The Long Time Now

#8 on CCM Magazine’s “100 Greatest Albums in Christian Music” (2001)

1992’s Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album

I suppose I first heard of T Bone Burnett from the album The Turning by Sam Phillips (“Leslie Phillips” at the time). This album, produced by Burnett and released in 1987, was an absolute breath of fresh air in Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Then my best friend John got hold of The Criminal Under My Own Hat, which would earn a Grammy for Burnett in 1992. It was on this album that I first heard the song “The Long Time Now.” I’ve loved it ever since and have wanted to sing it myself for … well, a long time now.

Enter the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020, The Table Troubadours “#StayHome and Worship #WithMe” video series, and I finally had my chance. My kids, my wife, myself, my friends, and the whole world is stuck in this holding pattern for an undetermined amount of time as we assess the damage done by COVID-19 and try to make sense of this changing world. I asked the church to submit artwork on these themes and that’s how I got the images of our parishioners in masks and the “Escape in Sleep” oil painting.

Thank you, T Bone Burnett for this great song that is so timely now.