Hudson Taylors: Noel Richards, Brian Houston and Wayne Drain's worship collective

Sunday 1st August 2010

Tony Cummings went to Bridgnorth Baptist to meet up with three worshipping veterans THE HUDSON TAYLORS



Continued from page 1

Noel: When I was a teenager, I actually listened to a lot of folk music on television, because that was the only thing that was available if you were playing acoustic guitar. So these folk programmes on the BBC, everything from the Spinners to Gordon Lightfoot. They were my roots, because there was nothing else to listen to. And folk was the source that fed country music.

Tony: In the Hudson Taylors' set now do you have new songs, or are you doing the same songs from the album?

Wayne: It's a bit of a mixture. It's pretty heavy with songs from 'Hurricane', but we've been writing some new songs. We're gonna probably close tonight with a song we've just written and we are really happy with. Brian's bringing some songs from his 'Gospel Road' CD, we are doing two new ones you probably haven't heard; "Hosanna" and "Heaven's King".

Noel: Probably almost half of what we are doing is new material. And it's interesting because the 'Gospel Road' stuff really touches people, because they can identify with that. They are safe in the arms of the Lord; you know people need to hear that.

Brian: It fits right in that stuff. It's kind of hard gospel style on the record but once you put it with this music it takes on a slightly bluegrassy feel, so it fits in with what we are doing really well.

Tony: The Americana scene has made roots and country cool. The great thing is, if you stay around long enough you come back to being cool.

Brian: Well, that assumes that you were cool in the first place. We're still looking for a first time cool, let alone the second time.

Noel: I think it's good to model something new, you know three guitars, three voices, and the last couple of nights, supplemented by Trisha here. A Hudsonette.

Tony: And so what's this lady bringing into the mix?

Hudson Taylors: Noel Richards, Brian Houston and Wayne Drain's worship collective

Wayne: Some good harmony and some poetry and a real prophetic sort of edge to things then she makes us smell better and look better.

Tony: Of course, that brings up the other dimension of what you do. It's not simply music, you manage to not only break down barriers in people's minds about different compartments of music, but also break down what is entertainment and what is ministry, because jokes can follow parts of prophetic and parts of worship, all fused, which is very unusual again. Did you all set out to do that?

Wayne: It's hard for me to separate the secular and the sacred, and I go into whatever I do trying to hear whatever the sound of Heaven is. If it comes out the music is great, a prophetic word, or a Scripture you read or a story you tell, it doesn't really matter, I'm always trying to hear if God is saying something tonight, because there are all these ingredients, there are the people that come, the chemistry between us. We all experience, right now, lots of frustration with the economy, lots of fears and things out there, and you are aware of that. On any given night - I don't mean to sound super spiritual, but, I think Jesus comes sometimes as a warrior, sometimes as a shepherd, sometimes as a prophet, so I'm just trying to say, "Jesus, what do you want to do tonight, what do you say?" Sometimes I'll hear something in what one of the other guys is singing, and you kind of follow that trail and see where it goes. The last couple of nights, we've had folks come up, wanting us to pray for them because they have cancer, and so we prayed for them, giving words to people. It's not like we had a word for a pastor and it kind of ricocheted back onto Noel. Noel, do you want to tell the story about Barcelona?

Noel: Yeah. It's a personal thing, but it was a moment when the guys had some prophetic words for some people in the audience and then we finished, done the final song and the pastor of the church came up and was thanking people, and he said, "Hey, we'll have to get these guys into Barcelona." That was a "Wow" moment because Trisha and I spent the best part of eight months last year living in Spain, and that's where we want to be at the moment but we're not sure why. And you suddenly find a connection with a pastor in Bolton who's got this link. God surprises you. Trish was like, "We had a great night last night, but what has that got to do with how we're feeling and what we should be doing right now?"

Tony: But of course you could expand that thought, that not only does God come as a prophet, or as a healer, but sometimes he comes as a stand-up comedian.

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Reader Comments

Posted by Tom Autry, SSR-0001 in Fort Worth, Texas @ 23:33 on Aug 9 2010

Was wondering from whence came the name.
Kinda makes me, also. wonder from when came the name Wayne Drain?
Great interview! Great group!



Posted by Jamie O Dwyer in Dar es Salaam Tanzania @ 15:33 on Aug 9 2010

great to hear of your tour and HudsonTaylors back again. Why not think of an African tour?



Posted by Karl-Arthur Rauxloh in Hanover @ 18:05 on Aug 2 2010

great interview. luv it...



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