” — which means “Lord Almighty” in Hebrew — the same day.
Inspired by discourses in the book of Job, the song’s anguished singer cries, “When the gunman in the town put twenty babies in the ground, were you listening? Did you hear the same sounds? Were you around?”
In the last verse of the song, God responds, “Where were you, little child, when the world was made? Who made you, reconciled, when the blood was paid?”
Reflecting on his years spent at Liberty, Worrell, a recent graduate, gave some advice for current students.
“Don’t waste your time,” Worrell said. “… Take college seriously, but still enjoy yourself while you’re here and invest in the people around you.”
Worrell also wants to remind fans that God is the only one in whom they should invest their time and their talents.
In celebration of the release of their new album, Dogwood & Holly preformed an album release concert Saturday, Aug. 30, at Monument Terrace in Downtown Lynchburg as a means of saying “thank you” to fans and supporters with no charge for admission.
“We’re trying to continue to make good music and just have fun, which is why we do it in the first place,” Worrell said.