This was recorded in March of 2021, and made into this video (and posted on FB) in April. Jan sang this arrangement several years ago in church, before the pandemic closed the doors. This is a guitar-intensive arrangement, and as such, no piano score was written for it; instead, MR used "sound-glue," a sustained organ under the two guitars dubs, in stereo. Also heard under the guitars and Jan's solo voice is strings, elec. bass, and light percussion, all provided digitally by Sibelius, the notation program.

 

MR arranged and orchestrated this hymn, and also added two original verse tunes: the first verse is a highly stylized reworking of the hymn tune, while verses 3 and 4 are both original melodies. MR's 1969 D-35 Martin guitar is in G-tuning: the low E is lowered to D, and the low A is lowered to G. Note to guitarists: MR does not lower the top E string to D, which would put the guitar in a full open G-tuning. Rather, he wanted to retain the E  for the C and Am chords, and it also  preserves the F# in the D chord.

 

MR learned G-tuning form a young man sitting under a revival tent, playing guitar, in Talkeetna, Alaska. MR had his travel guitar in tow, and immediately stopped, jumped out and joined the fun. As a result, he came away with the basics of G-tuning, and has since refined and developed it further: it requires a whole new set of chord fingerings. The chord progressions and guitar effects are not achievable in standard tuning.

 

MR employs the complex folk-style finger-picking techniques he learned in his youth when he used to listen to the well-known folk singers at the (now long defunct) Flick Coffeehouse, near the Univ. of Miami. Included in these styles is "hammering," which is heard in the main guitar motif that repeats: an open string is plucked and then immediately 

fingered on a fret, usually a full tone above; half-tone hammering is also used. Playing the two successive rapid notes is called "hammering on and off" by folkies.