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We started this worship project -- IT IS WELL - by asking one question -- Can we do something unique? There are a lot of worship records, after all, but we were driven by the challenge to do something different. From February -- May 2009 we pored over hundreds of songs. We looked for songs that had special meaning to us, songs that we could give a unique spin, songs that were traditional, songs that were not...and on and on. And we wrote...then we wrote some more. As the list of songs started to come together, we dug into the arrangements -- after all, we are a rock band, which can be challenging in terms of how to take a hymn written in the late 1800's and make it sound like a Kutless song. We recorded in late May and early June at a beautiful 300-acre hazelnut farm south of Portland, OR. It was a unique process because it was our first project to co-produce, and secondly, we recorded in the living room of a farmhouse. We met as a band every morning and dug into the Word and prayed. God was there. We worked with purpose -- everybody deferring to each other's strengths. There was freedom, laughter, and unity. We had one of those incredible experiences that happen to Christ-followers. We started with a goal, but, through the process, God took that goal and turned it back around to Himself. The quest for a unique album became a unique time for us to go deeper in worship. The goal of original songs became a time for us to grow in our love and appreciation of each other. The it dawned on us...that's the purpose of a worship record -- to help reflect who God is - His peace, His freedom, His power, His ability to help us grow in relationship with Him and others. That "unique" experience happened to us in the making of IT IS WELL.

One of the biggest challenges for us on this record was in how to balance the songs. We loved so many old traditional worship songs, and we wanted to record some modern songs as well. We chose to record "It Is Well" -- the title track because of the story of the writer -- Horatio Spafford -- his faith in God in a time of personal tragedy. We love Keith Green and we tried to honor his memory by combining two of his songs "There Is A Redeemer" and "Oh Lord, You're Beautiful" into a medley we called "Redeemer". We recorded several favorite modern songs including "Hungry" and "God Of Wonders". For the originals, we wanted to take the opportunity to write some traditional adoration-based worship songs, but we also wanted to cover some things topically that wouldn't normally be found on a worship record. "Remember Me" is written from the perspective of the thief on the cross. We figured that there are not many more worshipful things than a lifetime sinner falling into the arms of salvation at the end of his days. "What Faith Can Do" is not as much of a worship song as it is an encouragement to all of us that God is there and His power is real. "You Save Me" is a worship song recorded rock-style.

Kutless has sold 1.5 million records and played worldwide to millions of people since 2002. We are Jon Micah Sumrall -- vocals, James Mead -- guitar, Dave Luetkenhoelter -- bass, Jeff Gilbert -- drums, and Nick DePartee -- guitar.

Kutless -- October 2009