“Follow the Lord”- An Evolution!

“Follow the Lord”- The EVOLUTION!

Pre-save on Spotify link: https://show.co/5AI0oal

Hear Now Link: https://juliekinscheck.hearnow.com/follow-the-lord

My next single to share with the world is “Follow the Lord” and it will drop on May 18th, 2025!
This songs is a jam, a party- a MISSION! 

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.- Matthew 16:24

“Follow the Lord” is an evolution musically, but also spiritually! Isn’t our journey to follow the Lord an evolution for each of us? The spiritual journey got rocking’ in 1990 when I lost my voice. (More on that later!) The musical part started in the car on the way to a women’s service…

Here’s the link to the new video going public for the You God’s Music Showcase competition May 16th: https://youtu.be/BLO0eWuswXI but you are special and get the sneak peak here!

Inspired by a women’s lesson to follow Jesus by Lory Demshar, it was half written while driving to church!
Follow Him, Praise Him, Trust Him and Love Him and you will experience life to the full! 

I am so excited to share this single! Some of you may have seen an acoustic or even live version of this on YouTube in the last couple years… but it has been an evolution to come to this final version recorded in Black Mountain, North Carolina, just before the hurricane that devastated the area, at the studios of producer Neal Merrick Blackwood, graced by the sweet harmonies of the Brighter Day Community chorus and more!

This was the first version. You will notice it has no bridge yet… or band.

So the way it began was on that drive to women’s midweek. By the time I got there, (only a 10 minute drive), I had written the hooky first verse and a chorus or B section. When I got there I was thrilled and I told Lory about it. She immediately followed the Spirit and suggested I teach it to the women present (maybe 60 people) that night. People seemed to really enjoy it. It was a catchy call and response song, simple and meaningful- and fit the lesson!

Then later that week in a voice lesson with my voice student Crystyna Cooney, I tried out some more verse ideas and came up with an alto part. This all happened in fall of 2022.

I recorded this  acoustic version (above) in April of 2023. I wrote the SATB harmony parts on Sibelius. Soon afterward I taught it to the church band, and the worship team played it on a Sunday!

It went over really well in church with the congregation, but the band had a hard time catching my vision for the music, probably because I wasn’t clear on it myself yet… I felt like there should be some island feel, but the drummer wasn’t feeling it.. but I had vision for the song, maybe my first song that was really good for the congregation- so I wasn’t going to give up!

Time went by some more. I had been busy.

I finished my masters in voice pedagogy from Rider University and got fired up to release some more music. I had been building a relationship with this producer, Neal Merrick Blackwood, out of Black Mountain, NC through our mutual friend, Rebecca Harrold. He used to be the head engineer at Arista Records in Nashville and had basically worked with everyone from Dolly Parton to Take 6. We established a time for that fall of 2023 and I went down to NC ini October to record and co-write and see if we had musical chemistry. We did. Though, I didn’t record “Follow the Lord” on that first visit.

It was on our second session in March on 2024 that we laid basics for “Follow the Lord” in the studio at last. And wouldn’t ya know? The ideas for the groove (the “We Will Rock You” vibe!) and the whole bridge break down section with a gospel choir came on me again while in the car! I was on my way through Billerica Center and I had to grab my phone and sing into the voice memo!

We had the marvelous Chris Rosser on Keys, organ and electric guitar and the amazing Zack Page on bass:

And Jeanie Grindstaff and Max Dasher did the initial back up vocals with me. Do we look like we were having some fun?

Neal played the drums and percussion when I wasn’t around to take pictures.

Between the April and July sessions, I was blessed to play the new version of the song with the Leominster Church of Christ led by Rich Evans who proclaimed this song my “next hit!” That fired me up. The live recording didn’t come out well enough to share, but it was so fun to do – and the church responded so well!

It wasn’t until our July sessions that we added the brilliant Brighter Day Community Chorus. We had 4 of them drive up from Charlotte, NC for the LONG session. They were wonderful, though, as you can hear. There were four singers, but we multi-tracked them to sound like a whole choir! You can also hear Neal singing some low bass on the break down. Singers included:

Brighter Day Community Chorus:
Gospel Choir: Zacch Estrada-Petersen (Tenor)
Patrice Jacobs (Soprano)
Nicole Smith-Galloway (Alto)
Marcus Wilson (Bass)

Brighter Day Community Chorus singers

I stayed up all night writing the choir parts to “Our Sweetest Gift” so I was pretty pasty when we came in for the “Follow the Lord” session on July 5th!

Since that time I have also been blessed to perform the song again ini my home church in Lowell. MA and with some very talented students from Berklee Collage of Music at our BNOW 2025 concert. You will see both my home worship team and the Berklee students on the new video!

Those seen from my from the NW Mission Center Worship Team include: Band:  Bryan Pitts-Piano/ Vocals, Ralph Kinscheck-keys, John French-Bass, Jesse Price- drums, Singers: Kayla McGarr, Kristen Lamb, Niles Radl, Rebekah Cox & Caleb Kinscheck

Students on the video from Berklee include:
Singers: Bobae Choe, Jacob Lee, Theo Linebaugh and Lydia Kwon
Musicians: Jim Petersson- Guitar, Lionel Girardeau- bass, Peter Sun- Piano, Elijah Tolefe-Keys & Isabella Miragliotta-Drums

So the tracks were laid- but as things (and budgets!) go, we didn’t finish the final miix till April of this year, as I am mixing the songs one at a time before their release.

And at last, I am releasing the song on May 18th! Originally, I had hoped to release it a few weeks earlier… but then I entered the You God’s Music Showcase and wanted to push that a bit longer before I changed four to the new single… But since I made edit to round two- I decided to use “Follow the Lord” for the next voting round- so it will all work together!

Please go the Pre-save link if the song isn’t out yet and save it on Spotify! Pre-save on Spotify link: https://show.co/5AI0oal

If it issei’s after May 18th– please go to the Hear Now Link: https://juliekinscheck.hearnow.com/follow-the-lord
and follow/ subscribe on your favorite music platform!

If it is after May 16th– PLEASE vote for me ini the You God’s Music Showcase round 2!!! www.yougodsmusic.org

Now you know the musical evolution – now for the Spiritual Inspiration behind the song!

Isn’t our journey to follow the Lord an evolution for each of us?

I was not always praising the Lord with my music. In fact,  remember when, at around age 12. I was out in a row boat on Keys’s Pond in Maine, when my Uncle Ken suggested I should sing Christian music. I thought he was nuts! But look at me now!

God had to work on me a bit before I was ready to “Leave my nets and come.” (first verse lyric) And he used music to do it. First of all, I was a bit of a wild child then. My band Centerpiece was playing in lots of smokey bars with back in the late 80’s (oops, just dated myself), and I was running myself into the ground. The show must go on no matter what! Remember before COVIID when you couldn’t ever cancel anything even if you were sick? Then this guitarist friend of mine, Jim Peterson, (yes the same guitarist on the BNOW Concert ini the video), started reaching out to me and my boyfriend to come to church. We went to some open mic nights and such, but I had no interest ini the spiritual side of things. But they were nice people and good musicians! Until the unthinkable happened…

I got vocal nodes! That’s calluses on my vocal cords! The greatest fear of any singer! I not only couldn’t sing, I couldn’t even talk. And wouldn’t you know, II had to cancel all my gigs, my band broke up, my boyfriend (also my keyboard player at the time) broke up with me… I felt lonely, abounded and afraid my career was over.

Jim started to study the Bible with my X-boyfriend and I was astounded at David’s change of heart and attitude towards me. It blew me away in fact. I went to Jim and asked what he was teaching him and he set me up to study the Bible with his girlfriend (now wife) Jean and some other wonderful women from the church including Elena Doolittle, Laurie Tranchell, Suzanne Clark (later my Maid of Honor at my wedding) and Karen Cincotta (now Goodlow).

Wedding Party, Left to right (cropped not all) Elena Doolittle, Sharon Dolph, Suzanne Clark, Nadine Thompson, Julie & Ralph Kinscheck, Jim Cafarella, Sean Nix, Bob Bogren

These women helped me understand that I was loved so deeply by God- even if I couldn’t sing! Because I was still without a voice at this time. I wrestled with my faith and trust in the Word until I finally took the plunge and promised to follow the Lord for the rest of my life in the waters of Baptism on January 6th, 1991!

God had used the weakness in my voice to help me look at His truth and Hiss love.

 

 

I remember taking on Philippians 4:13 as my theme scripture:
“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength”

With the help of many prayers and some great vocal therapy from Mass Eye and Ear and Mark Baxter, I healed from my vocal challenges (though I did have a relapse ten years later- but that is a different story for another day!) and had my first performance as a Christian only six weeks later at a church concert at the Wang Center in Boston for 4000 people! God had taken me from empty smokey bar to concert halls, he had healed my voice and gave me back my dreams- but in a new way. I would now use my voice for His glory! All because I made the decision to “Follow the Lord!”

Lyrics: 

 Follow the Lord

Julie Kinscheck c 2022

Verse 1:
Follow the Lord (Follow the Lord)
Leave your nets and come
Follow the Lord (Follow the Lord)
There’s room for everyone (Everyone)
Follow the Lord (Follow the Lord)
He has a plan for you
Follow Jesus Christ and he will show you what to do!

Verse 2:
Praise the Lord! (Praise the Lord)
Raise your voice in song!
Praise the Lord! (Praise the Lord)
Extol His virtues all.. (All day long)
Praise the Lord (Praise the Lord)
He’s made a way for you
Follow Jesus Christ and he will show you what to do!

Bridge:
To have life to the full
To bring others to the throne
To have joy in your heart
All you have to do is start to

Verse 3:
Trust the Lord (Trust the Lord)
He loves you as his own
Trust the Lord (Trust the Lord)
Someday he’ll take you home (take you home)
Trust the Lord (Trust the Lord)
The God who sees in you
Follow Jesus Christ and he will show you what to do!

Bridge:
To have life to the full
To bring others to the throne
To have joy in your heart
All you have to do is start

To have life to the full
To bring others to the throne
To have joy in your heart
All you have to do is start to

BRIDGE 2:
Bass: Follow Follow Follow
Follow the Lord
Follow Follow
Follow the Lord

Tenor: King of Kings Holy
Lord of everything
Mighty God Messiah
All praise to him we sing

Alto: Follow the Lord, Follow the Lord
The God who sees me
Follow the Lord, Follow the Lord
Some day he’ll take us home

Soprano: Feed My Sheep
Fish for men
Praise the Lord Hallelujah
Praise Him!

Verse 4:
Love the Lord (Love the Lord)
With strength & heart and mind
Love the Lord (Love the Lord)
No greater love you’ll find (Ever find)
Love the Lord (Love the Lord)
He gave for you His son
Follow Jesus Christ because He is the Only One

TAG:
Follow Jesus Christ because He is the Only One
Follow Jesus Christ because He is the Holy One!

ALBUM CREDITS
Artist: Julie Kinscheck
Words & Music: Julie Alice Kinscheck c. 2022
Label: Jharck Records, Billerica, MA
Producer/ Recording & mix Engineer: Neal Merrick Blackwood
Lead & BU Vocals & Acoustic Guitar: Julie Kinscheck
Piano, Electric Guitar: Chris Rosser
Bass Guitar: Zack Page
Drums & Percussion: Neal Merrick Blackwood
Back Up Vocals: Jeanie Grindstaff & Max Dasher
Brighter Day Community Chorus:
Gospel Choir: Zacch Estrada-Petersen (Tenor)
Patrice Jacobs (Soprano)
Nicole Smith-Galloway (Alto)
Marcus Wilson (Bass)
Cover photography: Vera Crane