Sweet Irrational Worship

Chad Runyon, baritone, and Jacqueline Chew, piano, present all 22 songs of the Niles-Merton Songs, Opus 171 and 172. The Trappist monk Thomas Merton, and balladeer John Jacob Niles both lived in Kentucky and met only a few times. When Niles set Merton's poetry to music, their lives were embedded. The pieces are arresting, provocative and beautiful. Upon hearing the first three songs of the cycle, Merton burst into tears saying, "it was really a moving experience for me." The project was recorded at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, August 10 and 11, 2005.