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Continuing our series focusing on the talented singers/songwriters I've had the privilege of working with over the years, the next three month's offerings feature Mia Tepper. The recordings featured here were (are?) to be part of a CD project that Mia and I were working on together called "Fearfully and Wonderfully Made", which included a mix of original music and re-workings/arrangements of a number of our favorite hymns and worship songs.

Mia and I began working together on this music in June 2000. Mia's ideas for the project and the writing and selection of the music were already well under way by the time I came on board. She had just given an emotional concert at our church featuring music she planned on recording for "Fearfully". After the concert, having no clue that she and her accompanist were about to part ways, I told her how much I enjoyed the concert, and to give me a call if she ever needed a piano player.

While my role in this project began primarily as accompanist, it soon expanded into one of collaborator as we began re-assessing each song's role in the project, weeding out a few, adding and writing some new ones, and of course, I began putting my own stamp on some of the musical arrangements, mostly with Mia's approval. After much rehearsing and re-arranging, recording of the songs proceeded slowly, time permitting. In May of 2001, we had a choir concert at our church that featured most of the material for "Fearfully".

After the events of September 11, 2001, and the unexpected and sudden death of my sister, I stopped playing music for a time, also putting "Fearfully" on hold. I knew that if I worked on this during that time period, I'd always associate this music with what was going on. The "vibe" on the recordings would also suffer. Long story made shorter, after a few fits and starts and stops, the CD project eventually got put on a semi-permanent hiatus due to a variety of circumstances. In 2005, Mia moved to Pennsylvania after her marriage to Mitch Tepper. I don't think either of us expected this music to ever see the light of day. It was only after looking back on all the music I've done over the years and and coming up with this "Monthly Offering" idea that it made sense to include some of the music from "Fearfully" as part of this.

"Oh Most High" is a song that was written by Mia prior to my involvement, and one that has undergone a few musical changes after I got ahold of it. After listening to the lyrics, I can understand now why I couldn't give my all to it after 9/11 and my sister's death. The lyrics come from a place I was incapable of going for a long time.

Having been through a fire of sorts, I'd like to think that I will now always be able to enjoy and sing a song like this regardless of my circumstances. I've had great fun finishing this one off this past month.

Enjoy!

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