Genre: Folk/Acoustic/Americana, Pop/Rock
For fans of: Rich Mullins, James Taylor, Caedmon's Call, Fernando Ortega, Chris Rice
Label: Fervent Records

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In the early-80s, Andrew Peterson was a little kid who loved adventure. When he wasn't staging make-believe wars with GI Joe and building forts in the backyard, he was getting lost inside Hardy Boys mysteries, Lewis's enchanted Narnia, and Tolkein's hobbit-lurking Shire. Throughout his adolescence in rural Florida, these stories sparked Peterson's imagination and soon he began conjuring his own fantastic tales, inventing far-away lands and unusual creatures to inhabit them.

Twenty-five years later, Peterson's love of storytelling has remained a vital part of his life. He's either huddled down flipping pages for his young sons Aedan and Jesse and their little sister Skye, or he's out on the edge of a stage, spinning tales as one of today's most prolific songwriters. With his sixth album releasing August 2005, Peterson invites us on yet another journey to someplace unexpected, The Far Country.

Meister Eckhart wrote, "God is at home. We are in the far country." Peterson read the quote in a book by Annie Dillard a few years ago and scribbled it in his journal.

"It expressed so simply the way I feel about life on this earth, and my heart resounded with the truth of it," recalls Peterson. "I loved the way it turned my thinking on its end; we usually think of Heaven as the far country, a cloudy, ethereal place, an eternal church service, which sounds about as appealing as traffic school. C.S. Lewis said that all of our desires, for acceptance, intimacy, rest, work, satisfaction, beauty are, at their root, desires for heaven."

This truth is the subtle basis for The Far Country. And in a day when record store shelves overflow with ear-candy-pop-music, it is rare to find a songwriter with the guts to delve into such meaningful ideas, not to mention the ability to convey them so artistically. Peterson's lyrical depth aligns easily with that of Rich Mullins and James Taylor, while his passionate acoustic sound, particularly on this album, hints at Marc Cohn. Peterson's own credits include a 2001 Top Ten radio hit "Nothing to Say," and a Dove Award nomination for his single "Family Man."

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