By Gigi Duncan
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 14, 2024 / 06:00 am
Following the release of their new album, titled “Marigold,” the Hillbilly Thomists performed in Washington, D.C., as part of their ongoing Marigold Tour on Aug. 8, the feast of St. Dominic.
Playing at St. Francis Hall to a sold-out crowd of more than 150 people, the band of Dominican friars played various songs from all four of their albums, including their latest album, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard bluegrass charts after its July 26 release.
“Our music is influenced by the bluegrass genre, but it’s become our own thing because we’re all Dominicans,” shared Father Peter Gautsch, who plays the guitar. “Bluegrass has a tradition of the Gospel, but we bring a Catholic twist to it.”
For example, band members spoke of their song “Marigold,” sharing how the “marigold flower is associated with Our Lady” and citing their inspiration to write the tune as a “prayer for growing in patience, especially for the good things, and asking [the Blessed Virgin Mary], who is most patient, to pray for us.”
The concert’s crowd consisted of many young people and families who danced and sang along to songs such as “Marigold” as the Dominican brothers interacted with those in attendance before, during, and after the show.
“I first heard about the Hillbilly Thomists when I was involved in college and the Thomistic Institute, which had an annual leadership conference where Father Jonah Teller and Father Thomas Joseph White spoke,” shared Celia Hadjin, a 23-year-old concertgoer. “They played a mini set from their new album at the time, ‘Holy Ghost Power,’ and I really liked their music, so I looked them up afterwards and became a fan.”
Many followed the Dominican brothers throughout their summer tour, which has so far included stops in Knoxville, Tennessee; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Savannah, Georgia. In Savannah, band members were able to visit the birthplace of Flannery O’Connor, a popular Catholic novelist who has inspired many lyrics of the Hillbilly Thomists’ songs — as well as the band’s name.
“Flannery O’Connor said in one of her letters, ‘I am not a hillbilly nihilist, I am a hillbilly Thomist,’” shared Father Thomas Joseph White. “One of her famous stories was called ‘A Good Man Is Hard to Find,’ so we said that a good band is hard to find.”
The band began in 2016 at the Dominican House of Studies (DHS) in Washington, D.C., where the friars often sang as part of their community life and formation.
“As many of you probably know, we don’t perform full time. We do this two weeks out of the year and are blessed to be able to share it tonight with you all,” the band told concertgoers. “We recorded our first album in the DHS just down the street as a homemade project.”
Since then, the Hillbilly Thomists have gone on to engineer-record and release four albums consisting of both original and cover songs as well as perform on tours following each album’s release.
Usually consisting of about 15 shows, the Dominican friars often enjoy ending each concert with night prayer. Having reemerged on stage for an encore at St. Francis Hall, the band acknowledged that they are “first and foremost priests and religious,” sharing that they had been “praying for [the concert attendees] over the past year.”
They then chose to pray by singing the Christian hymn “Just As I Am,” which, according to the band, gets “to the real beauty of our faith, which is that God loves us unconditionally. That oftentimes we can fool ourselves and get confused, thinking that we have to do something to prove our worth to Jesus.”
“But the reality is that God loves us in the good and the bad times, that he doesn’t wait for us to fix our lives to love us, but rather loves us just how we are in the messy, complicated state that we exist in,” they shared.
Similar to this hymn, the Hillbilly Thomists’ music often delves into the themes of Christian suffering, hope, and determination.
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“Music is another way to preach. It’s a way into the heart, as you can communicate some beautiful truths about the faith and life through storytelling and music,” Father Justin Teller told CNA. “So there’s kind of authentic, real-life themes that are taken up in the bluegrass, folk-type music. People respond well and really appreciate that we’re singing about maybe some kind of tragedy or suffering that one can go through but also the hope that is given to us as Christians.”
