The latest album release from modern hymnwriters Keith and Kristyn Getty is based on a deep dive into their Irish heritage. Confessio: Irish-American Roots, which releases Friday, features a mix of traditional and contemporary songs from the married musicians.
Keith Getty, along with Stuart Townend, penned the powerful worship anthem “In Christ Alone,” sung by an estimated 50 million people in church services every year. Keith and Kristyn run the Getty Music record label, partner with other musicians, and hold events such as an annual Christmas tour and a Global Hymn Sing. The couple, who have four daughters, split their time between homes in Nashville and Northern Ireland.
Keith and Kristyn Getty: What’s Behind ‘Confessio’
Last year, the Gettys spent 10 months in Ireland to learn about their family backgrounds. They also explored how the musical and faith heritage from that part of the world has influenced the U.S. church. “Confessio” emerged as a diary, or collection, of both musical and spiritual roots.
“We know well how a tree’s roots go down vertically beneath the soil but don’t often realize how they also reach out horizontally, sometimes several times wider than the branch width of the tree,” the Gettys note. “When Psalm 1 compares the godly life to a tree planted by streams of water, it is a water stream reached for by millions of people over centuries and around the world who have joined their roots together.”
“This idea of intertwining roots also paints a beautiful picture of how our musical roots link,” the musicians add. “Over the last 20 years of writing and recording music, we have leaned on this—the heritage of our Irish and Scottish roots and how they grew across to the new world where we now make our home.”
First Single Appears in Upcoming Christian Film
“It Is Well With My Soul,” the first single from “Confessio,” released last month and appears in the closing credits of the upcoming movie “Sabina: Tortured for Christ, the Nazi Years.” The film tells the story of Sabina and Richard Wurmbrand, founders of the interdenominational mission organization The Voice of the Martyrs.
